Episodes
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A simple search for a kupu leads Migoto to a 1915 Williams Māori dictionary with a surprising whakapapa of its own. In this episode, She traces the legacy of the Williams whānau, generations of Māori language scholars, and uncover how this particular copy once sat on Elsdon Best’s desk - complete with his clippings, markers, and quiet traces of use. A reminder that even the most unassuming taonga can hold deep stories.
Links:
Te Aka Māori Dictionary
William Williams Dictionary 1844
Williams Family Papers
Elsdon Best
Ratana Faith
"Please don't bit the books" blog
Glossary
Māngere - lazy
Ngā Manu Korero - yearly secondary schools speech competition
Koroua - grandfather
Whānau - family
Kōrero - discussion; speech
Hononga - connection
Matua, tama, wairua tapu - Father, son, holy spirit
Anahera pono - Faithful angels
Hīmene - hymn
Tohu - sign
Rangatahi - youth, young people
Tangi/Tangihanga - funeral
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Provenance research isn’t just about tracing an object’s past - it’s about restoring identity, dignity, and connection. In this episode, Amber breaks down what truly belongs in a provenance research toolkit, from core methods and detective‑coded analytical tools to digital resources, community engagement, and the ethical foundations that guide every decision.
Drawing on kaupapa‑led practice and real‑world experience, this episode gives researchers a clear, grounded framework for building their own toolkit - one that’s intentional, relational, and ready for the complex realities of museum, archive, and repatriation work.
A must‑listen for early‑career and seasoned researchers alike who want to strengthen their methodology, sharpen their process, and carry out this work with integrity and care.
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Missing episodes?
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Step into the archives with us as a seemingly ordinary A&P Show catalogue cracks open a hidden world of taonga Māori competitions — carvings, korowai, piupiu, mats, kits, weapons, all filed under the enigmatic category “Native Industries.”
Amber and Migoto follow the clues through 30 years of entries, familiar names, unexpected judges, and the mystery of the elusive piupiu tatangi. No photos. No surviving descriptions. Just the paper trail — and the stories waiting beneath it.
If you love archival detective work, whakapapa threads, and taonga that refuse to stay quiet, this episode is for you.
Links
The Knowledge Bank
Hand Woven Raffia Shoes
Glossary
Hue - Gourd used as a vessel.
Kairaranga - Weavers; practitioners of raranga.
Kaupapa - Purpose, guiding principle, topic.
Kiekie - Freycinetia banksii - a thick native vine which has long leaves with fine teeth crowded at the end of branches.
Korowai - Cloak with decorative tassels (hukahuka).
Kumete - Wooden bowl or vessel.
Mahi - Work, practice, effort.
Mātauranga - Knowledge; Māori knowledge systems.
Piupiu - Flax skirt worn in kapa haka and ceremonial contexts.
Pounamu - Greenstone; highly valued stone.
Raranga - Weaving.
Taiaha - Long-handled weapon used in martial arts and ceremony.
Tokotoko - Carved walking stick used in oratory.
Toki - Adze; tool or weapon.
Whakairo - Carving; carved objects or the practice of carving.
Whakapapa - Genealogy, lineage, relational identity.
Whānau - Family, extended family, community.
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In this episode, the ladies open a map for new researchers, early‑career curators, and anyone beginning their journey into cultural heritage. Archives and national libraries hold the raw materials of history, manuscripts, photographs, government records, sound recordings, newspapers, “the evidence, the voices, the paper trails, the contradictions, the context.”
Links
National Library of New Zealand
Archives New Zealand
Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision
Glossary
Taonga Puoro - musical instrument
Rōpū - group, party of people, company
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This is not your typical taonga Māori. Its also not just an old ledger but if you take a closer look it can reveal more. We’ll take you into the room with this taonga what it was like and what you might find. Not dissimilar to an address book from 1878 we’ll share with you its purpose, importance and its taonga-like characteristics. We talk about the Te Wananga newspaper and its subscribers who were recorded in this ledger. Te reo Māori is central to the mode of communication at the time in sharing critical news uniting iwi Māori over land matters but most of all, a defence to overturn fraudulent sales of Māori land.
A snapshot in time, a window to the lives of our tipuna, a source of empowerment and identity. Listen in on this episode to find out more about the Te Wananga ledger.
Links
Book: Lives of Colonial Objects 2015
Definition from of taonga from He Pātaka Kupu dictionary
Te Wānanga Ledger at MTG
Repudiation Movement
Kotahitanga Movement
Glossary
Tipuna Māori - Māori ancestors
Motu - country, island
Reo - language
Tairāwhiti rohe - East Coast region
Iwi, hapū - tribe, subtribe
Mana - control, power, authority
Rangatira - chief, leader
Uri whakatipu - descendants
Whenua ūkaipō - land of origin, home land
Whenua - land, placenta
Mana whenua - authority over land
Kōrero - discussion
Mere - hand held short club weapon often greenstone
Taiaha - long wooden weapon
Kākahu - cloak, clothing
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Museum records can feel like a locked world — full of jargon, hidden systems, and unanswered questions. In this episode of The Taonga Files, Amber and Migoto break down what museum records actually are, what they can reveal, and how early‑career and community researchers can access them with confidence. A practical, empowering guide to navigating the archives with clarity, kaupapa, and a touch of detective energy.
