Blogs
Have a chat with our experts and let us know what you think. Find out about some of the projects we're working on and discover what goes on behind the scenes at the Museum.
Below are some of the latest posts from the Manchester Museum blogs.
- Egyptology
- Palaeontology
- Frog Blog Manchester
- Learning
- Herbology
- ManCultural
- Nature Manchester
- Ancient Worlds
- Entomology
- New Light on Old Bones
- Dinosaurs, synchrotrons and space shuttles!
- Whitworth Parklife
- Manchester Museum Youth Board
- Manchester Hermit
- CultureBaby
- Student Engagement Manchester
- In The Mix
- Museum Meets
- Conservation
Archived blogs:
Disclaimer: Posts from blogs are used to provide further Museum related information. The Manchester Museum takes no responsibility for any loss or damage suffered as a result of using any information published on any of the pages linked to on third party websites.
Egypt at the Manchester Museum
- Lecture 29/06/13: “Talking Trees in Ancient Egyptian Love Poetry” by Cynthia Sheikholeslami
A special lecture as part of our Collecting Trees programme and exhibition: “Talking Trees in Ancient Egyptian Love Poetry” by Cynthia Sheikholeslami (American University in Cairo). Saturday 29th June, 2pm, Kanaris Lecture Theatre. FREE but booking required. An ancient Egyptian papyrus, dating to around 1100 BC, contains a series of love songs related to trees […]
Posted on 7 June 2013 | 3:53 pm - Bob Partridge Memorial Lecture 10/06/13: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt
The next Manchester Ancient Egypt Society lecture will be given by Dr. Toby Wilkinson. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt Monday 10th June, 7:30pm Days Inn, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3AL All welcome Ancient Egypt has all the ingredients of an epic novel – glittering courts, dynastic intrigues, murky assassinations and epic battles; individual stories […]
Posted on 6 June 2013 | 10:22 am - Object biography #13: The upper part of a female statuette from Kahun (Acc. No. 269)
This fragmentary piece of sculpture has for several months featured on the Museum’s handling table, to enable visitors to touch pieces. The fragment comes from the town of Kahun, built to house the workers that constructed the pyramid of King Senwosret II (c. 1877-1870 BC). The town continued to be inhabited by priests whose job […]
Posted on 30 May 2013 | 4:54 pm
Palaeo Manchester
- Magical boxes of mystery
Most curators have somewhere where they keep boxes of objects that they haven’t quite got round to dealing with yet. For me it’s about 50 boxes of minerals that have labels on them such as “Duplicate” and “from Education”. Often these are not the best specimens and don’t deserve much time spending on them. Since […]
Posted on 11 June 2013 | 9:28 am - Manchester Meteorites solve Egyptian mystery
This amazing research on our collections solves an enduring mystery: Iron in Egyptian relics came from space Meteorite impacts thousands of years ago may have helped to inspire ancient religion. The Gerzeh bead (top) has nickel-rich areas, coloured blue on a virtual model (bottom), that indicate a meteoritic origin. Open Univ./Univ. Manchester The 5,000-year-old iron […]
Posted on 30 May 2013 | 11:33 am - Rockdrop – bring in your mystery rocks and fossils
Our monthly Rock Drop returns on the 30th Many from 2-3pm in the Collection Study Centre. If you have any interesting rocks, fossils or potential meteorites bring them in for me to take a look at, ask questions and meet other geology enthusiasts.
