A uniform that once belonged to New Zealand Premier Richard Seddon startles in the textile storeroom.

In late March, Te Papa hosted 20 young aspiring authors and illustrators for a sleepover. Held in association with the New Zealand Festival Writers and Readers Week, the sleepover celebrated the launch of The Curioseum: Collected Stories of the Odd and Marvellous edited by Adrienne Jansen and published by TeRead more

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From 1956 artist and photographer Eric Lee-Johnson began photographing the night sky near his Northland home of Waimamaku. He generally used time exposures, where the shutter is held open from anywhere between seconds to hours. With longer exposures the stars show up as trails formed by the rotating motion ofRead more

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If you missed the live broadcast of Science Live: Secret World of Ferns, it’s now on YouTube so you can watch it now or anytime you like. The video explores the surprisingly complicated life-cycle of ferns, how to distinguish the different kinds of tree ferns, and we see inside theRead more

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Tune into Science Live: Secret World of Ferns today from 2.00pm. You can watch the livestream on the YouTube player below, or visit Te Papa’s YouTube channel. Get involved! What you would like to know about ferns? You can ask Leon Perrie, Curator of Botany, your questions via: Email: sciencelive@tepapa.govt.nzRead more

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James Brown, Writer On 12 and 13 May, writer and artist Gregory O’Brien gave a series of workshops to school groups about collaborations between artists and writers, and the ongoing conversation between art and text. I sat in on one. I work at Te Papa as part of the WritingRead more

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If you watched late night television towards the end of the 1960s you might remember the following theatrically pronounced lines: For [architect David Vincent] it began one lost night on a lonely country road, looking for a shortcut that he never found. It began with a closed deserted diner, andRead more

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The spider in question. Happily sunning itself on my curtain. © Te Papa

A couple of colleagues pointed out there was something a little odd about the spider I thought was a juvenile redback spider in Scott Ogilvie’s post. This spider, named Fabergé – as in Fabergé egg, for her ovoid shape and pretty pattern-  is nothing of the kind despite my initialRead more

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I don’t much like having my portrait taken. The longer the process goes on, and the more expectant I am of a good result, the worse it seems to get. So how much do you have to know about being photographed to get a good portrait? How many times do youRead more

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China Lecture and Symposium, Thu 15 May, 2pm–8pm, Te Papa Face to face with Shi Lu Working on the exhibition Shi Lu: A revolution in paint has been a revelation for me. Ever since my Uncle traveled to China in the 1980s, bringing back memorabilia from the Friendship shops, teachingRead more

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While May marks the beginning of winter, it also more cheerfully heralds New Zealand Music Month – that is a 31 day celebration of home-grown talent across the length and breadth of the country. With so much Kiwi music now ‘blasting through our airwaves, soaring off stages, and rumbling out of ludicrouslyRead more

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In: History
What Fern Are You?

As part of Science Live: Secret World of Ferns, we want to find out what type of fern you are! If one of the statements below sounds like you, click on it to reveal your secret fern personality… Are you easily embarrassed? Sounds like you’re: rasp fern (Doodia australis).The newRead more

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An enduring frustration for museum curators is being aware of objects or specimens that have little or no acquisition or collection data. This, sadly, is often the case with our oldest natural history specimens. A specimen without data is almost worthless – while an old specimen with good data isRead more

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Adult female katipo. Photgrapher: Jon Sullivan (CC BY-NC 2.0)

When you find an ‘odd’ looking spider on your curtain, what is your normal response? Hopefully it’s not to kill it! Maybe it’s to catch it and it and take outside? Or maybe more of a Paul McCartney approach and let it be. Well I was faced with that decision lastRead more

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Te Papa’s next Science Live event on Friday 16 May is all about the secret world of ferns, so it seems only right to ask – what is a fern? We want you to tell us (before we tell you). After all, everyone knows more or less what a fern is –Read more

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