Tuhinga 21

EAN: 11734337

The 2010 edition of Tuhinga is the largest ever published. Its diverse contents demonstrate both the range and depth of Te Papa’s scholarly work.

The first article examines the work of Samoan-born graphic designer Joseph Churchward, who hand-created more typefaces than anyone else in the world (750). In acquiring and exhibiting samples of Churchward’s work (most recently in the 2008 exhibition Letter Man), Te Papa has chosen to present Pacific artefacts outside an ethnographic context. In a subsequent article, two other recent Te Papa exhibitions serve as case studies in a study of community-focused exhibitions and the issues they pose for museums, including consultation and authenticity.

Collections of Maori fish-hooks in European museums are the subject of the second article. Many are in fact replicas and fakes, produced for trade or to satisfy the demands of curio collectors, yet they make an important contribution to our understanding of traditional hooks.

Molluscs feature in the next two articles. The first describes a new genus and species of large mussel discovered at active venting sites off the Kermadec Islands; the second explains how thirty-seven species of terrestrial molluscs found on a low-lying makatea island in the southern Cook Islands have changed over several hundred years.

The focus then shifts from Cook Islands fauna to artefacts, with a critical overview of the development of Te Papa’s Cook Islands collection since 1865. This is followed by an article proposing a new strategy for understanding a single item in that collection – the 19th century blue woollen cloak of Rarotongan chief Te Aia. When historical information is lacking, how else can we uncover a garment’s story?

New discoveries feature in two articles about parasites. The first focuses on lice in the genus Myrsidea found on birds in the Galapagos Islands, and identifies several new taxa. The second reviews both published and unpublished research into the diverse ectoparasites carried by the New Zealand kiwi, some of which present real risks to this threatened species.

This bumper edition of Tuhinga concludes with an article describing Rarotonga’s coastal landsnail fauna. While indigenous and endemic species were once abundant, many have declined or become extinct since the mid 19th century – largely due to habitat loss and introduced predators.