Not many of you will believe that hagfish, also called snot-eels, are fascinating creatures, but they truly are. You will only be able to believe me after reading this post. I still persist saying that I am not falling in love with them but some of my colleagues start worryingRead more
I’ve only been a curator for 7 months and even if you were the brainiest most well read person in the world, a curator is really only as good as their knowledge of their museum’s collection. So in familiarising myself with the Taonga Māori collection at Te Papa, I’ve been systematically goingRead more
Forty-four years ago pubs were no longer legally required to close at 6pm (9 October 1967) From December 1917, hotels had to close at 6pm. This was supposed to be a temporary war-time measure. Opening hours were reduced to encourage workers’ efficiency. This restriction partly effected the aims of temperanceRead more
As we build up to the much anticipated December opening of Unveiled: 200 Years of Wedding Fashion from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, it is time to ‘unveil’ our three New Zealand designers! As part of the exhibition Te Papa has commissioned three very different New Zealand designers to create theirRead more
Slice of Heaven has been on open for a year now. This means that some of the light-sensitive paper and textile exhibition items have had their full quota of light exposure and have to come off display. This includes this majestic coatee, pictured above, that Premier Richard Seddon wore toRead more
Dead oiled wildlife continues to be collected from Bay of Plenty beaches, and the Te Papa Natural Environment team has been assisting with the Wildlife Recovery Centres activities of documenting and recovering species affected by the oil. The species found oiled include the many birds which nest in the BayRead more
The position of Curator Terrestrial Vertebrates was a new one for Te Papa in mid 2010. My predecessor had been the Curator of Birds, and the expanded role meant that for the first time a curator would be responsible for land mammals, as well as for birds, reptiles and frogs.Read more
Phar Lap’s skeleton is one of Te Papa’s best known exhibits. Perhaps the most famous horse ever to emerge from Australasia, the national identity of Phar Lap is as intensely debated each side of the Tasman as is who invented the pavlova. Foaled at Seadown, near Timaru, in 1926, PharRead more
Hello everyone, we are back with our fortnightly updates on the treatment of John Webber’s Poedua. We are progressing slowing with the cleaning of the painting. At this stage, the cleaning involves the varnish removal and the removal of overpaints (later additions by a previous restorer). Today’s blog post willRead more
Te Papa bird staff are providing expert assistance to Maritime New Zealand and Massey University veterinary staff in the form of identifying birds affected by the oil spill. Three current and one former staff member have been a ‘tag team’ since 12 October, identifying the hundreds of corpses recovered byRead more
With the recent death of Len Castle, New Zealand has lost one of its greatest potters who developed a long and innovative approach to clay that can be bound up in the search for national identity. Castle began working with clay from 1947 experimenting with commercial clays and Westmere beachRead more
Many New Zealand forests are sprinkled with white at this time of the year. The indigenous Clematis are flowering, and particularly striking with its large white flowers is Clematis paniculata (puawhananga, white clematis). There is a plant of Clematis paniculata flowering wonderfully at present in Te Papa’s Bush City, atRead more
New Zealand marine areas are home to a wide variety of wildlife, with many unique and threatened species inhabiting our waters. New Zealand’s title as World Seabird Capital is unchallenged, with 1/3 of the worlds’ 346 species present in the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone, including ½ of the 22Read more
Te Papa’s released a bunch of images for you to reuse if you meet certain conditions. One of the conditions is your use must be non-commercial. Here are some examples that will help you figure that out. A non-commercial use in a non-profit setting Judy is a student putting togetherRead 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
