In our daily behind the scenes work we use agile methodology and te reo – but we can always do better. Reo Māori Writer Ranea Aperahama worked with the team driving agile throughout Te Papa to come up with the reo interpretations.Read more
The typeface used in the exhibition ‘Ko Rongowhakaata: The Story of Light and Shadow’ was developed in 2017. But its origins date back to the early 1800s, and is intimately connected to the iwi. Here is its story.Read more
Accompanying the portrait wall in Tūrangawaewae: Art and New Zealand are digital interactives that allow you to dive deeper into the conservation efforts that prepared the paintings for exhibition, and reveal hidden histories. Conservator Paintings Linda Waters writes about what the back of a painting can tell you.Read more
Navigating brittle bones and teeth the size of rice, Thomas Schultz, Collection Manager Science, reflects on putting a Hector’s dolphin back together for an exhibition that would tour North America for ten years.Read more
After a decade in North America, our Whales | Tohorā exhibition is making its way back south through the Pacific. For anyone who can’t recall the exhibition – it finished showing at Te Papa in May 2008. Here’s a brief recap from Pat Stodart, Touring Exhibition Manager.Read more
Have you used digital labels in our exhibitions? We use them to tell stories about our objects on screens, instead of just text on walls. Our User Experience team Karyn Brice and Kate Wanless share what they’ve learnt over the last year, and how these insights have helped create our most successful digital label ever.Read more
Transfixed by BodyCartography Project’s Walk with me tour of Toi Art, Head of Exhibition Renewal Frith Williams wrote down her thoughts in the middle of the night, “so I could remember it later.” Here’s what she wrote.Read more
During the last week, there have been many conversations circulating through different media and social networks about our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wearing a kākahu (cloak) at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Kaitiaki Māori Collection Manager Mark Sykes explains the differences between kahu huruhuru, kahu kiwi, kahu kuri, and korowai.Read more
Here, Christine chooses her favourite rare book – and it’s possibly an unexpected one: Atlas to Accompany the Tertiary history of the Grand Cañon district.Read more
Te Papa Summer Scholar Siobhon Moore shares her experiences researching the heights of the British etching revival in the vast Ilott Collection and the exciting discoveries she has made.Read more
Summer scholar Caitlin Lynch has taken a particular interest in a number of photos featuring soldiers badly wounded in battle.Read more
Last year, a four-year project to digitise nearly 1,500 Theo Schoon photographs of bubbling mud and thermal landscapes came to an end. Thanks to the hard work of Image Coordinator Lucy Jackson and Archivist Jennifer Twist all of these images can now be viewed on Collections Online.Read more
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
If you’ve ever wondered what’s involved when museums loan and borrow taonga, you’re in luck: our Loans and Acquisitions Advisor Amy Cosgrove sheds light on the process behind Ko Rongowhakaata: The Story of Light and Shadow, as well as revealing an ‘average’ day.Read more
One of the significant taonga exhibited Ko Rongowhakaata is a nose-less poutokomanawa (centre post) called Rongotueruora, affectionately known as ‘Iron Man’. This taonga was in a very fragile state when conservator Nirmala Balram came to inspect him. Nirmala takes us through the treatment of Iron Man, and his journey from Gisborne to display at Te Papa.Read more