Posted on 24 May 2013 | 2:31 pm
FROG BLOG MANCHESTER
- Field course 2013
At the moment I’m busy teaching undergraduate students on our field course in Costa Rica, and over the past few nights have been taking them deep into the rainforest of the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Centre. Here the students have been witnessing the incredible diversity of herpetofauna in Brian Kubicki’s private reserve. Being the first […]
Posted on 16 June 2013 | 5:46 pm - A Brazilian trim
As if the deforestation rate in the Amazon isn’t bad enough, did you know the Brazilian government has released its latest figures showing an increase – from August 2012 to February 2013 the rate increased an estimated 26.82%, and an area the size of 237,000 football pitches vanished within just 6 months! Every hour over […]
Posted on 9 June 2013 | 10:15 am - Go compare
On Friday, my good friend George Madani arrived into Manchester from Australia. Coming straight to the Museum after his long-haul flight, he presented an absolutely fascinating talk to our University students and staff about his amazing trip to Borneo. The talk, which covered many of George’s exploits in search of some of the most interesting wildlife […]
Posted on 2 June 2013 | 11:25 pm
Learning at The Manchester Museum
- From Yr 6 to Yr 7 at the Museum
On Friday 7th June we were lucky enough to have Cheadle Hulme High School visit us with a group of their forthcoming Year 7 students for September. These current Year 6 pupils were just a selection of the cohort from the Primary Feeder schools for Cheadle Hulme High School, who visited a number of Manchester […]
Posted on 12 June 2013 | 2:28 pm - ‘The tip of the educational iceberg’…amazing choir performance at Manchester Museum
We were amazingly privileged here at the Museum to play host to the fantastic ‘School Network Choir’ today. In the glorious Manchester sun, pupils from Oswald Road, Crab Lane, Birchfields and Barlow Hall schools sang a series of songs from around the world in the galleries and the Museum allotment, inspired by the collections in […]
Posted on 7 June 2013 | 4:49 pm - Check out this exciting ‘In the Mix’ weekend event run by our Student Engagement Coordinator Naomi Kashiwagi!
Come to In The Mix Hack Weekend (7-9th June) at MadLab! 3 Jun Are you In The Mix? Are you a sound hacker, audio producer, or developer who’s keen to play with Manchester’s richest auditory dataset? Will your hack win one of our exclusive prizes? Manchester has some fantastic museums and galleries; from Manchester Museum […]
Posted on 4 June 2013 | 4:18 pm
Herbology Manchester
- Spring Wild Food Forage
Reblogged from The Diary of a Natural History Trainee Curator: This event on Saturday, 25 May was part of the Urban Naturalist series of public events at the Manchester Museum with Jesper Lauder (a medical herbalist) in association with Cracking Good Food. The weather was great and Jesper kept us engaged and entertained during the […]
Posted on 14 June 2013 | 4:22 pm - All bees have died…
Art student Jade Alana Ashton was inspired by the specimens and space here at the herbarium and brought her stunning artwork back in to photograph them amongst the cabinets and museum objects. Here’s what she says about her work: Jade Alana Ashton, APOIDEA (2013) Imagine yourself in a museum of the future where specimens of […]
Posted on 12 June 2013 | 1:15 pm - Collection Bites: Think•Eat•Save
June 5th 1.05-2pm Please book on 0161 275 2648 or museum@manchester.ac.uk as spaces are very limited. This months Collection Bites will focus on the fantastically diverse botany collection and will be lead by its Curator Rachel Webster. As June 5th is World Environment Day Rachel will take its theme of Think•Eat•Save, focusing on food sustainability, […]
Posted on 30 May 2013 | 10:37 am
M/Cultural
- In & Out
Loaning objects to other institutions is an important function of any collection, and non more so than with the Living Cultures collection. As I mentioned in my previous post (Coming Continue reading →
Posted on 30 May 2013 | 11:49 am - Coming to America
Last Wednesday we opened our very latest temporary exhibition Warriors of the Plains: 200 years of Native North American honour and ritual. The exhibition is on tour from the British Continue reading →
Posted on 30 May 2013 | 11:11 am - From Alaska to Aunty
The BBC have recently uploaded a fascinating episode of the popular material culture series Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? filmed at Manchester Museum in 1954. http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/p017gczq/ A panel of experts, including the Continue reading →
Posted on 8 May 2013 | 12:23 pm
Nature Manchester
- National Nest Box week
Reblogged from Herbology Manchester: Yesterday, Andrew Lawton (the Museum's curatorial trainee) and I braved the cold outside the Museum entranace to make bird boxes with Evan Powell from the RSPB. For National Nest Box Week, we made homes for starlings and sparrows which will be placed in trees around the University of Manchester campus. We're […]
Posted on 22 February 2013 | 2:23 pm - tree2yourdoor for Nature and Me
We’ve been running workshops at Manchester Museum for our new Nature and Me participants. We’re making short films that show people talking about their own personal connections to nature. One of the recent ones included a participant called Gareth Mitchell who has set up a business called Tree2MyDoor Ltd.
