I've spent a lot of time in the Zoology museum this month, both front of house (helping people find things in the museum, including the only baculum) and behind the scenes. (Yes, they have let me get my hands on the skeletons!) Specifically, the bird skeletons that are off to go for teaching resources needed to be unpacked, photographed and given a thorough condition report. (If you haven't done museum condition reporting, but have hired a car from a very dodgy company, you'l

Summary of the University of Southampton "Skeletons, Stories and Social Bodies" conference 2018: Met some old friends, made some new friends. I bought some fun things. I even sold some things! I learnt a lot. And I won something, with prizes of book and booze! (And, bizarrely, as an echo of my presentation at Death and the Maiden, having handed a packet of Starburst to my first customer at the stall, he thought the natural thing to do with it was to offer it as a prize to the

It isn't long ago that I went to Norwich Museum for the first time. (Okay, it turns out it was over a year ago... not much happens in my life.) But this week, I went back. Somewhat by accident, as I was planning to prioritise seeing the cathedral this time (who somehow bagged the web address www.cathedral.org.uk - savvy, those norwichians!). However, I didn't get to see the cathedral. I DID get to see this monstrosity of a road junction at least three times in an hour. It is

Next in the amazing story of a trip to the Ipswich Museum. Part I (in case you missed it) is here. Here, I want to share just one of the many case displays along the walls. Because there is so much stuff in this brilliant museum, it is hard to get a clear photo of the ensemble without getting a big cat blocking the shot. So I employed the services of that talented artist again. I could have spent all day on this case alone. Every single animal has been taxidermied with it's o

I made a long anticipated, long overdue visit to Ipswich Museum. It is one of those regional treasures, crammed with original Victorian enthusiasm for building a monument to share the wonders of the world with all members of the public. The entrance hall alone is awe inspiring. Photos really can't do it justice, so I engaged a very talented artist* to try to share the beauty of the exhibition hall. Yes, that's a giraffe! Next to him is a rhino, and a case of gorillas, and in

A belated write up of a lovely afternoon spent in the company of curious beasts at the Whipple Museum as part of Open Cambridge. These lovely beasts, I'm sure you recognise as an Ichthyosaur and a Plesiosaur. Aren't they just beautiful? I spent over an hour just looking through one volume at the Whipple display, Louis Figuier's La terre avant le deluge (1872 edition). I note the date because in his first edition he depicted Adam and Eve in Eden. In his second edition (1867),

Blog been slow as I've been ill, and I've still got the wonders of the Open Cambridge display at the Whipple to share. But not today. Today, I read some news that just had to be known! And I'm sorry its not your normal museum stuff, but instead a wonder of the natural underwater world. You guys now I love my octopuses, octopii and octopodes! Well today, breaking news is that these cephalopods just keep on surprising us. A while ago, I heard about Octopolis - a Metropolis bui

Okay, not really. I have spent most of my recent Friday's enjoying the wonderful Robert Lloyd Parry (of Nunkie theatre) performing readings of H. G. Well's short stories of science fiction. His one-man performance of The Time Machine was stunning (and I was close enough to the stage to smell the cucumber!), and it is always a pleasure to see what he is up to. This time it was merrily combined with a reason to visit the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge. It

A friend recently visited the USA, and did me the marvellous favour of going to the Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma City. She did a fair job of photographing every corner for me, and we've spent many hours discussing what she saw. This really caught my eye - the most comprehensive collection of hominid skull casts I've seen. Fossil Hominids at the Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma City, OK. The skulls are positioned in height according to age - the oldest ancestors at the bottom.

After many hours scouring the databases and determining what was special about this museum's stores, I spent a wonderful morning surrounded by the stores of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History's wet specimens collection. I specifically went in to photograph brains, of which they have a very nice selection, and some, like this bear, have been labeled to help amateurs like me find all the bits. (All images can be displayed due to the Courtesy of the Oxford Universit

"Something entirely unique, something beautiful and charming and grotesque, perhaps a little more esoteric" was how was described to me, and I believe it does live up to it. I have to say that one of the very few things that makes me uncomfortable with anatomical art is the arrangement of fetuses. That said, I do recognise that one of the best early ways to understand human development and growth was to look at nature's "mistakes" (for example, read Armand Marie Leroi's Mutan

D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum in Dundee is one of many museums on my bucket list to visit. It's not the best, or the most comprehensive of zoology collections. Which means, like many, there are wonderful little surprises for the visitor. Even browsing the website there is a nice little gallery of their collection of stuffed bird heads. Where else could you find these? And new is their selection of 3D scans of skulls. So much better than photos, and the not quite satisfying t

Look at these beauties! I think I'm in love! These gorgeous octopuses? Octopi? Octopodes? Beautiful aren't they? But they're in Eastbourne. And I'm significantly not. And they're up for sale next week. And they won't go in the post (despite having their own travelling cases.. they used to be part of a taxidermy mobile library!) And couriers are costly :( I know they don't (now) have the cunning of Inky (who escaped from his aquarium back to the ocean), and they never got to p

Finally had the opportunity to spend some time with a camera in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. I lingered at least an hour longer than I had planned, drawn by the day of the dead exhibit upstairs. I love that museums make room for folkart objects (things with the skill level that I could have made them). It gives a great feeling of accessibility. And if only I would think of making a skull with hair rollers in, my work could be included in one of the gl

Witch balls. Or did you think only wizards had balls? Well, honestly, witches don't have balls (that I know of). These balls are to repel witches. (Image of beautiful blue balls, courtesy of the Cambridge Folk Museum's Folklore collection.) Yes, this month, I have mostly been considering local folklore, which has led me to read Enid Porter's The Folklore of East Anglia. She was curator of the curious Cambridge Folk Museum*, which has a small collection of the weird and wonder

Yes, Joanne Ebenstein is amongst the guests at the Wellcome Collection next week for an Anatomical Venus and other things morbid symposium. I've had the link and date to book tickets noted for weeks. And am too ill to go :( But they will publish a webcast of the event :) (Image courtesy of Morbid Anatomy/Wellcome Collection) #Wellcome #MorbidAnatomy #JoannaEbenstein #Museum

Made it to a little bit of science week. Which is really just an excuse to neb around Cambridge University buildings whilst snack vans are parked nearby. Went to a lecture in the physiology labs, which is nicely nearby the Sedgwick Museum. And the greeting by the Iguanodon, who stands by the front door. He looks like he's about to lean down and give you a hug. Like the Barrington Hippo, his position means it is virtually impossible to get a good photo of him. I do love that m

Some bones just give you a look. It is often the primates, but some skulls seemespecially expressive, and just catch your attention. This "enigmatic gibbon" is the Grant Museum blog specimen of the week. and I can't stop looking at it. It is like it is begging for a returned glance of mutual understanding. He reminds me of an immature gorilla at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. An archaeologist friend assures me that some skulls "smile". I won't say more. I wi

So sorry for the terrible quality of the photo. But it was on a behind the scenes tour, at night, taken through the door of a freezer. This is the reality of taxidermy conservation in the 21st Century. One big walk in freezer. Of the size I haven't seen since working in ice cream research. Or McDonalds. But the freezer kills the bugs and mites that can slowly destroy these antique skins. However, it is also necessary to protect the skins from frostbite, so they are frozen whi

I love the Grant's Museum. And I love their blog. And this week, I love their specimen of the week. A jar of moles. I looked up the collective nouns for moles; a labour, a movement or a company of moles. None of them really work as well as the simple description of a jar of moles. I can't add anything except our museums are crammed with interesting things, sometimes those things themselves are crammed. (Thanks to the Grant's Museum blog for this image. I wish it was mine... b