First up to answer your questions was Dr Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp, Deputy Keeper of Anthropology and JC Niala, African Collections Researcher.
Pst! We’re starting at 9am. Send @JohannaZS, Deputy Keeper of Anthropology and @jcniala, African Collections Researcher your best or silliest questions now. ?#AskACurator #AskACurator2020 pic.twitter.com/VoqtF7e9ja
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
Q. If you were to open a mystery box in the museum stores, what would you most like it to contain? @jcniala #AskACurator #AskACurator2020
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @JohannaZS I feel such warmth and joy when I get to work with Swedish objects, which paradoxically is rarely the case. I’d most like to find something that reminds me of those precious things: a matchbox decorated with shells, a birch-bark tray, or an embroidered pillowcase.
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @jcniala says – A mystery box would be most likely to contain an everyday object from somewhere else in the world. Something like a cooking pot or a body adornment. #AskACurator #AskACurator2020 pic.twitter.com/mADjerDtfY
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
Q. How do you decide what objects to put in the Museum? @JohannaZS#AskACurator #AskACurator2020
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A.@JohannaZS – Ideally, decisions about what goes on display should always be made in conversation with people whose heritage we care for in the collections. #AskACurator
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
Q. What part of your job has surprised you? @jcniala @JohannaZS #AskACurator #AskACurator2020
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
.@JohannaZS – My job surprises me every day because what a curator of collections like ours is, and what we need to be doing in order the create a meaningful future for those collections, has no single answer. #AskACurator #AskACurator2020
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @JohannaZS I think I became a curator because I have always loved things. As I have continued along this path I am realising that it is because of people, and the conversations and sharing of memories and thoughts that can congregate around things. #AskACurator
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
Wesley Shaw, Head of Horticulture, answered all your gardening questions.
Q. What plant would you most like to grow at the Horniman that you can’t / haven’t been able to yet? @WezShaw #AskACurator #AskACurator2020
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A: @WezShaw – I’d love a Jade Vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) in the Butterfly House. It’s a very cool tropical climbing plant from the Philippines. It looks as though my colleague Lily might have sourced one from a contact at another garden, so fingers crossed! #AskaCurator pic.twitter.com/9zFJQrrUym
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
Q. What’s the size of the biggest pumpkin in the pumpkin patch and what does the Museum plan on doing with the pumpkins and squashes when they are ready to be picked? @WezShaw #AskACurator #AskACurator2020
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A: @WezShaw – The biggest one is about 55cm across and 45cm deep! We love pumpkins – one of my team Dan Tagg grows them each year and has been promising me a record breaker… maybe next year! And expect some pumpkin-based dishes in the Café soon… #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/7ffvX2aZrI
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
Q. What’s the worst creepy crawly you’ve found in your hair during your job? @WezShaw #AskACurator #AskACurator2020
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A: @WezShaw – When I worked in the Palm House @kewgardens tropical cockroaches were a regular issue… II used to sometimes take them home in my bag… not nice!! #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/5V60oRvX6d
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A: @WezShaw – Usually one the Gardens team comes up with an idea or theme and discusses it with colleagues to make connections to objects or exhibitions in the museum. But sometimes it’s a bit more self-indulgent and if we really like a particular plant, we buy one! #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/vkHMLHHLq7
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
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Michelle Davis, Deputy Aquarium Curator, represented the Aquarium.
A. @Mich_Calvert says – The aquarium feed round takes about 40 minutes and the Animal walk feeding and opening up routine takes around 1 hour. Feeding is a really important time for us to health check the animals at the beginning and end of every day. #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/eazN6O3dYd
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @Mich_Calvert says – The oldest creatures in the aquarium would be the corals where colonies have been in the aquarium collections for over 30 years! In the wild corals can easily live to over 100 years old. #AskACurator #AskACurator2020 pic.twitter.com/wTmlUe2FWe
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
Q.What’s your favourite animal in the Aquarium and why? @Mich_Calvert #AskACurator #AskACuratorDay
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @Mich_Calvert When they are juveniles they look like little dice with large cartoonlike eyes. #AskACurator #AskACuratorDay pic.twitter.com/ZMfju4Dw7C
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @Mich_Calvert says – My passion is for the coral research we carry out behind the scenes. I feel very lucky to work with these amazing creatures and produce such amazing work for our #ProjectCoral research. pic.twitter.com/yMSBU98rlP
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @Mich_Calvert says – Yes, Angus the cowfish has mistakenly bitten my fingers on quite a few occasions. #AskACurator #AskACuratorDay pic.twitter.com/Ck82d3Tved
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
Q. What’s next for #ProjectCoral? @Mich_Calvert #AskACuratorDay #AskACurator
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @Mich_Calvert – We are working on understanding different species and improving survivorship of juvenile corals, whilst building relationships to ensure our work is applied to active coral restoration in the wild. #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/5aYRS83KGz
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
Dr Emma Nicholls, Deputy Keeper of Natural History was on team Natural History.
