Buffalo Museum of Science Presents Journeys Into Papua Exhibition
The Buffalo Museum of Science presents Journeys Into Papua an exhibition on view through January 8, 2012.
Follow five explorers on their journey to Papua New Guinea. Spanning a century, these intrepid travelers ventured to the South Pacific for employment, enjoyment and education. Laden with notebooks, cameras and crates, they recorded their experiences and collected artifacts. Journeys Into Papua highlights the rich culture of Oceania through the eyes of five distinct adventurers. Museum visitors will be immersed in this world as they relive these amazing adventures!
Born in England in 1860, Percy George Theodore (P.G.T.) Black moved to Australia as a young man where he began working for for Burns Philp & Co., Ltd., a company that supplied mission stations. Through his work and various contacts, Black made extensive collections of objects from the people he met on his travels between 1886 and 1914, making him among the earliest Westerners to visit the islands.
Today, the P. G.T. Black collection of over 6,200 items stands as one of the most significant components of the Buffalo Museum of Science’s anthropological collection. Acquired in the 1930s due to the fundraising efforts of former Museum president, Chauncey J. Hamlin, the collection is one of the largest assemblages of Oceanic items in North America and rivals the A. B. Lewis collection at Chicago’s Field Museum. In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, the P.G.T. Black Collection will be exhibited, many pieces for the first time, alongside images taken by noted explorer Frank Hurley, on loan from the Australian Museum.
Alongside the P.G.T. Black items, visitors will also learn about the collections and travels of local Buffalonians Charles Rand Penney and Harold and Mary Cohen. Journeys Into Papua looks at over 100 years of travel to the South Seas.
Events surrounding the exhibit and the Society’s 150th anniversary will consist of special programming and scholarly lectures. After closing in Buffalo, portions of this special collection will be available for rent to other museums making this the first travelling exhibit ever produced by the Buffalo Museum of Science.
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