The Digital Collections & Access team at Te Papa is responsible for publishing collection records and images to Kohinga Ipurangi Collections Online and the Te Papa API. Collections Data Manager Gareth Watkins digs into the data and what goes into publishing the records.Read more
On April 10, 2024, Te Papa reached a significant milestone by publishing its one-millionth catalogue record on Kohinga Ipurangi Collections Online – a rare seashell. This milestone showcases our dedication to preserving Aotearoa New Zealand’s diverse collection of taonga Māori, art, history, Pacific, and natural sciences. This achievement reflects the collaborative efforts of multiple teams involved in collecting, identifying, processing, data management, photographing, licensing images, and iwi consultation. Mollusc curator Kerry Walton highlights the intricate work involved and the beauty of the one-millionth item on Collections Online.Read more
Te Papa recently imaged its Miocene plant fossils and made the images available online. Amongst these are the tiny fossilised fruit of a coconut-like plant that grew in Aotearoa New Zealand millions of years ago. Natural history researcher Lara Shepherd discusses what we know (and don’t know) about these ‘mini-coconuts’.Read 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
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
Massey University student Hayden Jones and Botany Curator Carlos Lehnebach are launching a citizen science project aiming at solving the identity crisis that surrounds one of our most common terrestrial orchids and your observation could provide the clue to solving this taxonomic imbroglio. Maikuku – the white sun orchid (ThelymitraRead more
![Veronica, collected Dec 1922 by HL Darton, [Cultivated] Lawrence, New Zealand. CC BY 4.0. Te Papa (SP115152). Note in Petrie's handwriting states, "Veronica hartiana sp. nov. D.P. Mr. Hart has worked out the history of this species. It certainly came from the Chatham Is. and was first grown by a solicitor in Timaru to whom it was sent by Mr. Cox. 8.1.1923."](https://i0.wp.com/blog.tepapa.govt.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/MA_I730588.3744x5616.jpg?fit=367%2C550&ssl=1)
During our recent Botany Blitz where we were cracking open boxes that have been patiently waiting to be processed and databased, we catalogued many specimens, learned new things about our collections, and discovered many fascinating stories along the way. Botany Curator Heidi Meudt talks about delving into a folder ofRead more
Film photography and negatives have had a bit of a resurgence lately but they were once the only way to get pictures made. A large part of our current project digitising the Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection is processing around 250,000 photographic negatives. But how does a photo negative get from our storerooms onto Collections Online? Imaging Technician Cat Watters tells us about part of their role in the digitising project team.Read more
The theme for this year’s ‘Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani – Cook Islands Language Week is ‘Ātuitui’ia au ki te Oneone o tōku ‘Ui Tupuna which means connect me to the soil of my ancestors. To mark the week Curator Pacific Cultures Rachel Yates has a taratara with current staff member Kate Ngatokorua about her experiences as Miss Cook Islands.Read more
Last year, Te Papa received a grant from Lotteries NZ towards the digitisation of the Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection of around 250,000 photographic negatives shot between the 1930s and 1980s. The project is now well underway, with the first ‘drop’ of around 800 images just released on Collections Online. Athol McCredie, Curator Photography and Melissa Irving, Senior Imaging Technician tell us about the project.Read more
In January 2022, our Botany Curator Heidi Meudt went on a chock-a-block seven-day field trip to Southland with Department of Conservation botanist Brian Rance and several others. The aim of this trip was to collect several species of forget-me-nots growing in the ultramafic Livingstone Mountains and nearby hills. Heidi talks about what they were looking for and the environment the forget-me-nots were growing in. Read more
Te Papa strives to improve access to the collections for which it cares – online accessibility is part of this. Botany Curator Leon Perrie writes about the Botany Team’s mission this year to each make one thousand specimen images available online.Read more
Botany Curator Heidi Meudt and colleagues have formally described some new forget-me-nots in two published papers. Read on to learn their names, see what they look like, and discover more about them.Read more
Te Papa has approximately 68 tokotoko in our collection representing all time periods, and this year, Mātauranga Māori Curator Isaac Te Awa acquired two more. However, these ones are slightly different from the more common style.Read more
We’ve just pasted some eye-catching new posters around town, made by students from Taita College. Communications Advisor Sasha Borissenko and Senior Digital Editor Daniel Crichton-Rouse hear their stories.Read more