Posted on 22 February 2013 | 9:28 am - Museums, taxidermy, sustainability, well-being, and a Short-eared Owl
Hello- I’ve written a couple of things about museums recently that I wanted to share with you, and we have a number of events coming up soon too. Our approach boils down to a couple of things: -Lots of people are interested in natural history in museums. -Natural history in museums can often seem old-fashioned […]
Posted on 9 February 2013 | 7:02 pm
Ancient Worlds
- Ancient Worlds on Holiday II: Obisidian vessel
Another welcome surprise during my recent holiday in Crete was to see an obsidian drinking vessel or goblet in the Antiquities Museum in Iraklion. It’s almost 30cm tall! It’s from Zakros at the eastern end of the island and the label in the Iraklion Museum said it dates from the New Palace period (1500-1450 BC). I sent a […]
Posted on 19 June 2013 | 3:09 pm - Stone tools
Recently I’ve been doing some work with Hannah-Lee Chalk in the engagement team to develop a session for school children using objects from the archaeology collection. Here you can see children from Bury Grammar School puzzling over stone objects. It was a year 1 class, 17 pupils, and they were piloting a new session (name […]
Posted on 16 June 2013 | 1:41 pm - Ancient Worlds on Holiday I: Spinalonga
I recently got back from a fortnight’s holiday in Crete. Christine and I stayed in a resort called Elounda which is near Agios Nikolaos at the eastern end of the island. The temperature was in the low 30s, the sea was warm and there was plenty of good food and wine, oh and some fantastic antiquities if you […]
Posted on 3 June 2013 | 9:03 pm
Entomology Manchester
- Our visitors – Dung beetles as bioindicators
The Manchester Museum holds a fantastically diverse collection of insects, with over 2.5 million specimens deposited, which represent an important scientific resource for taxonomic, biodiversity and conservation studies. One of such academic studies is now being undertaken by Ms Roisin Stanbrook, a postgraduate student reading for a MSc. in Conservation Biology at Manchester Metropolitan University. […]
Posted on 7 May 2013 | 4:22 pm - Our visitors – Inspired by a fragile beauty of butterflies
The Manchester Museum’s Entomology Department welcomes a wide array of visitors, from scientists coming to study our extensive insect collections to designers and artists exploring the diversity of shapes, colours or patterns of the many thousands of creepy-crawlies deposited here. Some time ago, the Entomology Department was visited by Ms Michelle Topping based at Mirabel […]
Posted on 4 April 2013 | 10:32 am - Events – An introduction to spiders – Manchester Museum – Sat 2nd February, 2013
Spider ID workshop at the Manchester Museum (Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL) on Saturday 2nd February, provisionally 10am – 4pm. This workshop is for beginners and attendance at the workshop is free. This course will introduce the common families of spider that can be found in the UK. Attendees will be shown basic spider anatomy […]
Posted on 16 January 2013 | 3:22 pm
New Light on Old Bones
- Destruction and preservation in museums
Myna Trustram writes… To further pick up on David’s post, ‘Honesty and illusion in museums’: I think that one of the things we do to shelter ourselves from the reality of death is to run museums. You might say then … Continue reading →
Posted on 12 September 2011 | 9:00 am - Unrealised Proposal for Cadavre Piece, 1970
Myna Trustram writes… David’s post about the display of dead bodies – whether animal or human – put me immediately in mind of a possible future exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery where a dead human body will be displayed. Those … Continue reading →
Posted on 5 September 2011 | 9:00 am - Honesty and illusion in museums
Twitter is brilliant for finding out about really interesting stuff you may otherwise have missed. In the last couple of weeks, to really interesting examples of museum NS displays have been brought to my attention. The first, from Elee Kirk … Continue reading →
Posted on 29 August 2011 | 9:00 am
Dinosaur CSI
- X-rays Reveal New Picture of 'Dinobird' Plumage Patterns
The first complete chemical analysis of feathers from Archaeopteryx, a famous fossil linking dinosaurs and birds, reveals that the feathers of this early bird were patterned – light in colour, with a dark edge and tip to the feather – rather than all black, as previously thought. The findings came from X-ray experiments undertaken by our team from the University of Manchester, working with colleagues at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC Nationa [...]
