The blog is where we'll post news, updates, information about objects in our collection, #betterworkstories, profiles of staff members and visitors, pictures and videos, and really anything we think you'd find interesting. We hope you enjoy.
If there's a topic you'd like us to do a post about, or a post that you think needs a sequel, just let us know!
The Enduring Rose: Cultivating Fashion
The rose, more than any other flower, has inspired illustration and imagination. The unmistakable scent, the graceful beauty, the delicate petal texture of the rose bud and bloom, the unforgiving nature of its thorns – all these are familiar images and remembered sensations. Many cultures have praised and painted the rose; preserved its petals; made medicines and cosmetics from it; used it as a poetic metaphor, household emblem or symbol of love; and strewn images of it on clothes and accessories. The red rose has become a symbol of Valentine’s Day, 14 February, and roses of all colours are...
Winging It
Spiders in mirror are not as creepy as they appear. “I’VE BEEN RIDING WITH SAM FOR ALMOST TEN YEARS. HE’S BEEN TO EVERY CLIMBING CRAG ON THE SOUTH ISLAND. IT MIGHT BE THE LONGEST RELATIONSHIP I’VE EVER HAD,” ANNE SAYS WITH A SMILE AND A NOD AT THE IMPRESSIVE WEB ON HER 2003 FADED GREEN SUBARU IMPREZA. SIDE MIRROR SPIDERS (AKA SIDEY-SPIDEYS) HAVE BEEN STOWING AWAY ON KIWI ROADIES FOR DECADES, BUT HOW MUCH DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT THE MOST WELL-TRAVELLED ARACHNIDS IN NEW ZEALAND? Anecdotally, Sidey-Spideys do not enjoy speeds over 110kph, and tend to inhabit older, slower vehicles driven...
A time when two legs was bad (for women)
*We take it for granted now that anyone of any gender can wear trousers or show their legs in our culture, but it was not always so.* In the 1880s and 1890s, some women tried wearing trousers or even just divided skirts to ride bicycles or sit astride horses, but they were made fun of, and hounded by groups of men and boys. Victorian-style dress, worn for most of the 19th century, embodied gender role differences: for men, dark, sombre colours, and shapes indicating seriousness, expanded shoulders and chests to show strength, bifurcated trousers to allow activity. Women had small waists...
Is it a horse? Is it a deer? Is it a sheep? Rhyta in the Classical Collections
Otago Museum has a number of drinking horns called rhyta. See if you can identify them all!
Here be monsters: Giant Squid from the Catlins
Dive into the history and mystery of the giant squid (Architeuthis dux) with On Lee Lau!
Research Insights – Q & A with Peter Hadden
I am a part-time postgraduate student in Auckland at the University of Auckland, Department of Ophthalmology, and also a practising ophthalmologist (eye surgeon)...
DECEMBER (HAKIHEA) SKY GUIDE
Welcome to the Sky Guide, your monthly guide to what's happening in the heavens!
Striking a Balance – Zoe
The Otago Museum Blog is being taken over by the student-creators of the exhibition Climate Change – Striking a Balance!
About
Our blog aims to keep you informed of the latest happenings at the Otago Museum, through posts about our collections, our people and our work.
Disclaimer
The views expressed here are those of our individual contributors, and are not the views of the Otago Museum.
Copyright
All content of this blog is Copyright Otago Museum, 2017. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the Otago Museum, except for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review, or education, as provided for in the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994.