She also played an important role in the history of New Zealand museums, as the first entomologist and first professional woman to be employed by one.
[1] She was first employed by the Dominion Museum as a temporary photography assistant in early 1907, and was appointed to permanent staff by July.
On Hamilton's sudden death in 1913, she took charge of the entomological collections, and her primary task until 1915 was the reorganising, remounting and cataloguing the Lepidoptera, which remained her main research focus as her career progressed.
A revised attempt in 1918 resulted in a group of boys interested in learning about moths and butterflies, with weekly meetings for them to pin and catalogue their finds.
She remained at the museum until 1931, when the government reduced staffing levels to save money during the depression.