What a Triumph!

The Edison Triumph Phonograph is a thing of beauty. The case is of fine golden oak and the lettering on the decal swirls and flows across the front. The Triumph was the mid-range machine - sturdy, well built, with a Triple-Spring motor that can run for half an hour. This was unprecedented at the time and ensured good sales. It was first marketed in 1900 and the Triumph range was in production until 1913. The one in our collection is from around 1904.

Thomas Edison, 1847-1931, developed the first phonograph in 1877. He was a prolific inventor who put the profits from the sale of his telegraphy machine into an industrial complex dedicated to the production of his inventions. He is said to have pioneered the assembly-line approach with his business and thus was able to utilise the time and energy of his workers most efficiently.

Whilst it may not fit into your pocket,  it is portable. The wax cylinders it plays ran for two or four minutes, approximately the length of a song. It could be said to be the 1904 equivalent of a boom box. The Edison Triumph is a spectacular example of the sound engineering of its day.


It will be on display when we open to the public on April 30 so make a date to visit us to see this lovely piece.

Opening Day

Kia ora katoa.

We have an Opening Day - it is Saturday April 30 at 11am. All invited!

Dust off your glad-rags and we will look forward to seeing you.

The local community are organising all day celebrations with food stalls and a craft market so there will be heaps to do once the speeches and formal ceremonies are over.

It will be a great day for Aotea Utanganui - Museum of South Taranaki and the community.

The central focus of our exhibitions are the stories of South Taranaki and the people who live here, so come and celebrate with us on our special day.

Ka kite ano!

What's in a label?

Kia ora.

One of the most important aspects of an exhibition is the labels - these have to be concise, accurate and legible. The choice of font and of font size is as critical as the information that the label displays. Every object in an exhibition will have a label, so what is that label meant to do? The basic facts are a given, such as the title of a work or the object name, the media from which it is made, the name of the maker, the date it was made and who owns it. The last is only relevant if the piece is on loan to your institution. This sort of factual information is contained in what we call an Object Label.

If we want to include a little more about a particular piece - maybe the story behind it's making, or an explanation, then we develop an Extended Object Label, where a sentence or two of description or story allows the museum visitor to understand the relevance of the item to the broader exhibition themes. These are more fun to write, but also immensely more challenging as the sentence or two has to be precise, easy to read and convey the pertinent information in no more than  fifty words, or thereabouts.

There are also Thematic Labels, Segmental Labels and Introductory Labels - more on those next post; time is pressing and  we have hundreds of labels to write.............

ka kite ano!