Blog

In honour of Sir Edmund Hillary, on the 100th anniversary of his birth on 20 July 2019, learn about caring for the Museum's Edmund Hillary Archive and the insights it offers on Sir Ed's life.

With the transformations happening at Auckland Museum at the moment, you might be wondering what has become of some of your favourite objects and displays! Auckland Museum’s Collection Technician for Relocations Libby Neumann gives us some insight into just how much care and effort goes into moving precious Museum objects.

Step into the world of a Museum Photographer in this blog which explores the meticulous care taken in photographing the extensive collection of bags featured in our exhibition Carried Away: Bags Unpacked.

Dissecting and investigating the innards of the long-tailed cuckoo, a mysterious New Zealand native bird, has lead to some surprising finds, Associate Emeritus Dr Brian Gill has discovered.

In 2014-15 the Collection Care department conducted a survey of all light sensitive objects in our exhibitions and displays.

More than 500 Cook Islanders fought for New Zealand in the WWI. They served with distinction but suffered great loss. Find out more about these courageous servicemen.

There is no such thing as a good vibration within a museum. While we're doing major works and renovations at Auckland Museum, we have installed a special vibration monitor within the museum walls to ensure no vibrations are too vigorous, in order to protect our collections.

If not stored correctly, negatives of photos are prone to developing 'vinegar syndrome' - an irrevocable syndrome that causes warping, embrittlement and shrinkage. To combat this problem our conservation team came up with a storage solution to re-house 80,000 photographic negatives from the Barry Mckay collection.

In 2018, several Moa display skeletons were sent to the conservation team to be cleaned. Our team found the bones were not just dirty but very brittle in places due to previous attempts at preparing the bones for display. Our conservator Valerie Tomlinson tells of the meticulous work done to make these special bones useful as scientific specimens again.

Auckland Museum is proud to once again join the New York Academy of Medicine's #ColorOurCollections, in which libraries, archives, and museums create free colouring books based on objects in their collections.

In 1924 a young Indian elephant appeared in the British Empire Exhibition held at Wembley in London. This was the elephant’s first stop in a journey that would finish at Auckland Museum, where he’d become one of the Museum’s most-loved exhibits

In 1924 a young Indian elephant appeared in the British Empire Exhibition held at Wembley in London. This was the elephant’s first stop in a journey that would finish at Auckland Museum, where he’d become one of the Museum’s most-loved exhibits