Mate cup and straw
19th or 20th century
South America
TEMP.01690 and TEMP.01491.3

"When I joined the project, the team was working on a box of unidentified objects, including this little pumpkin. The moment I heard it was from South America I knew exactly what it was: a mate! You use a cup like this to share yerba mate and have genuine conversations."

- Milenko Noguera-Basic

A piece of home in Cambridge

MAA's collections are so varied that no one can know them all. I recognized mate as it is a familiar object throughout my life in Chile. I know how to prepare mate, although everyone has their own recipe for it. I was not trained as a museum professional, however, experiences like these reveal that it is not necessary to be one to reveal the objects, what they are for, what they are made of or how they are made.

With the Move project, which makes collections more visible and accessible online, anyone can contribute insights, correct misrepresentations, and share stories about their own experience. They can all transform the way we understand or perceive museum collections. Why not take a look at the online catalogue to see what you identify with?

Explore these objects further:

https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/583608/

https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/582688/

Explore the full collections database:

https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk

Milenko Noguera-Basic - Workshop Technician

Milenko's role as Workshop Technician supports the Stores Move Project, assisting in the safe packing and transport of over 250,000 objects to our new storage facility.