Join Te Papa curators for a floor talk and back-of-house tour of Nancy Adams’ botanical collections

Nancy Adams (1926-2007) was one of Aotearoa’s most notable botanists and a talented artist. As well as being a prolific botany collector, Adams drew and painted an incredible number of botanical illustrations, and wrote popular books on New Zealand’s seaweeds, trees, alpine plants, and wildflowers.

In this tour, we will first spend time at the museum "hot spot" display, Nancy Adams: The Art of Seaweed on Level 2. After a curatorial floor talk on Adams’ seaweed art, specimens and research, we’ll head back of house to Te Papa’s herbarium to examine Adams’ life, research and legacy using specimens from our botany collection. We will explore her connections to Wellington, New Zealand and beyond, and her important contributions to our understanding of the native flora, including seaweeds.

Image Credits:

Lessonia adamsiae C.H.Hay, collected December 1985, New Zealand. CC BY 4.0. Te Papa (A021192)

Watercolour illustration of the Lessonia algae, Plate 31 from 'Seaweeds of New Zealand', c. 1990, Wellington, by Nancy Adams CBE. Purchased 2007. © Te Papa. CC BY 4.0. Te Papa (CA000892/002/0003)

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