Posted on 12 June 2013 | 12:58 am - Expedition planning ahoy!
It is that time of year when our undergraduates either go home or graduate...sometimes both. It is also the time of year when my team and I look to our various field projects to work-out where best to focus our time and energies in the coming months. We have to decide if we need to go back to our tropical cave system and dodge possible hurricanes; or maybe seek the attention of pigeon-sized mosquitoes in the badlands of South Dakota...either way, we have to start planning our field sea [...]
Posted on 6 June 2013 | 2:24 pm - 'Intense' but fun weekend at the Diamond Synchrotron
Forgive this post being 'after the fact', but alas the outreach event that my team and I attended at the Diamond Synchrotron (near Oxford) was already sold-out before we arrived here last Friday! This was one of those wonderful weekends when this world class facility opened its doors to the public, including behind the scenes tours of the actual synchrotron.... quite awesome!Diamond LightsouceGiven visitor numbers are restricted in to access the main synch [...]
Posted on 2 June 2013 | 4:53 pm
Whitworth Parklife
- Exciting News! – Dr Karina Croucher
Hello, some great news! As part of the University of Manchester’s Arts Access Fair, the Whitworth Park Community Archaeology Project has received an award to support our work with local schools. The award, for a project called Dig: Creative Interpretations, … Continue reading →
Posted on 23 May 2013 | 1:51 pm - Friends of Whitworth Park: Whitworth Art Gallery Dig – Ken Shone report 2012-11-26
This was the second day of a limited programme of excavation to follow up an evaluation that Oxford Archaeology had done earlier in the year. The site had been cleared in the dig areas to give easy access to the … Continue reading →
Posted on 5 March 2013 | 1:28 pm - Heald Place Primary School Poetry Workshop
On the 18th June 2012, members of the Whitworth Park Archaeology and History Project, in association with the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Centre, took a poetry workshop to Heald Place Primary School. We began by introducing the pupils to … Continue reading →
Posted on 5 March 2013 | 12:58 pm
mcrmuseumyouthboard
- Nature’s Library
At our monthly meeting today (11th May 2013), we paid a visit to the recently opened “Nature’s Library” gallery. We …Continue reading »
Posted on 11 May 2013 | 2:29 pm - Our First Exhibition!
Recently we have blogged about our exhibition - Northwest to Northwest -on the theme of trees. It was installed in early …Continue reading »
Posted on 13 April 2013 | 1:40 pm - Coming soon…
We, the Manchester Museum Youth Board, are currently working on an installation in the reception area of the museum on …Continue reading »
Posted on 9 March 2013 | 2:36 pm
Student Engagement Manchester
- Come to WOW Student Social @Whitworth Art Gallery, Fri 7th June 7:30-10:30pm, Free!
Come to a late night event curated by students to celebrate the Wonders Of Whitworth Art Gallery, from when it became part of the University of Manchester in 1958 through to becoming a revitalised 21st century gallery in a park in summer 2014! There will be music, workshops and more! Huw Bunford from Super Furry […]
Posted on 3 June 2013 | 4:09 pm - Would you like to be a Student Curator for the WOW (Wonders of Whitworth) Student Social?