Links
Wellcome Collection Archives
Maraenui Banners, Hikoi mo te Tiriti Blog
Glossary
Kaumātua - elderly man or woman
Kaupapa - topic, subject, theme, agenda
Kōrero - talk, discussion
Kuia - female elder, grandmother
Hōhā - nuisance, bother, bore, hassle, pain in the neck.
Tupuna/Tūpuna - ancestor/ancestors
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Just weeks after the Colonial Museum opened in 1865, someone slipped through the darkness and cut their way inside. A “short elderly man” and “experienced burglar”, vanished into the night with gold, precious stones, and a cache of taonga Māori.
In this episode, we retrace the break‑in, the hunt for culprit, and the strange trail of clues that led to the recovery of some taonga… while others disappeared into the city’s shadows. More than 160 years later, researchers are still following the threads, asking what was taken, what survived, and what stories these taonga continue to whisper.
Links
Find the blog here
Reward Poster
Glossary
Tanga Māori - Māori cultural treasures
Hoa - friend
Tātou - we, us, you (two or more)
Hei Tiki - greenstone neck pendant depicting human image.
Pounamu - greenstone, nephrite, jade.
Toki Poutangata - greenstone adze - used as a weapon by a chief and is a symbol of chieftainship.
Toki - adze
Ka kite ano - see you again/next time
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In this brief we explore the valuable resource of Papers Past, and why this is a must for our research kete.
Papers Past
Niupepa Māori
Trove
Library of Congress
British Newspaper Archive
Glossary
Aotearoa: New Zealand
Niupepa Māori: Māori Newspapers
Te reo Māori: The Māori language
Tupuna: Ancestor
Waiata: Song
Koroua/Koro; Elderly man, grandfather
Whakapapa: Genealogy
Whanaunga: Relative
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A single line in an 1865 museum ledger.
A registration number from the wrong century.
A photograph altered to hide everything but a single carving.
This episode dives into the forensic world of provenance research as Amber traces the journey of a tauihu that disappeared inside the museum’s collection. With help from the next generation of museum researchers, and a lot of patient detective work, she uncovers how this taonga — the first ever recorded in the Colonial Museum — slipped into silence, and how it finally found its way back into the light.
Glossary
Atua - ancestor with continuing influence, god, supernatural being, deity
Huaki - washboard of a war canoe
Kōrero - speech, narrative, story, news account, discussion, conversation.
Manaia - stylised figure used in carving
Tauihu - prow or figurehead of a Māori war canoe
Taonga Māori - Māori cultural treasures
Takarangi - double spiral pattern in Māori carving, said to symbolise the revolving heavens.
Te Ao Māori - the Māori world
Waka - canoe
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In this ‘brief’, Migoto Eria and Amber Aranui lay the foundations for exploring how taonga shape, and are shaped by, hauora (wellbeing). Grounded in Te Whare Tapa Whā, they reveal taonga not as static museum objects but as living presences that speak, travel, and maintain unbroken lines of whakapapa. The kōrero moves through the emotional and spiritual weight of caring for taonga, the protective force of tikanga like karakia, and the responsibility museums hold to uphold Māori identity and safety, Māori first, employee second. Reflecting on the legacy of Te Māori, they show how reconnecting people and taonga continues to transform hauora across generations.
Links:
Te Whare Tapa Whā
Glossary:
Hauora - be fit, well, healthy, vigorous, in good spirits.
Karanga - formal call, ceremonial call, welcome call, call
Kōiwi - bone, human bone, corpse
Kōrero - to tell, say, speak, read, talk, address.
Kupu - word, vocabulary, saying, talk, message, statement, utterance, lyric
Mahi - to work, do, perform, make, accomplish.
Mauri - life principle, life force, vital essence, a material symbol of a life principle.
Taha Māori - Māori identity, Māori character, Māori side, Māori heritage.
Tikanga - correct procedure, custom, habit, lore, method, manner, rule.
Tūpuna - ancestors.
Wāhine - female, women, feminine.
Waiata - song, chant.
Whakapapa - genealogy, genealogical table, lineage, descent
Whakaaro - thought, opinion, plan, understanding, idea.
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The Taonga Files opens with a journey into Aotearoa’s colonial past, tracing the origins of the country’s first national museum and the taonga Māori caught within its early collecting practices. Join curators Amber Aranui and Migoto Eria as they uncover how taonga were catalogued, misplaced, and silenced — and how provenance research today is helping restore their stories, whakapapa, and connections to iwi, hapū, and whānau. A powerful blend of history, detective work, and truth-telling, this episode lays the foundation for a series dedicated to giving voice back to taonga.
