Nature, Nation and the Museum: the mid-twentieth century New Zealand experience

Abstract

The mid-twentieth century is commonly identified as a transformative period for the display of the natural world, characterised by a shift from the didactic displays of natural history to interactive displays of science. But is this account sufficient? This question is explored through an examination of display practices of nature found within New Zealand’s Dominion Museum. With a focus on the 1930s -1950s this analysis is developed with consideration of contemporaneous displays produced in Australia’s National Museum of Victoria and the American Museum of Natural History. This period is revealed as one of great intensity, fuelled by the convergence of nationalism, nature study, education and new display techniques of the diorama and habitat series. Accordingly, displays of nature shift to naturalise science and the citizen within the ecological specifics of the local. While the Australian museum mirrors this experience, the American museum presents a spectacular nature, a difference which can be partially explained by different temporalities of nationalism.