Role: Student Social Curators Event: WOW (Wonders of Whitworth) Student Social, Friday 7th June, 7:30-10:30pm Would you like to co-curate a Student Social at Whitworth Art Gallery to celebrate the Whitworth Art Gallery’s past, present and future; from 1958, when it became part of University of Manchester to Summer 2014, when the gallery reopens as […]
Posted on 23 April 2013 | 9:43 am - Tomorrow: TACTILE TOO Launch at Whitworth Art Gallery
Reblogged from Tactile Textile Resources: TACTILE TOO Launch Whitworth Art Gallery 7 March 2013 4 – 6 pm Please do pop along to see TACTILE TOO… TACTILE TOO is a contemporary textiles handling resource, showcasing the work of emerging Northwest textile makers. It can be used alongside the existing resource TACTILE in the gallery, or […]
Posted on 6 March 2013 | 2:14 pm
In The Mix
- Come to In The Mix Hack Weekend (7-9th June) at MadLab!
Are you In The Mix? Are you a sound hacker, audio producer, or developer who’s keen to play with Manchester’s richest auditory dataset? Will your hack win one of our exclusive prizes? Manchester has some fantastic museums and galleries; from Manchester Museum to the Whitworth Gallery – but also including the iconic Jodrell Bank and […]
Posted on 3 June 2013 | 11:48 am - Rescheduled: In the Mix Hack Weekend at MadLab
Just to let you know that the In The Mix Hack Weekend has been rescheduled for the beginning of June- more info coming soon.
Posted on 16 May 2013 | 6:18 pm - In The Mix Hack Weekend at MadLab (17-19 May)
I’m working with MadLab and a colleague at Manchester Museum, Steve Devine (New Media Officer) to organise ‘In The Mix Hack Weekender’ which will be happening Friday 17-Sunday 19 May! If you are a sound hacker, audio producer, or developer who’s keen to play with Manchester’s richest auditory dataset, then come down! Click here for more […]
Posted on 11 May 2013 | 8:01 pm
Museum Meets
- Manchester Museum Book Club
Tuesday 25 June 2013, 5.30-6.30 pm Meet people and discuss books inspired by the museum’s new Nature’s Library gallery. This month’s book is ‘The Conjuror’s Bird’ by Martin Davies. In 1774, Captain Cook made his second expedition to the South Pacific, during which the ship’s naturalist collected samples of local flora and fauna, including a […]
Posted on 14 June 2013 | 5:01 pm - Saturday 29 June – Urban Naturalist – Herbal Medicine Walk
Urban Naturalist on June 29 at 2-4pm is a Herbal Medicine Walk led by Jesper Launder, in association with Cracking Good Food. June is a wonderfully rich time of year for anyone interested in exploring their natural surroundings and finding wild foods for free. There are many edible leaves and shoots to be found, with […]
Posted on 14 June 2013 | 10:24 am - Contemporary Chinese Cinema – CI Free Public Talks on China
The Confucius Institute Free Public Talks On China Contemporary Chinese Cinema Kaby Kung Chinese cinema began its rise to global prominence during the 1980s as it started catch the attention of prestigious international film awards. China’s is now the third largest film industry in the world, with an increasing number of Chinese films screened on […]
Posted on 11 June 2013 | 5:41 pm
Conservation at The Manchester Museum
- Back to the stores
Our regular readers will remember my post about going to the stores in search of an object in need of some attention, where I stumbled upon a Norwegian Bridal Crown. Well seven months later and its ready to be returned having gone through thorough analysis, recording, cleaning and restoration it is hardly recognisable as the […]
Posted on 10 June 2013 | 10:00 am - Visitors from far and wide
Last week we played host to a few visitors in the conservation lab in connection with a couple of exciting exhibtions to keep an eye out for. The first was Francis Amu a conservator from Ghana Museums and Monuments Board bringing with him a selection of pottery from Koma Land, this will be only the second […]
Posted on 20 May 2013 | 2:26 pm - CT Scans and Blue Peter
There is a major project in the process of being completed at Manchester Museum which involves all the mummies in the collection being CT scanned and x-rayed. These scans reveal the interior of the mummies without them having to be unwrapped. This is a child mummy. It is going through the CT scanner. Several views […]
Posted on 7 May 2013 | 4:41 pm
Archived blogs
Lindow Manchester
- Lindow Man at the Manchester Museum Blog 2010 in review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!. Crunchy numbers A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 6,500 times in 2010. That’s about [...]
