A face mask woven from flax muka on a black background

Making Histories: Communities and Covid-19

Making Histories is a Te Papa project which aims to support visitors and communities around New Zealand to reflect on and share their experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the midst of these uncertain times, it also aims to foster longer-term discussions about issues such as work, health and wellbeing, racism, and inequality in Aotearoa by highlighting under-represented experiences and perspectives.

Online comics: The Pandemic Chronicles

These comics offer a glimpse into the experiences of people of ethnic Chinese background who lived through the Covid-19 pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand.

A handpainted sign on the side of the road with the words 'Te Urewera Closed to hunting and fishing. Locals and essential workers only'"

Making Histories: iwi, hapū and whānau Covid-19 Checkpoints – research, reflections, and what next?

Master of Museum and Practice Student Kate Hudspith-Gooch spent a one-month internship at Te Papa, conducting a small-scale research project into one of the lesser-acknowledged responses to the pandemic – iwi-led Covid-19 Checkpoints – as a part of the Making Histories: Communities and Covid-19 Project.

A woman sitting at a desk with another woman standing in front of a large screen showing Covid-19 signs in the Korean language.

The community coalition bridging the gaps in Aotearoa’s Covid-19 response

After 2020’s nationwide lockdown, a coalition of local Korean community groups came together to address gaps in the national Covid-19 response. Their born-digital objects and stories are being recorded by Te Papa, in collaboration with Turnbull Library, as part of Te Papa’s Making Histories project.

A year since lockdown: Collecting to tell the story of Covid-19

It’s been a year since Aotearoa New Zealand first went into lockdown in a move to restrict the spread of Covid-19. During this month-long period people sought to process the magnitude of what was happening through creative expression and entrepreneurial adaptations. Find out what we’ve been collecting from that time.

People sitting on a lawn in front of a large shape that looks like a bronze egg

Aotearoa speaks: Are we a team of five million?

Are we a team of five million? Hundreds of people recorded their answers to this question in the EggFruit, a mobile recording booth that popped up next to Te Papa in the last week of February. So what did they say?

Migrant and international student perspectives on Covid-19 in Aotearoa

In February we ran a workshop focussing on the Covid-19 experiences of people from international student and migrant backgrounds. Here, Curator Asian New Zealand Histories Dr Grace Gassin shares insights from the kōrero.

Making histories: reflecting on experiences of Covid-19

Curator Asian New Zealand Histories Dr Grace Gassin introduces Making Histories – a Te Papa project exploring different experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A collection of representations of the Covid-19 virus, made from an assortment of materials

Kowheori-19 │ Covid-19

Our Covid-19 collecting themes include life in lockdown, official campaigns, photographs of spontaneous community messaging, essential workers, mask making and wearing, Māori responses, New Zealanders of Asian and Pacific heritages and their experiences, racialisation of the virus, and Pacific region responses.

This postcard reads: Just a little message from POST-LOCKDOWN PAST!!! (Boo!) I'm so glad I got to travel with you (especially before the borders shut). Hopefully we can catch up sometime - I think we both deserve a hot chocolate for getting home in time.