International Museum Day, celebrated worldwide every year on 18 May, is a day to celebrate the work of museum professionals. The objective of this day is to raise awareness of the importance of museum collections and the research based on these collections. This year the Museum opened its Cultural History and Anthropology Collections and the Palaeontology Laboratory to the public. The event was attended by 33 members of the public. The Museum is proud of the high standard of its collections management and research.
The Cultural History Collection portrays mainly the history of the Free State. Although there is material dating back to the seventeenth century, the major part of the collection consists of material from the nineteenth century. It includes ceramics, documents, furniture, photographs, household articles, clothes, coins, toys, weapons and objects used for transportation. The Anthropology Collection consists of artefacts originating mainly in southern Africa, but there are also selected items from further north, such as masks and musical instruments.
Palaeontological research at the Museum is focused on fossils of mammal ancestors that lived in what is now the Karoo between 260 and 180 million years ago. The Karoo Basin contains the best fossil record of mammal ancestors in the world, allowing scientists the opportunity to study the biology and ecology of these animals and the transition into mammals. The Museum has highly skilled preparators who were seen in action during the open day extracting fossils from surrounding rock.
Visitors to the Museum during International Museum Day.
Sudré Havenga, Head of Collections Management, with a xxx, explaining the methods of preserving historical objects.
Elize Butler, research assistant in the Palaeontology Department, discussing the process of fossilisation.
Visitors in the Palaeontology Laboratory during the ‘behind the scenes’ tour.
Polly Street exhibition as part of International Museum Day
At Oliewenhuis International Museum day was celebrated in collaboration with Tjhabelang Primary School, Bainsvlei, on 20 May 2016. Educational worksheets were compiled by the Education Officer to correlate with the Aesthetic Cooperatives: A Polly Street Retrospective exhibition. Children were taught the basic principles of art in an interactive fun way. The day was concluded with a Sculpture Park treasure hunt and African Carousel ride.
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