Rainbow taonga at Te Papa

In this podcast episode titled "Rainbow taonga at Te Papa," history curators Lynette Townsend and Stephanie Gibson from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa discuss their work in collecting and preserving New Zealand's diverse history through various objects, particularly those that represent the rainbow community, including LGBTQI+ individuals and their experiences from the 1980s to the 2010s.

The curators are interviewed in the museum's history store, amidst a vast collection of historical items. They emphasize the importance of maintaining optimal environmental conditions for the preservation of these items, with regulated temperature and humidity to prevent damage.

During the conversation, the curators highlight the significance of Queer History Month and the range of rainbow materials in their collections. This includes textiles such as flamboyant drag queen and transgender community costumes, as well as activist objects like t-shirts and posters from the Homosexual Law Reform movement, and material linked to popular culture, like the Topp Twins.

A large part of the curators' work involves public engagement, where talks and events lead to donations that expand their collection. An example noted is the addition of material from Amazon's Softball Club after hosting the Asia Pacific Outgames. The curators also engage in extensive research to identify people and stories behind the objects, such as the collage panels from the Evergreen Coffee Lounge.

Managing these collections requires careful documentation, classification, and constant communication with communities to respect and reflect evolving identities and terminologies. They discuss the challenges and nuances of classifying items in the international databases like the Getty's vocabularies that do not always encompass the spectrum of identities and their histories.

Objects from various categories are mentioned including materials from the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt, sporting equipment, and artifacts related to the Asia Pacific Outgames, among others. An anecdote about the preservation of a significant activist placard from the homosexual law reform campaign is shared, shedding light on how they preserve not only the object but also its story.

The conversation also turns to the emotional resonance of historical objects. The curators share detailed insights into how they select which artifacts to preserve, considering their historical significance, and their connection to prominent events and personal stories. They mention that while some objects are intentionally preserved by donors, others survive by chance and are often proactively collected.

Access to these artifacts is possible through the museum's online collections and by arrangement for in-person visits. People are encouraged to share stories and engage with the curators, contributing to ongoing research or exhibition ideas.

This summary is created using Generative AI. Although it is based on the recording's transcription, it may contain errors or omissions. Click here to learn more about how this summary was created.

Lynette Townsend Stephanie Gibson

1980s, 2010s, acceptance, activism, aids memorial quilt, amazons softball club (wellington), anti springbok tour march (1985), anti springbok tour protest (1981), archives, asia pacific outgames, asia pacific outgames (2011), bisexual, chrissy witoko, community, costumes, culture, devotion (wellington), diversity, dolls, drag, dresses, evergreen coffee house, fa'afafine, fashion, frank lund, gay, getty vocabularies, grave, hero (auckland), history, hiv / aids, homosexual law reform, homosexual law reform act (1986), homosexual law reform petition, hugh young, human rights, identity politics, jools topp, lesbian, lynda topp, lynette townsend, marriage amendment act (2012), marriage equality, museum of new zealand te papa tongarewa, museums, new zealand aids memorial quilt, paul jenden, performance, placard, posters, protest, queer history month (september), queer the night (wellington), remembrance, research, safety, softball, sport, springbok rugby tour (1981), stephanie gibson, takatāpui, technology, topp twins, transgender, visibility

access, actions, advice, africa, all blacks, apartheid, auckland, building, cafe, camp, change, children, classification, clothing, code, coffee, collage, condoms, connect, conversation, convictions, design, drag queen, earthquake, email, emotional, environment, equality, events, exhibition, expression, family, flamboyant, friends, fun, future, gender, gender identity, hair, happiness, health, hit, homosexual, homosexual law reform, identity, imagery, interviewing, job, knowledge, law, lgbt, love, marriage, marriage equality, media, memorial, music, naming, narrative, news, other, pacific, parents, parties, people, petition, plague, politics, popular culture, preservation, privilege, queen, queer, rally, reading, records, reflection, relationships, roller, rugby, running, sad, sexuality, south africa, space, straight, stuff, support, survival, taonga, ties, time, top, touch, treat, twins, work, writing