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Te Papa Blog

Discover stories from Te Papa’s experts, including curators, scientists, historians, collection managers, and educators.

 

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Martin Lewis

The only island holiday we’re getting this year – spending time in the rare books collection

Amanda Sykes and Alice Hinton, Master of Museum and Heritage Practice program student at Wellington’s Victoria University, spent three weeks working on a placement at Te Papa’s Research library. Here they describe their work and adventures while here.Read more

2020-09-18
By: Martin Lewis
On: 18 Sep 2020
In: Art, Behind the scenes, Collections Online, History, Māori, Pacific, Science

Fabulous beasts and where they lurk in our library

A steampunk Pokémon sea dragon, mutant whales, and a sabre-toothed devil bunny of the Aztecs. Librarian Martin Lewis (aka @RareBookGuy) presents his favourite curious creatures while researching this month.Read more

2018-10-29
By: Martin Lewis
On: 29 Oct 2018
In: Art, Behind the scenes

Drinking the world’s only deep-sea coffee

Librarian Martin Lewis describes one of his more bizarre coffee breaks at work – drinking Caffe L’affare Primo ground coffee that travelled where no person has been before, 10,000 metres below the sea.Read more

2018-03-06
By: Martin Lewis
On: 6 Mar 2018
In: Behind the scenes, Science
A hand points to a bite mark in a book

‘Please do not bite the books’ and other comical library rules

Would you walk into a library with a dirty face? Take a bite out of one of the books? Or LIE to the librarian?  Librarian Martin Lewis (@rarebookguy) reveals comical library rules from history and shares his five commandments to ensure happy books and librarians.  No dirty faces and no lies inRead more

2017-10-11
By: Martin Lewis
On: 11 Oct 2017
In: Behind the scenes, History

The heaviest, smallest, oldest, and smelliest books in our library

Our Research Librarian Martin Lewis, aka @RareBookGuy, takes a look at some of the more unusual questions he has received on tours of the Te Papa library collection.Read more

2017-06-29
By: Martin Lewis
On: 29 Jun 2017
In: Behind the scenes, History

Rare books and the marvellous art of marbling

Research Librarian, Martin Lewis, explains why he’s been losing his marbles over marbling…Read more

2017-04-27
By: Martin Lewis
On: 27 Apr 2017
In: Art, Behind the scenes, History

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