The image of dusty butterflies, pinned onto cards in neat rows, is one that museums have spent a generation trying to get away from. So here, the museum has chosen to present the native butterflies of Kenya …

The illustrations in Wainwright’s walking guides are more than just maps. They’re companions, tools for wayfinding, reminders of journeys and even artworks in their own right. Over a decade he wrote seven guidebooks to the …

Washington DC is a planned city. And I love me a bit of civic planning. Growing up in the UK, where cities are mostly accidents and mishaps thrust together into one mishmash of buildings and people, the idea of planning something from scratch …

This is Mount Fuji, but not as you might know it, seen here from above. It was printed as a keepsafe for pilgrims to the Sengen Shrine on Japan’s highest mountain …

Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude were famous for wrapping huge things, like the Reichstag or sections of coastline and turning them into pieces of art that we could all experience. But they started small in the 1960s …

Given the recent headlines about PPE, spare a thought for medics of the past. This physician attending plague patients …

Film props like these really can be described as iconic. Even if you’ve never seen Jason and the Argonauts, the chances are you’ll recognise these stop-motion characters …

Novelist Yang-May Ooi shares a special object that reminds her of generations of her family. “My grandmother was six when her grandmother made this doll for her …

One of the most popular objects in the museum is Rajah the Asian elephant. He’s been at the museum since 1936 and is much loved by locals and visitors alike. Is there a club for these examples of charismatic megafauna …

Nick Hopwood has a collection of beer glasses that he’s gathered from around the world. He doesn’t simply steal them from bars though. Each one has a story of how Nick acquired it – by bribe, by offer of marriage …

There’s no excuse for not knowing where it is – the place for your comment card after your visit to the museum, I mean. Museums rely on the feedback we give them so filling out those little cards …

The collection of badges on this hat may look like something a student might gather on their travels, but they were actually compiled by singer and actor Gracie Fields. During the Second World War, Fields signed up for the Entertainments National Service Association …

If you’re visiting Rome and have had your fill of stunning sculpture and beautiful buildings, pay a visit to this charming little museum of English romantic poets. The library is atmospheric and the …

Think big. Think bling. Today’s guest curator, Si Tansley chooses a huge golden throne and tells us not only about its significance but also how visitors react to it when they see it in the museum …

Happy birthday Chris Hoy, born today in 1976. In 2006 he won the Team Sprint for Scotland in Melbourne with team mates Craig MacLean and Ross Edgar. Today his medal is on loan to the museum (he can spare it, surely …

I wonder if these ceramic objects are accessioned items in the museum’s collection? They fit well with the national collection of art and design. Jim belonged to the museum’s first director, Henry Cole …

August Walla was fascinated by the materiality of words and by their plastic, or three-dimensional quality as well as by symbols, as seen here in this mural. He collected foreign-language dictionaries …

The boot, glove compartment and dashboard are all parts of modern cars that come from terms used for horse-drawn carriages. Even the word car is a shortened version of ‘carriage’ …

Today in 1582 the pope announced a new style of calendar. Known as Gregorian, it’s the one we follow today, complete with leap years and leap centuries …

This week’s guest curator Dan Vo (LGBTQ museum tour expert) chose this statue as it helps him explain the diverse understanding of gender and sexuality of many ancient communities. He says “From around …

Who is this person, looking directly at you? Is he a vision of masculine muscle? Or a fragile soul, wrapped in their own insecurities? The photography is on display in exhibition opening next week in London …

One of the most frequently asked questions in old buildings is ‘where did they go for a wee?’ And we in the heritage sector love showcasing historic toilets …

Happy birthday Wolfgang, born today (27 January) in 1756. In this sculpture, known as ‘Young Mozart’, the child prodigy is fiddling with a fiddle – he is known to have travelled widely as a child, performing for courts …

Ordsall Hall has been through many lives over the years – country manor, working men's club, a school for clergy, and a radio station. As such, there isn’t much of a collection there that relates to former owners or occupiers. That was until …

Today in 2012 the Costa Concordia ran aground on the Italian island of Isola del Giglio. I remember the newspaper front cover from a few days later, where someone cheeky at …

Well done to the team at Brighton for inviting the visitor to step into this painting. Take a seat in the chair and tell us what YOU think of this image of an art critic at work …