Link to Amber's Blog
Glossary
Aotearoa — New Zealand
Hapū — Sub-tribe; a kinship group descended from a common ancestor.
Hāpai Ahurea — “Cultural uplift/support”; Te Papa’s strategic priority centred on Māori communities and cultural practice.
Iwi — Tribe; a large kinship group descended from a founding ancestor.
Mātauranga Māori — Māori knowledge systems; traditional and contemporary Māori ways of understanding the world.
Mana — Spiritual authority, prestige, or power.
Māori — Indigenous people of Aotearoa.
Motu — The country or nation; often meaning “islands” or “the whole country.”
Taonga — Treasures; cultural items, heirlooms, or objects of deep significance.
Taonga Māori — Māori cultural treasures.
Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) — National Museum of New Zealand; “Container of Treasures.”
Te Tiriti o Waitangi — The Treaty of Waitangi (1840), the foundational agreement between Māori and the Crown.
Waka — Canoe
Whakapapa — Genealogy; interconnected relationships between people, land, and taonga.
Whānau — Family; extended family network.
Whenua — Land; also placenta, emphasising the connection between people and the land.
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In this Brief, we dig into the meaning of ‘taonga’ from our perspective — what the term holds, how it’s been used, what it means to us, and why it matters for the mahi we do. We also touch on its appearance in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, where Māori were promised tino rangatiratanga over ‘o ratou taonga katoa’ (check out the NZ History link below for a more in-depth look at this). That commitment sits at the heart of our responsibilities today. This Brief sets the foundation for everything else we’ll explore this season.
Links
Te Aka Māori Dictionary
Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Glossary
Kōrero - to tell, say, speak, read, talk.
Kupu - word, vocabulary, saying, talk, message, statement.
Pākehā - English, foreign, European, exotic - introduced from or originating in a foreign country.
Taha Māori - Māori identity, Māori character, Māori side, Māori heritage, Māori ancestry, Māori descent.
Taonga - possession, object, treasured possession, something prized.
Whakapapa - genealogy, lineage, descent.
Te ao Māori - the Māori world.
Te reo Māori - the Māori language.
Wāhi tapu - sacred place, sacred site.
Whakaaro - thought, opinion, plan, understanding, idea, intention.
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Welcome to The Taonga Files
In our very first episode, we open the doors to The Taonga Files and introduce the kaupapa behind the podcast. Join Amber Aranui, Migoto Eria‑Rowell, and Monica Tromp — three wāhine with decades of experience across archaeology, curation, science, repatriation, museum practice, and community‑driven research — as we share who we are, why we do this mahi, and what listeners can expect from the journey ahead.
We talk about our different pathways into the heritage sector, the moments that shaped our careers, and the responsibility that comes with working with taonga and the communities connected to them. This episode sets the foundation for everything to come: provenance, reconnection, truth‑telling, and the stories that museums don’t always show.
No matter which season you start listening to, this is the best place to start as it introduces the foundations of the podcast.
You’ll hear about:
Our backgrounds and what brought each of us into this mahiWhy provenance research matters — and why it’s anything but boringThe emotional, cultural, and historical weight carried by taongaHow science, storytelling, and community kōrero come together in this spaceWhat you can expect from future episodes, including case studies, interviews, and behind‑the‑scenes insightsThis is your invitation into the world behind the labels and the glass cases — a world of journeys, relationships, and stories waiting to be reconnected.
Follow us, subscribe, and join us as we open the first file.
Every taonga has a story. Let’s explore them together.
Glossary
Taonga - possession, object, treasured possession, something prized
Whakapapa - genealogy, lineage, descent
Mātauranga - knowledge, wisdom
Māori - indigenous person of Aotearoa/New Zealand, normal, natural, ordinary
Moriori - indigenous person of the Chatham Islands/Rēkohu
Tūpuna/tupuna - ancestors/ancestor
Whenua - land, country, ground
Iwi - extended kinship group, nation, tribe, bone
Aotearoa - New Zealand
Wānanga - forum, conference, seminar
Mana motuhake - autonomy, self-governance, self-determination
Pakeke - mature adult
Kaumātua - elder
Kaimahi - worker, staff, employee
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The Taonga Files is a podcast about provenance research — the detective work of uncovering the histories of taonga Māori held in museum collections. Each episode explores how research reveals not only what sits on museum shelves, but how those taonga arrived there, and the stories they carry.
This show demonstrates that provenance research is far from dry or technical. It is exciting, meaningful, and deeply human. By tracing the journeys of taonga, we reconnect communities in the present with the voices of the past.
Unlike other museum-focused podcasts, The Taonga Files centres on reconnection. It highlights how uncovering provenance restores whakapapa, returns mana to taonga, and strengthens the bonds between museums and the communities whose heritage they hold.
