In 1901 the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall & York, the future King George V and Queen Mary (for more on this royal couple see Mark Stocker’s post from last week), toured the Southern Hemisphere to thank commonwealth countries for sending troops to support Britain in the Boer War. AsRead more

By:
On:
In: Art

We need readers local knowledge again to help identify the locations in the images. Please comment in the section at the bottom. Thanks! 1) Does the spire in the background give it away? 2) Its summer somewhere… 3) A Northland church with trees and clouds… 4) Building on a hill takenRead more

By:
On:
In: Photography

A selection of photographs of girls taken in New Zealand during the nineteenth century from Te Papa’s photography collection in honour of International Girl Day. Most of the photographs featured are carte-de-visite cards and are not much bigger than they appear in this blog. All the girls in these photographs wereRead more

By:
On:
In: Art, Education, Photography

Brian Brake took some intriguing photographs of people in pubs and bars. At the Randwick racecourse bar in Sydney he used Kodachrome to capture the garish colours and dramatic expressions. On another occasion he used black and white 35mm roll film to create a different effect with his images ofRead more

By:
On:
In: Photography

Do you know where any of the locations in these photographs are? If so, please leave a comment in the section at the bottom of the post along with the image number. 1) Does this mural still exist? 2) Like the one above, this mural might have been painted over or the building knocked down… 3) ARead more

By:
On:
In: History, Photography

So here are the mysteries that remain unsolved – if you can help please use the comment section at the end of this post. 1) mystery beach… 2) we know that it is not Olveston, Bishop’s Court or Columba College… 3) North Island? 4) Small North Island town… 5) 19th century South Island factory… 6)Read more

By:
On:
In: History, Photography

Many of you have been helping identify the locations and places in some of the mystery photographs in Te Papa’s collection. It has been very enjoyable hearing from people, checking the information offered and updating the results on the database. All the images in this post have been identified by the publicRead more

By:
On:
In: History, Photography

Christmas marks that another year has just about gone. Another year of change, doubt, joy, laughter and sorrow. Another year that those who have passed don’t know about. If I made a Christmas card from a photograph in the collection I would probably choose the image above. The photograph, takenRead more

By:
On:
In: History

One of the most generous ways museums acquire items for their collections is from individuals donating things they have made for the benefit of others. This is one way that unique material becomes available to the public and especially to researchers. It is in this spirit that David Carson-Parker, whoRead more

By:
On:
In: Art

It is not often I come across early photographs that capture pure joy like this one does. Too young to find the serious appeals of the photographer’s command to “keep still” anything other than funny, this infant boy’s laughter dominates the image and projects a good sense of fun aboutRead more

By:
On:
In: History, Photography

Sometimes when I look at photographs, I start imagining the past. Details in the images trigger memories of people and places lost to time. These images of water towers take me back to my childhood in Invercargill, where the sight and purpose of the large tower, visible from most partsRead more

By:
On:
In: History, Photography

In the recent death of Don Binney New Zealand art has lost a major contributor to its diverse tradition of landscape painting.  Binney began painting his stylized images of birds in the landscape in the early 1960s.  These unique and startling images quickly established his reputation.  The ‘oversized’ birds combinedRead more

By:
On:
In: Art