This week Faraway Places: 19th century travel photography in Te Papa’s Ilott Gallery has had all its photographs replaced with 22 new ones. This is because nineteenth century photographs are vulnerable to damage by light, so the six-month exhibition has been divided into two halves, each with a different, though similar, selectionRead more
Spirits are high at Te Papa Press as our publication Brian Brake: Lens on the World, was nominated in the illustrated non-fiction category of the 2011 New Zealand Post Book Awards. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at Wellington’s Town Hall on Wednesday 27 July 2011. View theRead more
Model Tooth (Human), 1900s, Maker unknown. Gift of the Wellington School Dental Service Training School, Department of Health, 1994. Te Papa 90 years ago: the first intake of School Dental Service nurses began their training (4 April 1921). The School Dental Service was a response to theRead more
Empire Games are held in Auckland, 4-11 February 1950 The cup above was produced by Crown Lynn as a souvenir of the Auckland games, which 590 athletes from 12 nations attended. New Zealand came third in the medal tally with 54 medals: 10 gold, 22 silver and 22 bronze. GoldsRead more
Well it’s coming to that sad time when exhibitions are about to close and a lot of people are always in the habit of putting things a off to the last minute so… I thought I would help you all out with a bit of a reminder in the hopeRead more
53 years ago – Sir Edmund Hillary reaches the South Pole (4 January 1958) 54 years ago – Scott Base opens in Antarctica (20 January 1957) Having reached the summit of Everest with Tenzing Sherpa in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary completed another extreme feat in January 1958. Early in theRead more
57 years ago – Queen Elizabeth arrives in Auckland, becoming the country’s first reigning monarch to visit New Zealand (23 December 1953) The Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, arrived in New Zealand just before Christmas in 1953 for a 39-day tour. In the past, only sons or brothers ofRead more
This is the first in an ongoing series of blogs about New Zealand history. These blogs are going to focus on 20th century events and objects as well as topics in Te Papa’s history exhibition Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa. Following from the recent blog about the diarama in the exhibtionRead more
It’s just 2 weeks now since Slice of Heaven opened and the word from Te Papa’s hosts is that it’s “what New Zealanders have been waiting for!” This is my first blog – ever. I was one of the team working behind the scenes to bring the stories from 20th CenturyRead more
One week to go before Slice of Heaven opens and they let me in for a quick peek at the exhibition – from the floor this time, not the bridge! The team is still busy installing and there is still lots to get finished. I’ve been working on the Slice of HeavenRead more
It’s been a week of intense activity in the Slice of Heaven exhibition space. With two weeks to go until opening all the teams involved in the project have been hard at work. Objects get installed, graphic panels are put up, wiring is sorted and cases for the next lotRead more
Installation of Te Papa’s new history exhibition Slice of Heaven – Twentieth Century Aotearoa continues – 29 days to go until opening on 2 October 2010… The views from the bridge on Level 5 give a taste of what’s to come and the topics that the exhibition will explore. Here is something evoking theRead more
Changes are underway at Te Papa. The build for the new history exhibition Slice of Heaven – Twentieth Century Aotearoa has started. In under one months time, on 2 October 2010, the exhibition will open to the public. The walls around the space have been up for a while but things are now really startingRead more
Smack bang in the middle of Matariki, the Maori New Year and all the creative (indoor!) activities that are taking place at the Matariki Festival at Te Papa, World Refugee Day is one of our key times to celebrate and discuss the diversity of our beautiful people and places, and theRead more
The Mixing Room Team are the very proud recipients of the New Zealand Race Relations Commissioner Kaihautū Whakawhanaunga-ā-Iwi award for positive contributions to race relations. The Mixing Room, stories from young refugees in New Zealand is a collaborative project between Te Papa and more than 70 refugee background young people fromRead more