Q. Which dinosaur would be best suited to living today? @Dr_EmmaNicholls #AskACurator #AskACurator2020
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A2. @Dr_EmmaNicholls – A synapsid (early mammal) not a dinosaur, but Lystrosaurus is a clear winner! It flourished in the Triassic Period after a mass extinction devastated the earth, wiping out 90% of life. Lystrosaurus has been found worldwide, it was so successful! AskACurator
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @Dr_EmmaNicholls – Definitely the Cretaceous Period! That’s when armoured dinosaurs like Ankylosaurus roamed the world. Fossils suggest they were like walking, flattened, tanks! I want to see them in real life, to test what we think we know as palaeontologists. #AskACurator
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @Dr_EmmaNicholls – The coolest in my opinion is the Triceratops rib bone, it is such an iconic dinosaur! But the biggest as in heaviest, single dinosaur fossil we have is either the huge Therizinosaur egg, or one of the Iguanodon limb bones. Both are pretty hefty! #AskACurator
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @Dr_EmmaNicholls – We’re often offered items (from the early-mid 1900s) that people have found hidden away ‘in their parents’ attic’ and, sadly, it’s often ivory. I wish there wasn’t so much of it out there in the first place. #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/t83Jd2GrGD
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
A. @Dr_EmmaNicholls – Woolly mammoths were actually only about the same size as the modern African savannah elephant (3.5m tall at the shoulder). However, there are many species of elephant ancestor and the largest, called Palaeoloxodon, reached 5m at the shoulder! #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/FkIAU8n6zI
— Horniman Museum and Gardens (@HornimanMuseum) September 16, 2020
And last but not least, Nick Merriman, Chief Executive, joined us for an hour.
I’d redisplay a big selection of the museum’s cultural and natural collections from the perspective of their connections to the legacy of Empire and the current climate and ecological crisis #AskACurator
— Nick Merriman (@nickmerriman01) September 16, 2020
I’d redisplay a big selection of the museum’s cultural and natural collections from the perspective of their connections to the legacy of Empire and the current climate and ecological crisis #AskACurator
— Nick Merriman (@nickmerriman01) September 16, 2020
It would have a fundamental commitment to being for everyone, which permeates everything it does, from how it recruits to what it offers. Features would include:
*Really welcoming staff and atmosphere
*Stimulating and inspiring displays & activities
*Great facilities— Nick Merriman (@nickmerriman01) September 16, 2020
Start outside by exploring our gardens and semi-hidden Nature Trail; pop in to the Butterfly House (re-opening next month). Inside, see @HornimanWalrus in Natural History Gallery, world instruments in Music Gallery, the amazing range in World Gallery, then Aquarium #AskACurator
— Nick Merriman (@nickmerriman01) September 16, 2020
It’s our biggest priority. Our ‘re-set’ agenda will accelerate work on recognising our Imperial legacy. We’re developing new strands of work to reach more diverse audiences, from an exhibition on ‘Hair’ to ‘696’, on grime and Afrobeat. But we need to do much more. #AskACurator
— Nick Merriman (@nickmerriman01) September 16, 2020
We work with museums (and aquaria) across the world on projects from coral research to health and wellbeing. But some of the best partnerships are with other kinds of organisations. Eg we’re now working with a hospice, childrens centre, housing association, hospital #AskACurator
— Nick Merriman (@nickmerriman01) September 16, 2020
I’d probably have been an archaeologist (my degree subject) as I like scrabbling in the dirt and discovering new things. But I was drawn to the big picture that museums provide, and I love being able to tell stories from ‘stuff’ #AskACurator
— Nick Merriman (@nickmerriman01) September 16, 2020
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