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The Charlotte Museum
The Charlotte Museum
	Charlotte Museum Te Whare Takatāpui-Wāhine o Aotearoa, the permanent location of the museum on Howe Street, Auckland, New Zealand
Alternative names	Te Whare Takatāpui-Wāhine o Aotearoa
General information
Address	1A Howe Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland 1010
Country	New Zealand
Coordinates	36°51′27″S 174°45′18″E / 36.8576°S 174.7549°E
Other information
Facilities	Museum \| Gallery \| The Saphira Research Library & Document Archive

The Charlotte Museum Te Whare Takatāpui-Wāhine o Aotearoa, is a museum dedicated to lesbian histories in Auckland, New Zealand, located off Karangahape Road at 1A Howe Street, Freemans Bay. It is the only museum in the world dedicated solely to lesbian culture and history.^[1]

Background

The Charlotte Museum's purpose is to collect, preserve, record and display lesbian herstory and cultural heritage.^[2] As well as being a museum, the Charlotte Museum is also home to the Saphira Research Library & Document Archive as well as a Community Art Gallery and a Community Space. The museum regularly hosts a range of events including walking tours, artist and educator talks focused on lesbian sapphic histories, speed dating, music nights, movie nights and quiz nights. They also put on a student internship programme organised with the University of Auckland.^[3] There is an option for women to donate their own collections of lesbian material culture for the Charlotte Museum to preserve, furthering the idea of a collective effort to preserve and display lesbian cultural heritage.^[4]

History

In 2000, a group of Auckland women set out to change the status of lesbian culture in public history; at the time, there were almost no accessible public records on lesbian life.^[5] Furthermore, the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand (LAGANZ) held in Wellington could not hold objects in their collection, resulting in tangible and visible lesbian culture at threat of being permanently lost. Subsequently, the Charlotte Museum was set up by Miriam Saphira, Nicola Jackson, Christine Hammerton and Paula Wallis in 2007 to preserve and build up lesbian histories.^[6]^[7]

The Charlotte Museum is named after Charlotte Prime (Ngāpuhi) and Charlotte Smith (Ngāpuhi), two lesbian women who were regular members of the KG Club.^[3] Its first physical location was in Surrey Crescent, Grey Lynn, in 2008, a year after the Charlotte Museum Trust had been established.^[3] This charitable trust emerged on 7 May 2007 in recognition of the Charlotte Museum being an organisation that benefits the public at large.^[3]^[8] In 2018, the Charlotte Museum relocated to New Lynn and then to its current location in Freemans Bay in June 2023.

Recent Exhibitions


Exhibition	Year	Location	Artist(s) Exhibited
SafeKeeping	2021	New Lynn	Veronica Slater
Mother Nature is a Lesbian	2022	New Lynn
SPACES by Dar'ya Starykovaa: Photographic Exhibition	2022	New Lynn	Dar'ya Starykovaa
Pride and Protest 1972–2022	2022	Te Atatū Peninsula Community Hub
Seen & Heard	2023	Studio One Toi Tū Gallery Pop Up, 238 Karangahape Road	Fiona Clark
Lesbian Road Trip Art Show	2023	New Lynn
View of OUR Street	2023	Freemans Bay	Melanie Church
FLICKS Film & TV Festival	2024	Freemans Bay
Miriam Saphira: the last "One Night Stand"	2024	Freemans Bay	Dr Miriam Saphira
We Make the Space	2024	Freemans Bay	Marijke van Schaardenburg
Thresholds	2024	Freemans Bay	The PulseArt Collective

References

^ Wasasala, Kitty (2024-07-26). "How Tāmaki Makaurau became home to the world's only lesbian museum". The Spinoff. Retrieved 2024-11-27.
^ "Home | The Charlotte Museum Trust | Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland". The Charlotte Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "About | The Charlotte Museum Trust | Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland". The Charlotte Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
^ Robinson, Ella J. (March 2019). Sussing Out Ageing: Sharing Lesbian & Queer Women’s Knowledge of Ageing in Aotearoa New Zealand (PhD thesis). University of Otago.
^ Saphira, Mariam (2019). "Charlotte Museum Trust". NZ History.
^ Laurie, Alison; Te Awekotuku, Ngahuia; Glamuzina, Julie (2018). "Lesbian". NZ History.
^ Saphira, Miriam (2015-08-23). "Why not a lesbian museum? Miriam Saphira reflects". The Charlotte Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
^ "Charities Services | Public benefit and charitable purpose". www.charities.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-11-25.