Lynette Townsend
Wellington
I’m a historian with a focus on telling stories through alternative media and multiple platforms. I’m currently doing that through collectable stamps and coins at New Zealand Post.
Projects completed while Senior Historian, Audio-Visual Content at Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage include ‘Te Tai: Treaty Settlement Stories’, and ‘Women, the Vote and Activism’ for Suffrage 125.
I also have many years of curatorial experience at Te Papa. Exhibitions include ‘Air New Zealand 75 years. Our nation. The world. Connected’, ‘Aztecs: Conquest and Glory’, and ‘Qui tutto bene: The Italians in New Zealand’. These projects were successfully achieved working collaboratively with multiple stakeholders and communities.
Publications
Townsend, L. (2020). Botanical brushstrokes: The Sarah Featon stamps. New Zealand Garden Journal – Journal of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture (Inc.). (pp 19- 21)
Lynette Townsend and Sarah Burgess. ‘Tarlton, Kelvin Ewart (Kelly) – Biography’, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2020, updated September, 2020. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
Townsend, L. (2018). Carmen Rupe. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara
Townsend, L. (2018). Making Paper Models in 1860s New Zealand: An Exploration of Colonial Culture through Child-made Objects in Childhood by Design. Toys and the Material Culture of Childhood, 1700 – Present. Bloomsbury, USA
Townsend, L. (Autumn, 2016). The Rainbow connection. Glory Days Magazine. (pp. 60 – 61)
Townsend, L. (2015). Review of the book Hello Girls & Boys! A New Zealand Toy Story, by D. Veart. Journal of New Zealand Studies NS21 (2015), 120-122
Townsend, L. (2015). Colonising through Play: The Crowthers’ Noah’s Ark. In A. Cooper, L. Paterson, A. Wanhalla (Eds.), The Lives of Colonial Objects (pp. 58 – 61. Otago University Press
Townsend, L. & Kruekel, S. (2015) Value of Objects. Uninews. Vol 44, Issue 08, Oct 2015, p.5
Townsend, L. (2015). Flight of Fantasy. Glory Days. Spring 2015, pp. 61 – 64
Townsend, L. (2014). Air New Zealand 75 Years. Our nation. The world. Connected. Open Eyes. December 2014
Townsend, L. (2014). Aztecs and diversity. Daily Review Australia. 22 April 2014
Townsend, L. (2013). Aztecs Conquest and Glory. Open Eyes. Issue 120 October 2013, pp. 5-6
Townsend, L. (2012). Collecting kids’ stuff: in search of the history of childhood in New Zealand museums: Tuhinga 23 (pp. 39 – 51). Te Papa Press
Townsend , L. (2012). Through a Looking Glass. New Zealand Geographic. Issue 117. September / October 2012, p. 22
Townsend, L. (2012). Te Papa’ Kiwi Faces of World War I. New Zealand Memories. Issue 98 October / November, pp. 24 – 29
Research & Online Projects
Te Tai: Treaty Settlement Stories: Ngati Awa https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-tai/ngati-awa-home
Women, the Vote and Activism: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/suffrage125
Collecting Childhood: Co-collecting project (2011 – 2016) with children conducted in collaboration with the Auckland University’s Growing Up in New Zealand study.
Remembering the Evergreen: An LGBTIQ community research project focusing on collages from Wellington’s Evergreen Coffee Lounge
The Berry Boys: Research focused on identifying WW1 soldiers in glass-plate negatives from the Berry Photography studio in Wellington
