Anne Frank - A history for today

The Waikato Museum isn't particularly known for drawing in big name exhibits, so I was surprised to here that an Anne Frank exhibition was on.

So, of course, I went. The exhibit comprises a series of information boards with a timeline of Anne Frank's family's life, and the war in general. Secondly, a video documentary on Anne's life, and lastly a series of video 'survivor stories'.

Sadly, there were no artifacts or the like, and certainly not the diary itself. Being free admission, I'm not going to complain, but there really wasn't anything that a History channel doco and a book couldn't have told you.

Never the less, it was a good way to kill an hour this morning.

The secret art of Dr. Seuss comes to Hamilton

The Waikato Museum has a neat exhibition on at the moment - The Art of Dr. Seuss.

The secret art of Dr. Seuss comes to Hamilton

Dr. Seuss has always been a childhood favourite of mine - but then how can you go wrong with rhyming prose with so much going on on so many levels. To quote Suess: "I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.". The man has a point.

The exhibit goes through many of Seuss' works, ranging from artworks form his books (like sneetches), through to his artworks that weren't drawn for children, through to the unorthodox taxidermy. All up, a really neat exhibit, and one that you can easily spend an hour in - all the better because it is free.

What to do in Hamilton on a wet day? Waikato Museum

On a day like today, I often find myself wondering what to do - it's wet, so a walk is more or less out of the question, and there is little enjoyment to be had shopping on a wet day - it's busy and especially aggrevating when you don't need anything.

So, we went to Waikato museum. There are as always a few exhibitions on - only two of real interest to me, which are:

Never a Dull Moment focuses on Hamilton's history - and features much of the sort of history that I feature on this blog. There were even a few interesting photos that I'd never seen before, and a re-cap of much of the city's history. The history in this exhibit starts after the land-wars, and carries through just past WWII. Probably 30-90 minutes of material here.

Never A Dull Moment - Hamilton Stories (Waikato Museum)

Ngaa Pou Whenua tells the story of the four tribes that descend from the Tainui canoe - Waikato, Pare Hauraki, Raukawa and Maniapoto. While the exhibit is small, it is an interesting insight into the history of the tribes, and their modern form. Most enjoyable for me was some modern Maori art - a nice change from the ubiquitous traditional styles. The exhibit has maybe around 20 to 60 minutes worth of material.

Ngaa Pou Whenua (Waikato Museum)