Philly and the Rosenbach

Much like Natasha and Ann, my time in Philadelphia thus far can only be described with superlatives. I am particularly pleased with my experience at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, one of the (many) hidden gems in the robust academe scene here. In a few short weeks, I have had the privilege of holding John Brown's letters, one of which was written in the days before his execution following the Harpers Ferry raid; Cervantes' first published edition of Don Quixote, widely regarded as the first modern novel; and James Joyce's Ulysses manuscript, considered by many to be the epitome of the modernist movement, among many other fascinating objects. I have been given two main projects thus far at the Rosenbach, each of which has been instrumental in introducing me to the multifarious nature of work at cultural institutions.

In commemoration of the upcoming sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the Rosenbach has planned an exhibition chronicling the factors leading to our nation’s most fractured era through its collections, and I have the incredible opportunity to contribute a subtheme to the exhibit. From choosing the pertinent objects for display, to determining a compelling and informative storyline through which to connect each of the items, even to creating labels and citations for the exhibit, I have, in an intensive three weeks of work, been exposed to the process of exhibition development – in many ways, similar to the construction of a research paper, but with additional elements of artistic license and intimacy in working with manuscripts, letters, and other media. Academic research in topics of interest is engaging enough, but it pales in comparison to the potentiality of educating the masses through exhibition development.

My other focus thus far at the Rosenbach has been in relation to Marianne Moore, the (decidedly) American modernist poet whose works are largely housed in the library. While the Rosenbach is dedicated to programming and education as a museum open to the public, its library is equally valued as a resource to researchers and other scholars; and with a significant portion of Moore’s work among its collections, many who engage in research at the Rosenbach are particularly interested in her papers. The logistics behind permissions and property rights are still rather unfamiliar to me, but in essence, I have been assigned to make sure that research and related work has been properly acknowledged as done through the library’s collections – thus, I am gaining invaluable insight on the methods and procedures of academic research on both sides of the equation, individually and institutionally. There are additional side projects that I have begun working on as well – manuscript transcriptions and independent research, in particular – that, in all, have framed an unequivocally positive experience thus far at the Rosenbach Museum and Library.