Sarah Robinson, Social History Curatorial Intern Have you been struggling to find things to do over the past couple of months? It’s had us thinking about what people would’ve done in the past to keep themselves occupied, if they were unable to leave their homes for weeks on end. Our collection has tossed up some […]
Sarah Robinson, Social History Curatorial Intern In my last post, I talked about the beauty and variety of social history collections. This week I want to delve into the magical world of nostalgia. Nostalgia, yearning for the past, is a tricky beast. It’s a kind of in-between state where one might long for things from their […]
Sarah Robinson, Social History Curatorial Intern One of the things I love most about working with museum collections is the weird stuff you come across; sometimes these things have accompanying records that tell you what they are, sometimes you have to do some investigating and sometimes you just have to guess. The beauty of social […]
The holiday season is well and truly upon us and in searching our collection for Christmas related items I came upon this tin. These small brass boxes were issued to all those wearing the Kings’ uniform, fighting in World War I, during Christmas 1914. From Princess Mary, the tins contained cigarettes, tobacco, pens or chocolate, depending […]
If you are wanting to take a peek at more objects from the Petone Settlers Museum collection then come down to see Dear Nostalgia. Now on, until 2 November upstairs at The Dowse Art Museum. Featuring a wide selection of objects, from toy trains to a WWII gas mask, an elephant on wheels and an early […]
Here at the museum we have been helping Unilever Petone to catalogue its museum and archives collection that has amassed over the last century. These are some of the tools of the trade. Among the many treasures I’ve found a Glycerine Cookbook called “How Glycerine makes better cakes and Bigger Profits”. All the recipes include at least one pound of […]
Having passed the winter solstice, our days are getting ever so slightly longer and just that little bit warmer. What better way to celebrate our ascent into spring (less than a month now in counting) than with Lower Hutt gusto in the form of the Petone Winter Carnival. Now in its seventh year running, we […]
Welcome to the Petone Settlers Museum, a little gem on the shores of Wellington’s ever-changing harbour. The museum shares tales of settlers making new lives, from the historic meeting of the great Te Atiawa chiefs, Te Wharepouri and Te Puni, and the first British settlers, on Pito-one’s shores in 1840 to the establishment of Petone […]
