On August 17th in 1890, Emily Harris wrote in her diary about ‘the bear’: A few months ago two Frenchmen came to Nelson with a dancing bear. A splendid animal not two years old, quite an infant its master said, although it was much taller than the man when it stood upon its hind legs. Read More…
Tag: nelson history
A Trilogy of Windmills
The Auction It starts with a buzz around an auction. A painting of a windmill has appeared at Auckland’s International Art Centre signed by Edwin Harris. Oil on canvas, Landscape with Windmill measures 16.5 x 24 cm and depicts a peaceful scene, cloudy blue sky up above, a softly looping road with a cart, sparse Read More…
Queen of the Butterflies
Ellen Harris surrounded by plants, flowers and butterflies. It’s one of the most striking photos in the Family Album and the most elaborate photo we have of any of the sisters. While working on the ‘Sisters at a Glance’ posts, we began to refer to it as the ‘fairy tale’ photo when discussing the many Read More…
Ned’s Dress
By Dasha Zapisetskaya Transcribing a handwritten diary is like doing maths homework; you might whizz through three or four pages before becoming completely stumped by one little problem. This is exactly what happened as I worked through Emily Harris’s account of her visit to a friend in November 1885. ‘I stayed a few days with Read More…