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This project gave individuals and families the opportunity to significantly help the Museum, and to have their contribution publicly acknowledged. The Museum approached sculptor Denis O’Connor with a simple brief: design a cartouche which listed the 110 donors.

The music collection from Wellington based siblings Zillah and Ronald Castle was collected over 50 years from the 1930’s, with many having both local and international significance from their unusual nature. Their collection comprises of 520 instruments; cases, sheet music and musical accessories.

By collaborating with volunteers and other members of the public, we are working to ensure that whānau are able to connect with their ancestors and discover the exact memorial where family members are publicly remembered.

Who owns an idea? When does a conventional form become a unique and distinctive design? Auckland Museum recently acquired a brooch by contemporary jeweller Octavia Cook which explores these concepts, and responds to a particular situation in which she found herself in last year.

A poster in te reo at the Auckland Museum library needed researching. What was the mystery event at Waihi Marae, Taupō on 18 April 1959?​

At the time of the Russian Revolution, Nursing Sister Ethel M. Strachan and her friend and colleague Sister Sybil Kelly were among the staff of the Anglo-Russian Hospital in Petrograd (now St Petersburg).

Sand collector Antonia 'Tonny' Brinkman generously donated 3500 sands to Auckland Museum, and her decades of collecting show that you can explore the world without going far from home.

Following an enquiry from Baku in Azerbaijan, a Museum volunteer researched the New Zealanders involved in a secret British military mission into the Caucasus Mountains and Northern Iran. Who were the soldiers and what was their mission?

On 9 January 1917, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles participated in the final battle of the Sinai Campaign on the borders of Palestine - an event which changed the Middle East in ways which continue to resound today.

One of New Zealand’s foremost textile designers, Ingrid Anderson’s bold colourful designs can be found in homes and businesses throughout the country. Auckland Museum has recently acquired a small group of textiles produced by Anderson.

There were upbeat reports, Christmas care packages sent, and festivities at home - yet little in the way of real relief on the fronts.

Private Te Kuru was in the NZ Pioneer Battalion. The ‘Pioneers’ prepared battlefields for infantry and artillery. The work was physically tough and dangerous.