Posted on 2 January 2011 | 7:32 pm - Alan Partridge and Bog Axe
Stephen Welsh kindly sent me a link to Mid Morning Matters, on U-Tube , by Steve Coogan’s comic persona, Alan Partridge, based around the idea of the 100 most famous Norfolk people. Horatio Nelson, Delia Smith and Egyptologist Howard Carter are in the list. Alan Partridge says Carter was responsible for Time Team (!) and a describes a [...]
Posted on 8 December 2010 | 12:28 pm - Lindow Man talk to University of Manchester Archaeology Students
At the beginning of this term I met Andy Michaelas, a first year archaeology student at the University of Manchester. He was very keen to start up the students’ archaeology society again. He kindly asked me to give a talk to the students on the subject of Lindow Man. Going over some of the earlier presentations I [...]
Posted on 18 November 2010 | 3:23 pm
The Manchester Museum Myths About Race Blog
- Twenty per cent of British voters agree with BNP
Twenty per cent of British voters agree with BNP 19 May 2009 New evidence has revealed that the extreme right in Britain is only realising a fraction of its electoral potential. Dr Rob Ford from The University of Manchester found … Continue reading →
Posted on 19 May 2009 | 9:17 am - Deepening tolerance makes British Obama ‘possible’ says Putnam
The UK has the necessary preconditions for the emergence of a black prime minister according to a joint study by Harvard University and The University of Manchester. The project, to be published in book later this year co-authored by writer … Continue reading →
Posted on 26 March 2009 | 11:13 am - ‘Myths’ threaten racial harmony, say population experts
Using previously unpublished evidence, Professor Ludi Simpson and Dr Nissa Finney from The University of Manchester show how repeated falsehoods about immigration, integration and segregation are misguiding policy and promoting racial disharmony. This is the basis of the authors’ new … Continue reading →
Posted on 22 January 2009 | 11:01 am
Enquiremanchester's Weblog
- How’d the Young Curators do and what’s next….
The young curators from Manchester Creative Media Academy (Boys) did a fine job of putting on exhibitions here at the Museum. They followed a creative curatorial process to design exhibitions, which would appeal to the diverse audience that visits The Manchester Museum. One group devised an exhibition for the ‘young children’ that frequent the Manchester [...]
Posted on 3 May 2011 | 5:01 pm - Coming soon…
I’ll be putting together a new blog post next week…. I’ll be telling you how our Young Curators got on (amazingly!) and telling you what’s coming next for Arty things at the Manchester Museum. We have lots to report on the ‘direction’ of the Arts programming here. It’s all very exciting and will bring out [...]
Posted on 21 April 2011 | 4:51 pm - What’s going on…
Hello everyone. My name is Dena Bagi, and I’ve recently taken control of the arty happenings here at Manchester Museum. I am really excited about the next few months – we have loads going on! Young curators have been let loose on the collection at the Museum, independent creatives will be exploring the Museum with [...]
Posted on 22 February 2011 | 1:49 pm
Manchester King Monkey...
- Chinese Archaeologists Unearth 2,400-year-old ‘Soup’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11981666
Posted on 13 December 2010 | 2:21 pm - Imperial Chinese Robes from the Forbidden City
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/asia/imperial-chinese-robes/
Posted on 2 December 2010 | 2:30 pm - A Little Piece of China in Ardwick
On Friday 22nd October we installed the China: Journey of the East off-site exhibition in the Manchester Chinese Centre, Ardwick. This is the fourth in a successful series of off-site exhibitions as managed by Andrea Winn Curator of Community Exhibitions. Jenny Wong, Director of the Manchester Chinese Centre, and some volunteers selected a number of [...]
Posted on 2 November 2010 | 3:35 pm
The University of Manchester is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
You might also enjoy reading the Whitworth Art Gallery blogs.
