Staff at Amgueddfa Cymru work across a number of different departments. These departments do not work in isolation, but staff work together to look after the collections preserved for the people of Wales.

The industry and transport photographic collections comprise over 206,000 images, covering all aspects of Welsh industrial, maritime and transport activity. One of the greatest treasures held within this rich collection is the Hansen Collection, which comprises of 4,569 negatives (two-thirds glass, and a third film) of ships mainly at Cardiff. These were taken by members of the Hansen family between 1920 and 1975. They provide an amazing photographic record of shipping activity at the port during those years. You can find out more about the history of this collection by reading this article from 2011.

One of our main aims is to make all the collections we look after more accessible. When we purchased the Hansen Collection in 1979, the first stage in the process of making the collection available was to compile a catalogue. Initially a handwritten catalogue was produced which could be consulted in the photographic research room. Then in 1996 the catalogue was published under the title “the Hansen Shipping Photographic Collection” making the contents of this collection available to a wider audience. A few years ago I worked on converting this catalogue into a digital format so that it could be placed on the museum website. It is now available for anyone to search, and find vessels they are interested in. The online catalogue has greatly improved access to this collection, and we have had enquires from all over the world because of it. People might be researching a particular ship and are looking for an image of it. A family member might have worked on the vessel and so someone might be interested in seeing what the ship looked like.

Following placing the catalogue online the next stage has been to input information on each negative onto our collections management database. A number of staff are currently involved in this, including myself and staff working in the History & Archaeology and Collections Services departments. We have so far put just over 1,500 negatives onto the system. It is a long process, especially as we are repacking the collection into conservation grade packing as we go along.  

As well as preserving the collection and making information on the collection available, we also need to digitise each negative. This will provide us with a record shot, meaning that we can minimize the handling of the original. This is especially important as so much of the collection is made up of fragile glass plates. We have made a start on this, and have so far digitsed 572 negatives. Our intention is now to continue this work and digitise the remainder of the collection.

We will be doing a series of blogs on various aspects of the process to make this collection accessible, and will be blogging on cataloguing and adding the collection to our database, repacking the collection, and the digitisation process. Check back to see how we are getting on with this important photographic collection.

Mark Etheridge
Curator: Industry & Transport
Follow us on Twitter - @IndustryACNMW

The Natural Sciences Department at National Museum Cardiff have once again taken their 'I Spy...Nature' Pop-up museum to the Capitol Shopping Centre in Cardiff during this year's summer holidays. 

Our younger visitors were encouraged to utilise their drawing skills to draw some of the fantastic specimens from Amgueddfa Cymru Collections on display as part of a drawing competition. Examples were fossils, minerals, marine creatures, flowers and bugs from all around the world. We had some fantastic entries and it was extremely difficult to pick the winners. However, after much deliberation we eventually managed to pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in three age categories (under 6, 6-9 and 10-13 years). Due to the fact that it was so hard to choose winners we also selected a couple of highly commended drawings.

Each winner will receive a natural history inspired prize from the Museum's shop and will receive a special behind the scenes tour of the museum to find out what museum scientists do and where we house the museum's natural history collections, which comprise of over 3 million specimens.

We very much look forward to welcoming our prize-winners and their families to the museum.

[diweddariad - mae'r cyfnod pleidleisio 'nawr ar ben - diolch i bawb a gymerodd ran!]

Dolig Cynnar - i ni sy'n Cynllunio'r Cerdiau

Wrth i’r haf ddirwyn i ben, rydym ni’n brysur yn gweithio ar ein nwyddau Nadolig, a fe hoffem ni gael chydig o help gennych chi.

Mae gan Amgueddfa Cymru gymaint o gasgliadau amrywiol a gwerthfawr, a bob blwyddyn mae’n bleser cael dewis rhywbeth o’u plith i’w roi ar ein cardiau Nadolig.

Mae’n curaduron wedi bod yn ddiwyd iawn yn barod, ac wedi dod o hyd i wrthrychau, ddarluniau, ffotograffau a sbesimenau Nadoligaidd ar ein cyfer eleni.

Helpwch ni - Dewiswch Eich Ffefryn

A wnewch chi wneud yn penderfyniad terfynol a dewis eich hoff gyllun o’r rhesti isod? Dewiswch hyd at dri:

Gwyddorau Naturiol 1

Gwyddorau Naturiol

Gwyddorau Naturiol 3

Crëwyd rhain gan ein Swyddog Delweddu Digidol yn yr Adran Gwyddorau Naturiol. Edrychwch yn ofalus a fe sylwch nad yw’r eira yma’n luwch i gyd.

Cwilt 1 (Hecsagonau)

Cwilt 2 (Trionglau)

Cwiltiau appliqué coch a gwyn o gasgliad tecstiliau Sain Ffagan Amgueddfa Werin Cymru. Yr enw ar y math hwn o goch yw ‘Coch Twrci’!

Darlun o Fochyn Coed

Darluniad o fochyn coed o’n casgliad Gwyddorau Naturiol.

Menyw Gymreig gan John Thomas

Ffotograff archif o hwyl yr wyl o Archif Sain Ffagan - ffotograff o fenyw Gymreig gan John Thomas, ffotograffydd teithiol cynnar.

Calennig

Llun o blant yn mwynhau’r Calennig adeg y flwyddyn newydd, o Archif Ffotograffig Sain Ffagan.

Robin Goch (Tacsidermi)

Robin goch o gasgliad tacsidermi yr Adran Gwyddorau Naturiol.

Tyrcwn

Darlun o ddau dwrci gan Pierre Belon o gasgliad Llyfrgell Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd.

Hanes Adar Prydain 2

Hanes Adar Prydain 1

Dau aderyn wedi’u darlunio o 4ydd cyfrol ‘History of British Birds’ wedi’i gynnig gan Lyfrgellydd Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd.

Poinsettia

Poinsettia trawiadol, hefyd o gasgliad Llyfrgell Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd.

Map o'r Sêr yn dyddio o'r 1500au

Map o’r sêr o’r 16eg ganrif, o gasgliad llyfrau cynnar Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd.

Torch Nadolig

Torch dymhorol wedi’i gosod ar ddrws Castell Sain Ffagan.

Sanau wedi'u gweu â llaw

Rhes o sanau wedi’u gweu â llaw o gasgliad tecstiliau Sain Ffagan.

Pa rai yw'ch ffefrynau? Cofiwch daro'ch pleidlais!

Staff from the Museum's Natural Science Department have been popping-up at the Capitol Shopping Centre in Cardiff again this year with their 'I Spy Nature' Pop-up Museum. Museum curators and learning staff showed a plethora of objects and specimens from the Natural History collections at National Museum Cardiff to shoppers over a six day period in July and August. Over 1200 people visited the pop-up museum and saw fossils, minerals, marine invertebrates, a beautiful botanical display of common British species and a variety of insects from around the world. Created for this year’s display was an ingenious dark box for viewing florescent minerals under UV light. Visitors could be seen donning their safety specs to view inside. Our younger visitors were encouraged to utilise their drawing skills to draw some of the specimens on display as part of our drawing competition. Competition winners will be announced shortly and the winning entries will be displayed on the blog. We were even lucky enough to be visited by singer and actress Connie Fisher, whose favourite object was a fossilised fish.

The I Spy Nature exhition at National Museum Cardiff will run until 3rd January 2016.