One of our popular exhibitions from last year was Make, Do and Mend. It promoted the idea of recycling and reusing items in clever ways. Today these principles are part of a philosophy of reducing waste to save the planet. In the past, however, people made, mended or reused items because it made economic...

  Last year we featured the exhibition Make, Do and Mend, which included all sorts of creative ways that people have recycled and re-used unexpected materials. While planning and installing the exhibition, at the same time we were looking ahead to new activities and programmes for the school holidays. One such activity began on Tuesday,...

  We live in a highly globalised and connected world. Worldwide shipping and communication networks have intensified and become less costly over time too, meaning that it is now normal for us to do something like purchase an item that was produced in another country while out shopping. Evidence of international and intercultural sharing of...

Japanese gifts

Since the release of this blog post, misidentified items have since been recategorised. Get in touch with the Museum if you require more information. As in many societies, gift giving is a very important part of Japanese culture. In Japan, as in New Zealand, gifts are given on anniversaries, weddings, births, graduations, housewarmings and so...

Since the release of this blog post, misidentified items have since been recategorised. Get in touch with the Museum if you require more information. Last year we opened The Spirit of Budo: The History of Japan’s Martial Arts. With the exhibition off to a great start and having proved popular with visitors, we turned our...

The Ashburton Museum Archive is always kept busy answering enquiries and assisting people to undertake research on a wide area of topics. Normally the answers to questions are then stored away in a book or computer, and images purchased from us are hung on a wall or printed and published. Rarely does the information we...

Reserves have played an important part in the history of Ashburton District and were some of the first areas defined for use in early surveys. Today they are governed through the Reserves Act 1977 and continue to play an important part in land use in the Ashburton District. The establishment and management of reserves has...

Making sure objects are well looked after is something that the team at Ashburton Museum takes pride in, especially as the rich history of the district means that we have many thousands of objects that we look after and preserve. When visitors come in and ask to do family research you never quite know what...

Working in the role of Museum Assistant at Ashburton Museum last summer was an extremely valuable and rewarding experience. Having returned for my third stint of museum work, it had once again been an absolute pleasure working alongside my talented museum family in presenting, preserving, and displaying the social history and cultural heritage of Ashburton....

Walking in with no expectations is how I go into a lot of situations and starting my new summer job in late 2018 as a Museum Assistant at the Ashburton Museum was no different. With no previous experience of the behind-the-scenes of a museum, I had no idea of the amount of work, what type...