Pop Peth Music & Me Sian Lile-Pastore, 17 November 2009 The Pop Peth exhbition in Oriel 1, St Fagans:National history Museum ends on January 10th, so there's still time to come and look at Gari Melville's superb collection of memorabilia, play Llwybr Llaethog's keyboard, see how a fanzine is made, learn about Spillers Records, watch music videos and leave your memories of your best gig ever!We've been getting some lovely memories of best gigs and here are a few of my favourites....Ashley McAvoy went to see Super Furry Animals in Clwb Ifor Bach in 1994, Nicola Stingl walked into Stuart Cable (previously of Stereophonics), Liz Magee saw The Beatles in the early 1960s but couldn't hear them because of all the screaming, Irwin Richards played tambourine with Supertramp (even though he wasn't invited to...), Beth Thomas saw CSN&Y, The Band and Joni Mitchell in Wembley in 1974, Jared lost his shoe at an Oasis concert in 1996, and lost three days in Glastonbury...Kevin Williams sat next to Robert Plant for an entire football match (Barry Town v UWIC), Stu saw Lift to Experience in Barfly in 2002, and as well as walking into Stuart Cable, Nicola Stingl also goes out with the guitarist in Through Solace. And my absolute favourite of today's bunch of best gigs goes to Laura Kemp who saw Motley Crue in the Cardiff International Arena in 2005 and writes 'I fainted when I saw Nikki Sixx for the first time.'
Maori remains to return home Michael Houlihan, 16 November 2009 Today’s a special day at National Museum Cardiff, as a private repatriation ceremony takes place which will see the skeletal remains of 12 Maoris being sent back from Wales to New Zealand. It’s the first time the Museum has held such a ceremony, and I think it's important that the remains are returned to their country of origin. The ceremony itself will be quite different to the ones we usually see here! Before the remains are packed, a call and chant of acknowledgement is made. The remains - known as köiwi tangata - will then be greeted during the hour-long ceremony, which will be attended by workers from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, which has helped arrange the repatriation.Following a closing prayer, all participants of the ceremony will press noses as part of the completion process and sprinkle water over their heads and bodies. I’m hopeful that this will lay the foundations for future collaborations between Amgueddfa Cymru and the Te Papa Museum.
A great shell collector's work is finally brought together Harriet Wood and Jennifer Gallichan, 9 November 2009 A specimen plate from the The New Molluscan Names of César-Marie-Felix Ancey Amgueddfa Cymru’s mollusc collections are of international significance, and contain hundreds of thousands of specimens. In 2008 the definitive book on the work of the great collector César-Marie-Felix Ancey (1860–1906) was produced. César-Marie-Felix Ancey named many land and freshwater species new to science. A portion of his collection came to Amgueddfa Cymru in 1955, as part of the Melvill-Tomlin collection. Museum staff have been researching Ancey’s collection, held in museums across the world, since 2004 and have now produced the most up-to-date and comprehensive list ever of his new scientific names and publications. It forms a reference tool for specialists and researchers worldwide. Examples of Ancey’s handwritten collection labels César-Marie-Felix Ancey (1860–1906) Geret’s sales list, selling some of Ancey’s collection to Tomlin César-Marie-Felix Ancey César-Marie-Felix Ancey was one of the great Victorian collectors and made a huge contribution to science in his short life. Born in Marseille, France, on 15 November 1860, he showed a keen interest in natural history from an early age. He created his own collection of shells and later wrote and published many papers on conchology. Aged 23 he was appointed conservator of the Oberthur entomological collections at Rennes, France. He later returned to Marseille to study law, literature and science, and successfully obtained his diploma in 1885. Two years later he entered the government in Algeria. After 13 years hard work he was promoted to acting administrator at Mascara in Western Algeria. All his mollusc studies were done in his spare time. Specimens from across the globe Ancey’s main interest was in small land snails. Through exchange and purchase he collected specimens from all over the world. The Pacific and Asia are particularly strong in his collection, but it also covers Europe, North and South America and Africa. It was Ancey’s great desire to make a scientific journey to the Cape Verde Islands or South America, but sadly this dream was never realised as Ancey died of a fever at the young age of 46. The collection gets split up After Ancey’s death his entire collection went to Paul Geret, a shell dealer, who sold it on in 1919 and 1923. It was at this point that the collection was split up — the great private collectors of the time, Tomlin, Dautzenberg and Connolly among others, all competed for a part of it. A majority of Ancey’s specimens are now held at Amgueddfa Cymru (Cardiff: Melvill-Tomlin collection), the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Brussels: Dautzenberg collection), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), Bernice P. Bishop Museum (Honolulu) and the Natural History Museum (London: Connolly collection). A tribute to Ancey’s achievements In 1908 a list of his mollusc publications was produced, shortly followed by a separate list of the scientific names he had published. These two publications indicated that Ancey had described some 550 scientific names in over 140 papers. The problem was that neither of these lists were complete, and this has caused difficulty to researchers in this field of science ever since. Staff at Amgueddfa Cymru have now located all of Ancey’s papers to form a comprehensive bibliography listing 176 publications and within these we have identified 756 new scientific names. From trawling the Melvill-Tomlin collection we know that nearly 300 of these names are represented in our collection of Ancey specimens and that we hold type specimens of 155 of these. The result of this research is The New Molluscan Names of César-Marie-Felix Ancey, the most complete access to Ancey’s work that has ever been available. Now the true extent of Ancey’s contribution to science and conchology can be revealed, helping to make his collection more accessible to the scientific community worldwide.
Thousands of young scientists study climate change Danielle Cowell, 9 November 2009 National Museum Wales is working with 3,600 young scientists to investigate and understand climate change.Over the past few weeks bulbs and pots have been delivered to schools and home educators all across Wales - ready for the big planting day on the 20th October. Some schools have sent in some lovely pictures and reported on how excited the children are to be taking part.From now until the end of March 2010 each young scientist will be recording the weather and flowering dates of their Daffodil and Crocus bulbs as part or a long-term study looking at the effects of temperature changes on spring bulbs.The study started in 2005, and will hopefully continue for many years to come. To see the results so far or to sign up for next year please visit Spring Bulbs for Schools Each pupil will work through Professor Plant's tasks to be awarded a Super Scientist Certificate and the most dedicated school will win a trip to the Really Welsh Daffodil Farm and Kenfig Nature Reserve. The Really Welsh company kindly donated all the daffodils for this experiment - which are grown in good Welsh soil at Kenfig, near Bridgend.Watch this blog to see some of the schools reports & observations - or watch the picture diary in the spring.If you are taking part and would like to send Professor Plant a question - then please get in touch. Professor Plant would love to hear from you.
A 'must see' Michael Houlihan, 5 November 2009 Rembrandt's painting of Catrina Hooghsaet has gone on display at National Museum Cardiff today until the 21st of March next year. We're delighted to have it here, and are very grateful for the loan from Penrhyn Castle in North Wales. It's a special opportunity for the museum, and I'm sure it will be a popular attraction.First Minister Rhodri Morgan has described it as a real coup for Cardiff, stating: "Rembrandt is a towering figure in the history of art. Next to having the Mona Lisa on loan, I cannot think of any better ‘must see' attraction that we could possibly have in the National Museum." Well, that's one satisfied visitor. Make sure you come along to see it for yourself!
