Blog

Over the next two years, we’ll be working with some of Aotearoa’s most accomplished weavers to enrich the taonga Māori collection as part of our Te Awe project. In this blog, our Associate Curator Māori, Bethany Edmunds explains the kaupapa of the Te Awe project to improve our understanding, care and access of these treasured objects and more.

Photographer Jen Carol encountered many challenges and delights when she embarked on photographing the Museum's 100 antique pocket watches.

Glass bottles have made their way into the History collection from many sources - some contain wine, while others hold miraculous cures. But they all need to be housed safely!

Collection Manager, Siren Deluxe is one of 30 Auckland Museum staff members who will be joining Pride Parade this Saturday. In this blog, she talks about the history of the parade, the growth of Rainbow Museums and our desire to do more to collect items that tell the stories of LGBTQI communities, individuals and milestones.

Our Documentary Heritage team is proud to join the global initiative #ColourOurCollections that was kicked off a couple of years ago by the New York Academy of Medicine to encourage people to colour the collections of libraries, archives, and museums from around the world.

Each year, hundreds of Pacific objects pass through the hands of our team of conservators, technicians, photographers and knowledge holders who all help us to honour our role as kaitiaki to these intricate, fragile, elaborate, stunningly crafted and treasured taonga. In this blog, we follow the journey of a dolphin-tooth necklace.

Auckland Museum has over 300 bird wings in its collection and now with digital photography we are allowing the public to learn more about this exquisitely complex piece of avian anatomy and how it relates to a bird’s lifestyle, air-miles and feeding habits.

Several major artworks were commissioned for our new war memorial gallery Pou Kanohi New Zealand at War. Learn about the local artists who developed these artworks and the meaning behind them.

Several years ago, students from a local school gathered on the side of a small country road and watched as kuia and kaumatua wept as they remembered their whanau who had lost their lives during the New Zealand wars 150 years earlier. So they created a student-led petition that they took to Parliament in order for these battles to be remembered.

Inspired by our current exhibition Wildlife Photographer of the Year we ran our own photography competition celebrating the beauty of Aotearoa. We talked to our winner Ronnie Li about his stunning landscape, how he selected it and his photographic style.

New Zealand successfully dodged the introduction of the red fox after a pair were brought onto our shores in 1864 though we are still feeling the impact of several ill conceived introductions, writes Land Vertebrates Curator Matt Rayner.

A century on, the events of the First World War can feel abstract and unconnected to our lives today, but Auckland Museum’s new gallery Pou Kanohi New Zealand at War is making the events of the war feel both relevant and relatable.