Here are a few, token animal photos to finish this account of our fieldwork. Other blog posts about our West Coast fern fieldwork cover: What we were doing. Where we went. Sticherus (umbrella ferns). New, problematic, and interesting species. Favourite photos.Read more
We have an enormous collection of photographic negatives and transparencies on glass and film, going back to the 1870s. They include all sorts of images from studio portraits to holiday snaps, landscapes, photographs of sports teams, and artists’ negatives and transparencies. Many negatives are chemically unstable and, if left in anRead more
Perhaps you know where some of the photographs below were taken and what they are of? If you can help, please note the number related to each image with your comment below. 1) What building is this Burton Brothers stereoscopic image taken from and where is it? 2) Is itRead more
Te Papa has a wonderful collection of 172 portraits on glass plate negatives featuring World War One soldiers. These images were taken at the Berry & Co. photography studio in Wellington between about 1914 and 1919. The men in these images were about to enter into a life-changing event. Some wouldRead more
When I first saw Gavin Hipkin’s The shaman (blue), currently on display in Collecting Contemporary on Level 5, it was as a digital image emailed by his dealer. I was struck by the ambiguity of the photograph. The stunning, pale blue background is almost featureless, and like the blue orRead more
Early last century, New Plymouth man William Gordon assembled a photographic record of people (both Māori and European) who served in the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s. The Dominion Museum (Te Papa’s second predecessor) purchased the photographs in 1916 as part of the Gordon Collection. Recently, I have beenRead more
Hollowed out and painted birds eggs were the first Easter eggs and, in Christian tradition, they symbolise new life. Te Papa’s photography collection holds a large number of prints and negatives taken by naturalists and bird watchers with an enviable amount of enthusiasm and perseverance. These images show a varietyRead more
Photographer Andrew Ross has said that ‘frontier societies like New Zealand [lack] the visible evidence of our history. It gets nipped in the bud…[and] you hardly get any sense of what has happened more than ten years ago.’ You only have to look at his work in the Collecting ContemporaryRead more
During my time as intern at Te Papa, I have been working to try to discover the identities of the sitters who appear in a collection of photographic portraits held in the museum’s collection. The portraits depict soldiers who had their photographs taken at the studio of Berry & Co.Read more
During my internship with the Te Papa History Team, I have been working to try to identify the sitters who appear in a number of photographic portraits which are held in the museum’s collection. Using military personnel files, databases and online resources I have tried to discover more information aboutRead more
As an intern with the History Department at Te Papa, I have been given the challenging task of researching the sitters who appear in a number of photographic portraits held in the collection. Looking closely at some of the pictures, it seems that the images contained on the museum’s glassRead more
As an intern with the History Department at Te Papa, I have been given the challenging task of researching the sitters who appear in a number of photographic portraits held in the collection. Read more about the Berry & Co. collection My task is to try to identify the soldiersRead more
Some of my favourite social history images in Te Papa’s photography collection are of trampers taken by Leslie Adkin (1888-1964). A man of many talents and interests, Adkin was a founding member of the Levin-Waiohepu Tramping Club, which was established in the 1920s. This was one of the first tramping clubsRead more
Brian Brake is one of New Zealand’s best known photographers. His career covered the golden age of photojournalism – his images featured in magazines around the world such as Life and Paris Match. He was passionate about New Zealand, the people and landscapes. Te Papa is very fortunate to have been giftedRead more
