A collection of books showing spine-out. Some are sitting on top of each other, and some are side-by-side.

One of the best ways to explore Te Papa’s collections is through the dozens of books published by Te Papa Press. The objects discussed within their pages also appear on Collections Online, which records over a million items from Te Papa’s collection. Seeing an opportunity to connect its titles with these digital object records, Te Papa Press is creating publication records for its titles on Collections Online.Read more

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In: Behind the scenes, Collections Online

Recording the distributions of weeds both in Wellington and further afield is an ongoing interest for Te Papa’s Botany Curator Leon Perrie and Researcher Lara Shepherd. Together they have added hundreds of weed specimens to Te Papa’s herbarium since the Covid lockdown. One recent weed collecting trip to Upper Hutt demonstrated how the use of common names can lead to confusion.Read more

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In: Behind the scenes, Collections Online, Science
Diagram of a sandwich, with two slices of bread and filling labelled with arrows from top to bottom: Strategic alignment, Professional development, Practical skills.

Wikipedia’s editing community and organisations like Te Papa have been talking for decades about how much we can do for each other. But with only so many hours in the day, adding a global encyclopedia to our workload is a hard sell. Digital Channels Outreach Manager Lucy Schrader fills you in on how we’re growing our own Wiki community, making this partnership much less intimidating.Read more

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In: Behind the scenes
A clump of daisies growing on a rocky mountain.

Nancy Adams was one of New Zealand’s most prolific botanists and a talented artist. She made substantial contributions to Te Papa’s herbarium collection and produced a vast number of botanical illustrations, which were included in widely distributed and well-regarded books about New Zealand flora. As part of their summer research, Lucia Adams and Margo Montes de Oca spent some time looking through several of Nancy’s field guides which were published as part of the ‘Mobil New Zealand Nature Series’ – in particular, Mountain Flowers in New Zealand (1980) and New Zealand Native Trees (1967). You may recognise these books – they are beautiful, helpful and accessible guides to plants in the New Zealand bush.Read more

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In: Art, Behind the scenes, Science

Last year a Te Papa curator approached the library team with an intriguing question. Could we help them find more information about the story that in the 19th century whales in the Wellington Harbour were so noisy that they kept people awake at night? The curator couldn’t find any first-hand contemporary accounts, known as primary sources, from the 1800s to confirm the tale and hoped the library team might be able to help. Cataloguing and Acquisitions Librarian Kim McClintock talks about her discoveries.Read more

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In: Behind the scenes, History, Science
A line-drawn map of a garden plan in front of a large building.

Nancy Adams was a key player in the early decades of the Dominion Museum (predecessor to Te Papa), making substantial curatorial contributions to collections spanning from colonial history to botany and producing illustrations, now a valuable part of the Te Papa Art collection. As Lucia Adams and Margo Montes de Oca discovered during their summer research this year, traces of her influence and curatorial eye can be found not only in Te Papa’s archives but also in the outside world, specifically in the gardens by the old Dominion Museum building in Buckle Street.Read more

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In: Art, Behind the scenes, History, Science

The warmer months are, in many respects, the ideal time for enjoying nature, including connecting with the amazing diversity of plants around us. This time last year, Curator Botany Leon Perrie was traversing the country to get the final photos for the fern guidebook he co-authored with Patrick Brownsey.Read more

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In: Behind the scenes, Science