Summary

Five descriptive exhibition labels from Tasmanian Tiger: The Mystery of the Thylacine held at Melbourne Museum from May 19-August 26, 2001. Concepts cover pouch young, skin, skull and lower jaw anatomy and casts of paws.

Physical Description

Fawn coloured, rectangular card labels with white backing of various sizes. Black printed text.

Significance

The labels in the Historic Exhibition Labels Collection illustrate the changing styles in didactic interpretation, aesthetics and approaches to audiences engagment throughout the history of Museums Victoria. From the earliest days of the National Museum of Victoria in the mid 1800s through the various incarnations of the Applied Sciences collection through to the amalgamation of all the branches into Museums Victoria the labels chart a course through the changes in audience needs and desires in Victoria and across the museums various sites. There are beautiful examples of hand written ninteenth century labels, some examples of extrememly long didactic panels from the early twentieth century and rare and unusal fonts in the mid twentieth century. The collection also illustrates the transition from hand-written labels to the use of typewritters, then lettera set and ultimately printed labels, culminating in the large format digital print room being introduced at Melbourne Museum in 2000.

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