“Dear friends, may this beautiful instrument bring you happiness and inspiration. All my love, Lili Kraus, London, Christmas 1959.” So read the handwritten inscription in the piano Michael Parekowhai obtained for On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer currently on display at Te Papa. In the museum’s collection there are photographs of Lili takenRead more
Perhaps you know where some of the photographs below were taken? If you can help, please note the number related to each image with your comment below. Click on the images to enable enlargement. 1) Its summer here… 2) North Island wharf 3) Is it Otago harbour? And if so,Read more
A while back I posted Marion Queenie Kirker’s image of a ‘nodding cat’. Recently the rest of her negatives were scanned and uploaded to the museum’s database. One of the things I enjoy about working in the museum is helping to make images like this available to be seen. There areRead more
Do these houses still exist? If you know anything about them (especially a street or road address) please note the number with your comment – thanks! 1) ‘Elvington’ in Oamaru 2) Farmhouse in the Manawatu area 3) Cottage possibly in Wellington 4) Country residence in Manawatu? Read more
Perhaps you know where some of the photographs below were taken and what they are of? If you can help, please note the number related to each image with your comment below. 1) What building is this Burton Brothers stereoscopic image taken from and where is it? 2) Is itRead more
Early last century, New Plymouth man William Gordon assembled a photographic record of people (both Māori and European) who served in the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s. The Dominion Museum (Te Papa’s second predecessor) purchased the photographs in 1916 as part of the Gordon Collection. Recently, I have beenRead more
Hollowed out and painted birds eggs were the first Easter eggs and, in Christian tradition, they symbolise new life. Te Papa’s photography collection holds a large number of prints and negatives taken by naturalists and bird watchers with an enviable amount of enthusiasm and perseverance. These images show a varietyRead more
