Aotea Utanganui Museum of South Taranaki is a great little museum in Patea, and visitors from the district and around the world call in to learn about the stories of the region.
Museum curator Kristelle Plimmer says the museum holds the stories of its people, and is kaitiaki of the heritage collections it holds in trust and keeps in perpetuity.
But they are not a dumping ground for rubbish. Ms Plimmer says: "We infer the notion of preciousness of things."
When items are brought to the museum, they are documented and catalogued, then stored.
In cataloguing, the item is listed, who gave it to the museum is noted, and why they gave it.
This helps the staff when someone comes into the museum and requests to see an item.
White gloves are worn to prevent oils from hands damaging the items, with staff working to recognised national standards of how to store the items.
Ms Plimmer says there is a huge amount of work and knowledge of how to store the items so they are not stressed.
Aotea Utanganui is designed with appropriate temperature and humidity controls, which protect the collection from any further deterioration including borer and silverfish infestation.
Ms Plimmer says: "When you say something, people expect it to be the truth, that it is the truth."
A lot of research goes into a collection that is exhibited. Underlying all of that is community, Ms Plimmer says, otherwise it's just stuff.
"Stories get lost and they change. The longer a museum is in existence, the more we see how people's perceptions change."
Ms Plimmer said the old museum was like a 1900s "cabinet of curiosities" and the modern museum has been developed to better care for the collections.
She says South Taranaki has many stories, and the museum is also talking to all the community, including iwi, about theirs.
"We want people to feel that the museum tells their stories, that this is my story they're telling."
Ms Plimmer says Aotea Utanganui is the catalyst and stimulus for people who come in to share and add their stories to what is already being told.
The road to Aotea Utanganui has been a colourful and interesting journey for Ms Plimmer.
She said she used to hang around museums and was a volunteer collector for the natural history unit at Te Papa since the 1980s.
The first exhibition she put together was at the Settlement on Willis St, a collection of funky off-the-wall clothes and jewellery.
Ms Plimmer went to Whitireia Community Polytechnic Art School, and then studied for her masters in art history at Victoria University.
Her thesis was "Family jewels: the theory and practice of studio jewellery in New Zealand 1900-45".
"The best bit was writing, reading the abstract and chasing down the jewellers from that period."
Ms Plimmer came to Aotea Utanganui from Te Papa, where she was a concept developer. "It is exciting to take it to the next level and develop exhibitions for a whole museum."
The move to Patea was relatively easy. "You need to get out of the city to be educated," she says.
Museum facts