Blog

‘To the Christian, no war can be holy, no war righteous, except the one he must continually wage against sin in all its many and hideous forms, with spiritual weapons only.' These words from Harry Urquhart’s 1917 pamphlet Men & Marbles were just asking for trouble. In this blog, the legacy of Pacifism in the First World War is explored.

After a large storm hit the Auckland region, Matthew Brown and Ava Peters made an unexpected discovery. The couple came across a large piece of sandstone that had slipped down from the cliff above, displaying the footprints of a large bird. Only one bird in Aotearoa could have left footprints quite that large, the moa.

On January 25 2025 we marked the opening of the new exhibition Mana: Protest in Print. Contributors, friends and whānau gathered to celebrate the occasion. In this blog, we share Polynesian Panther and Auckland Museum Trust Board member Dr Melani Anae's words from the event.

How do you protect the collections from something you can't see? Vibrations are actually one of the most dangerous hazards to taonga, but they're often imperceptible to the naked eye. Read on to learn about Summer Student Luke Bishop's creation that will help protect our collections from this invisible threat.

What's it like to go on a scientific expedition in the middle of the ocean? Find out as Associate Curator Dr Marina Klemm takes us on Te Mana o Rangitāhua where whale-spotting, water-sampling and much more is part of the daily routine.

One of the Museum’s hardest working teams, does some pretty grimy work. They’re also our tiniest workers by a long way. Introducing, the dermestid beetles. Their role is to prepare skeleton specimens for our Natural Sciences Department.

If you have ever watched televised coverage of the Southern Steel playing an ANZ Championship match, or the former Southern Sting netball team in action, it’s highly probable you have seen their biggest fan on your TV screen. Yes, we are talking about the Dame Steel herself: Bev Harvey!

In this blog for Solomon Aelan Pijin Langguis Wik (Solomon Islands Pidjin Language Week), we delve into a collection of Solomon Islands insects and learn how specimens can teach us about biodiversity and sustainability.

What can bird toe pads and their genetic footprint reveal about the Pacific parrots of the past? Blog by Patricia Pillay, Auckland Museum Institute Scholar 2024.

In 1907, Henry Winkelmann joined an expedition to capture an image of a solar eclipse. The result was a remarkable feat that not only framed an elusive cosmic phenomenon, but also a playful glimpse at life behind-the-lens when photography was still a relatively rare and formal occasion.

In this blog, Kelly Brown, the Curator of Marine Collection at the University of the South Pacific, talks about our collaborative work and the importance of record sharing through data aggregators such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

Museum labels have the tricky job of condensing a big story into a just a few words. In this blog for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, discover the complexities of the world of label writing and how we make our bilingual texts.