News and Events

November 2011

Adam and the Insects

For the past four years Adam Price (Zoology graduate 2011, now an MSc student), along with other museum volunteers has been working to reorganise and catalogue our insect collection. The beetle and butterfly and moth collections are now complete and look wonderful in their new cases. Well done to Adam and colleagues, particularly Jim Barnett who also worked on the collection for 3 years.

 

October 2011

The Cole Museum has acquired a large number of fossils from the old Geology Department many of which we hope to be able to put on display. We have already put together a new case on fossil fish and another containing the footprint of a triassic Archosaur. It is intended that the fossils are used for undergraduate teaching to reintroduce some palaeontology into the programme.

December 2010

Accreditation of The Cole Museum of Zoology

Accreditation has been granted to the Cole Museum by the government body (currently Museums, Libraries & Archives) that oversees standards in UK museums. Accredited museums adhere to published standards in how they care for and document their collections, how they are governed and managed, and on the information and services they offer to their users.

The Cole received full accreditation without suggestions for improvement. It was suggested that the importance of the collection was such that the Cole should have Designated Status. Congratulations go to Amanda Callaghan and Kaye Daish for their hard work over several years to pull the collection back together, catalogue it all, conserve specimens and develop a professional collection care programme.

 

Winter 2009

Another term is over and the volunteers celebrated Christmas with mulled wine, mince pies and sea urchin gonad pate.

Autumn 2009

The Cole Museum now has a facebook site (see link on the left). 

Summer 2009

The University Annual Fund has awarded us money to buy some new photographic equipment to enable us to begin the long process of photographing every specimen in storage. Volunteer James Watkins has donated his time and expertise to get the project started.

Spring 2009

Some of our volunteers pose for the annual elephant shot!