The Collections department is commemorating Women’s Month with a virtual exhibition. The exhibition is entitled “Walking a mile in her shoes” and will showcase four pairs of shoes from the collections of the National Museum.
The shoes belonged to women who broke boundaries in their respective fields namely Gladys Steyn, Blanca Borckenhagen, Amanda Coetzer and Caroline Fichardt. Look out for these stories during Women’s Month.
John Nyaphuli passed away peacefully in Bloemfontein on 24 July 2020. He was born in 1933 on the farm Rohallion in the Wepener District. After a primary school education, John moved to Bloemfontein to seek employment.
During the years 1962-1967 he worked in the catering department at Tempe Military Base and then as a messenger at the University of the Orange Free State until 1973 when he was appointed as a fossil preparator in the Karoo Palaeontology Department at the National Museum by Dr Jacques van Heerden, rose through the ranks and by the time he retired he was Chief Fossil Preparator.
Mandela Day was celebrated around the world on 18 July every year. The Museum held a virtual exhibition to commemorate the day.
Celebrations in 2020 were hampered by our lockdown status as a result of the COVID -19 pandemic. A call to action was issued for the world to share the successes that we have achieved and the lessons we have learned as we battle this pandemic, and its effect on those less fortunate than ourselves.
After a frantic search this morning, National Museum scientists have recovered Casanovia the secretary bird and took him to a rescue centre for rehabilitation.
The iconic Afrikaans writer, Elsa Joubert, passed away on Sunday, 14 June 2020, at the age of 97. She died in Cape Town due to complications of Covid-19. Elsa leaves behind a vast literary legacy but, most of all, she will be remembered for her highly acclaimed book, Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena. It was also published in English as The long journey of Poppie Nongena and translated into 13 other languages. The book was voted one of the best 100 novels of the 20th century.