Ever wondered what curators take with them when they go out on the field (or in the mountains, or down in the depths of the oceans)? Let’s begin with botanists Lara Shepherd and Leon Perrie.Read more
Where can you find harakeke outside Aotearoa? What species of forget-me-not live on Banks Peninsula?* Answering these questions is now a lot easier because our herbarium’s botanical specimen data – 250,000 records about plants, with information about what they are, where they’re from and lots more – have been released on the world’s biggest database of living things, GBIF. Kaitūhono Hora Raraunga | Digital Channels Outreach Manager Lucy Schrader tells you about making it happen.Read more
Te Papa contains about 1.5 million natural history specimens. Many of these have been gifted by donors with some 16 000 people collecting specimens for Te Papa. Research Associate Peter Beveridge has donated over 6000 specimens to Te Papa, with his first donation more than 70 years ago. Science ResearcherRead more
The eleven researchers and crew on the Strannik 2023 Auckland Island Expedition journeyed to the Auckland Islands in January 2023 to undertake botanical field work over four weeks on the main Auckland Island. For Te Papa Botany Curator Heidi Meudt, this was her first ship-based field expedition, so many thingsRead more
Once a year around 2000 Wikipedians – the dedicated writers, researchers, photographers, data scientists, developers, and more who improve Wikipedia and its related sites day by day – get together for Wikimania, the annual conference covering anything and everything Wikipedia. Over several days they get deep into what’s new, share exciting projects, and work out how to turn normal people into new Wikipedia editors. From the kiwi contingent, Te Papa’s Heidi Meudt, Lucy Schrader, and Victoria Leachman report back on Wikimania 2023.Read more
We all need to ‘scale up’ in our careers, so which tools have the Fish Team at Te Papa invented over the years to a) solve the unique challenges of their jobs and b) dazzle international visitors like a show of bioluminescence? Fish Curator Andrew Stewart gave summer intern ShonaRead more
Being sure that we’re all talking about the same person is a vital part of sharing collections and data between sources. Lucy Schrader, Digital Channels Outreach Manager, shows how we’re using Wikidata to make it easier.Read more
Meet the eleven members of the research team and crew that participated in the 2023 Strannik Auckland Island Expedition. After spending four weeks on the expedition to Motu Maha Auckland Islands, and getting to know most of the main Auckland Island (and nearby Enderby Island), we experienced so many amazingRead more
Pat was a stalwart of the museum, beginning in 1977. He was a curator of botany and expert on New Zealand ferns. But he was so much more, including curating Te Papa’s stamp collection, and at various times managing the natural history team and the museum’s acquisitions process. Significantly, he was a role-model, mentor, and friend to many. This blog is a tribute to his wide-ranging contributions to Te Papa and its people.Read more
In January 2023, Te Papa Botany Curator Heidi Meudt was one of a team of Aotearoa New Zealand botanists and crew who travelled to Motu Maha Auckland Islands to undertake botanical research and make new collections. Here, she provides an overview of Motu Maha Auckland Islands, how and why they travelled there, and an introduction to this blog series about their 2023 Strannik Auckland Island Expedition.Read more
For almost two years, Te Papa has been digitising the Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf collection of photographic negatives. Now the project has reached the end of its funding, here’s some highlights from the current team members. Read more
Here, Ariki Spooner, Kaitaki Tīma Tuhituhi Reo Māori, discusses the process of arriving at the te reo Māori name Ngā Taniwha o Rūpapa for the Dinosaurs of Patagonia exhibition coming this summer. Read more
We just released over 5000 out-of-copyright and Creative Commons-licensed collection images to Google Arts & Culture, with more to come. Digital Channels Outreach Manager Lucy Schrader talks about why we selected these pics and shares some of the tech that made it work. We love sharing collection images thiiiiiiis much!Read more
Librarian Amy Phillips responds to a research request received by Te Papa’s library, Te Aka Matua, which leads to solving a mystery and publishing information to improve a Wikipedia page.Read more
Humanities Technicians Cassandra Bahr and Alexander Gordon share their behind-the-scenes work with the Spencer Digby/Ronald D Woolf collection at Te Papa: what research, registration and rehousing looks like, and how you can help out.Read more
