‘Adkin’s photographs provide an honest, in-depth insight into rural life in New Zealand during the first half of the 20th century.’ Danielle Campbell, a Museum and Heritage Studies student at Victoria University, discusses her three favourite Leslie Adkin photographs that she came across during her summer internship at Te Papa.Read more
Alice, Wonderland, and New Zealand have a close relationship – in fact, New Zealand is one of the very few real places Alice mentions in the two iconic books by Lewis Carroll.Read more
In 2017, a jacket worn by the fictional gang Toa Aoteoroa in the 1994 film ‘Once Were Warriors’ entered the national collection. History curator Stephanie Gibson explains why.Read more
In April 2019, Te Papa acquired a rare, early oil painting by William Hodges, artist on Captain Cook’s second voyage, titled Waterfall in Dusky Bay with Maori Canoe. Here, Te Papa tour host Bill Whelen reflects upon his journeys into Dusky Sound, and finding the exact location of Te Papa’s newly acquired painting.Read more
We catch up with one of the organisers of last year’s Young Feminist Hui, Olivia Trass, to find out what issues she is discussing now, one year on, and what she took away from the hui.Read more
Intern Tim Fortescue-Willis has spent the last six weeks cataloguing and digitising Theo Schoon’s photographs of Māori rock art. Tim describes his journey working with these negatives and reflects on what he’s learnt about Theo Schoon during his time at Te Papa. Read more
Today marks one hundred years ago Sir Edmund Hillary was born. Te Papa recently acquired a pendant featuring a rock Sir Edmund Hillary collected from the first successful summit of Mt Everest / Chomolungma. History curator Stephanie Gibson tells us more.Read more
Saturday marks half a century since mankind’s “one giant leap”. Curator Photography Athol McCredie reflects on the Apollo 11 spaceflight – when humans first landed on the moon.Read more
Scientist and aspiring field art historian George Hook shares his story on how he applied new methodology to help pin down the location of the iconic Pink and White Terraces, lost to the world with the Mt Tarawera eruption of 1886.Read more
Te Papa mourns the loss of a beacon for mātauranga Māori, Tā Hekenukumaingaiwi (usually shortened to Hekenukumai) Puhipi Busby, known affectionately as Hek.Read more
Conservator Robert Clendon takes us through the conservation techniques he’s using on some of the international material in our collections – two Greek objects around 2,500 years old, and a 1894 copy of the famous Portland Vase.Read more
Drew Hadwen, co-director of the Wellington Pride Festival 2019 (8–24 March), recently spoke to the Friends of Te Papa about the work that has gone into celebrating Pride in Aotearoa. Here, we share their speech with you.Read more
Triggered by Suffrage 125 last year, Te Papa curators have been collecting objects around women’s rights, and researching our collections to better reveal women’s stories. One of our aims is to improve the gender balance in our collections. Here are some favourite examples from our curators.Read more
This is the second part to Dr Mark Stocker’s series of blogs asking you to help identify a number of butterflies, moths, and other insects in a series of 17th century prints by Anglo-Czech etcher Wenceslaus Hollar.Read more
It’s around this time of year that a great debate swells into kiwi conversation and proximity to ice cream is weighed up against sunshine hours and sand preferences. While our personal connections to the takutai (coast) mean that there can never be a definitive list of Aotearoa’s best beaches, here is our version, compiled by Te Papa staff with images from Collections Online. Read more
