Knocking on the Cabinet of Curiosity's Door

Recently I’ve been searching the APS Library and Museum collections for thematic connections that could translate into a potential future exhibition theme. Specifically, the APS Museum is looking to put on another “Treasures Revealed” exhibition which brings forth wondrous artifacts from the inner cabinets of dusty history and presents their unique life stories to curious visitors. For example, the last Treasures Revealed exhibition included Lewis and Clark’s field journals, Eugene Buguet’s gothic photographs of spirits communicating with clairvoyants, and the Works of Confucius & his disciples, a book bound in human skin.

Because we both work in an area that is devoted to the history of the Founding Fathers, I’ve spoken to Anne (fellow Fellow) about the Independence National Historic Park museum/library/offices’ worship of all things Great White Male. Benjamin Franklin and Lewis and Clark are two of the APS’s beloved mascots. Therefore I appreciate the mission of the APS Museum to give air-time to other (Other?) significant people/events/objects who also shaped our nation’s character. Their 2006 exhibition, The Princess and The Patriot, celebrates the achievements of some of the first female members of the APS. Because of this precedent, I’ve been wondering how I could bring forth collections material that are currently unidentified or do not fit with the majority of the collection strengths.

The objects that I have chosen to research have led me into the cracks between the collection catalogues where 27 item donations from 1797 have curiously become a 10 item remainder and where 19^th century replicas/fakes of original Aztec art masquerade in mystery. My cosmic question is how to present these items as treasures that fit with what the APS Museum defines as a ‘treasure’? In the past “Treasures Revealed” exhibition there were a few Inuit and unidentified American Indian artifacts that did not go through to the final object list because the researchers couldn’t accumulate enough of the right kind of information for a complete and relevant story. Unfortunately, I have been having the same kind of road-blocks with my own research but Lyndsey Rago Claro has been a great help and advisor so I can look forward to leaving an educational and comprehensive packet of potential exhibition material for a few artifacts in our collection.

Now I can’t help this next part because I’ve been trained to sniff out and (over) analyze the current living habits of historic disparities between human populations/communities. I am sensitive to throwing around these ‘-ist’ words (racist, classist, sexist, and their many friends) because I think people resist recognizing their pervasive influences in the assumedly “safe” and “politically correct” arenas of academe and liberal arts. These words put people on the defensive because they connote shame and blame. I’m not a friend of these words but I am a participant in our examination of them, so the way that I talk about these issues may be more bold or off-hand than others are used to.

Therefore, while I am going through the APS’s manuscript and material collections, I am trying to apply my specific skill set as a student of these ‘-ist’ words so that my contribution to the APS Museum will be significant because it is something that is unique to me and what I can offer. My time in class and in the city is a part of this perspective. Last week my Education and Difference at Work class visited the Belmont Charter School in West Philadelphia where each of us entered the classrooms of 2^nd-4^th graders. Besides being an inspirational experience that has turned me on to education as a career, my time at Belmont helped me brainstorm ideas for Treasures Objects—what would the children from my Belmont classroom want to see in a small history of science museum? These kinds of questions bring up the ‘-ist’ words because exhibition preparation has to take into account who we are serving, what is our intent, and as a consequence how can we broaden our reach? I’ve been excited to see how, as the Museum is becoming a professional icon, the shows and public programming are finding ways to serve under privileged neighborhoods…I hope my own interests and research will connect with these communities in some way.

I am currently pulling together past research that the APS Museum staff had begun on some of these “unidentified” or “random” collection objects that are testimonies of histories other than Benjamin Franklin and Co. There are lots of promising artifacts that ran into a dead end because they couldn’t fit in with the exhibition’s themes or because of technicalities with rights and reproduction laws. Sometimes I worry that if these objects are displayed that acts like NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) will require the APS Museum to return the objects, which is “good” but also a loss for the Museum (interesting ideas of identity through ownership going on here…) So that’s what’s up in my neck of the woods and I’m optimistic about the results!