Five things you never knew about Rodin
Art curator Mark Stocker highlights five fascinating facts you probably didn’t know about the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin.Read more
2017-11-13
A new fungus for New Zealand discovered in Wellington’s Mount Victoria
You don’t have to be in the wilderness to make biodiversity discoveries. One of our scientists, Lara Shepherd, recently made an exciting find whilst walking home from work.Read more
2017-11-06
Remembering a national icon: Dame Margaret Karika Ariki (1919–2017)
Pacific Collection Manager Grace Hutton pays tribute to Cook Islands tribal leader Dame Margaret Karika Ariki.Read more
2017-11-03
Martinborough’s cave of bones: How thousands of flightless birds met their end
Fossilised bird grave sites are common in New Zealand, but one particular cave in Martinborough has revealed thousands of bones of flightless birds who plunged to their deaths.Read more
2017-11-03
Accidentally spooky: Photographs from Te Papa’s collections perfect for Halloween
Happy Halloween! Curator Historical Photography Lissa Mitchell gets into the spirit of the occasion with a selection of frightfully fantastic photographs where not all is as it seems.Read more
2017-10-31
‘I feel his presence in these images’: The photographs of George Crombie
Working in a museum is filled with unexpected discoveries – especially when you’re looking at photographs from 100 years ago. Explore the life of an avid photographer whose photographs offered something different from the norm.Read more
2017-10-25
Rewriting New Zealand art: Francis Pound (1948-2017)
The art team at Te Papa were saddened to hear about the passing of art historian and curator Dr Francis Pound on 15 October 2017. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Here, we acknowledge the work of an extraordinary scholar who made a significant contribution to New ZealandRead more
2017-10-24
New Zealand’s weirdest mosquitoes: The impatient males
Curator Terrestrial Invertebrates Julia Kasper looks at the reproductive lives of our local mosquitoes.Read more
2017-10-20
Fate of the Berry Boys and the ‘disastrous fiasco’ of Passchendaele
History curator Kirstie Ross outlines the impact of the battle on seven New Zealand soldiers, all of whom were photographed at the Berry & Co studio before they left for service overseas.Read more
2017-10-12
‘Please do not bite the books’ and other comical library rules
Would you walk into a library with a dirty face? Take a bite out of one of the books? Or LIE to the librarian? Librarian Martin Lewis (@rarebookguy) reveals comical library rules from history and shares his five commandments to ensure happy books and librarians. No dirty faces and no lies inRead more
2017-10-11
The Fall of Singapore: The story of the Pether family
On 23 September an exciting new exhibition opened at the National Museum of Singapore called Witness to War: Remembering 1942. Ten objects from Te Papa were sent to Singapore to be featured in the exhibition. In this blog history curator Katie Cooper shares the story of the Pether family, and explainsRead more
2017-10-10
Through the lens: Daily life in Tuvalu 1886
Pacific curator Rachel Yates looks at daily life in Tuvalu through five photographs taken by New Zealand photographer Thomas Andrew (1855 – 1939), who spent a significant amount of time in the Pacific region.Read more
2017-10-09
Double photographs: Your other self?
Curator Photography Athol McCredie takes inspiration from a set of photographs in our collection to explore the idea that there may be another version of you, dear reader, out there.Read more
2017-10-06
For family or for Empire? The risks of staying home during war
Kirstie Ross considers other notions of duty and service that many men, like Levin farmer Leslie Adkin, had to weigh up in the face of the demands being made on them to serve as soldiers.Read more
2017-10-06
Rembrandt comes alive on Collections Online
Dr Mark Stocker, Curator Historical International Art, discusses his Collections Online summaries of Te Papa’s remarkable Rembrandt holdings.Read more
2017-10-05