Ideal Museum Project: The American Museum of Wonder and Curiosity Cabinets Proposal PowerPoint...
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Transcript of Ideal Museum Project: The American Museum of Wonder and Curiosity Cabinets Proposal PowerPoint...
The American Museum of Wonder and Curiosity Cabinets
Mission Statement: “To display, collect, and preserve artifacts
relevant to the study of the visual arts and sciences and their histories, as well
as pay homage to the history of museums and museology in the Western European tradition while incorporating American history and resources in the presentation of artifacts and design of
exhibitions.”
Why This Museum?
Curiosity cabinets serve as a pre-cursor to the modern-day museum, and their contents and displays can be seen as a history of museums
Royalty and members of the aristocracy were the foremost collectors Tsar Peter I Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor Francesco I de’Medici, Grand Duke
of Tuscany Charles I of England
Frontispiece for the Museum Wormianum, 1655, which depicts Ole Worm’s cabinet of curiosities
Why This Museum? (Continued)
The vast majority of these collections remain in Europe The Kunstkamera in Saint Petersburg was founded by
Peter the Great, making it Russia’s first museum Many of these collections can be found in England▪ Ashmolean Museum (the first university museum) and the
Pitt Rivers, both in Oxford▪ The British Museum in London
Other collections can be found in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia
Can be held in science and anthropological museums, studiolos, or former palaces
Why This Museum? (Continued)
Similar types of museums are rare in the United States, and they can be confusing and sound misleading
The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles▪ Introduces itself as “an educational institution dedicated to the advancement of
knowledge and the public appreciation of the Lower Jurassic…”▪ While the MJT’s intro and purpose becomes clearer upon further reading… “The
public museum as understood today, is a collection of specimens and other objects of interest to the scholar, the man of science as well as the more casual visitor, arranged and displayed in accordance with the scientific method…”
▪ … and one realizes it’s a “museum of museums….”▪ Visitors have already made up their minds—the MJT must be a dinosaur museum!
The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia▪ Part of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, so not completely autonomous…▪ …which makes its website surprisingly difficult to navigate▪ The museum is an eponym—doesn’t provide any hints as to what’s inside the museum
or the nature of its collections▪ And that umlaut throws many people off!
Why This Museum? (Continued)
Make these collections available to the public, not just for private viewing by the extremely wealthy
Understand and appreciate art using objects traditionally not considered as such
Understand how ideas and thought processes change over time
Presentation can be flexible, as different arrangements of objects create different meanings and contexts
Location, Building, and Context
The ideal architect is Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (1869-1924), who designed several buildings across the U.S.
Goodhue designed spaces that served several functions necessary for a stable community: religious, civic, and educational St. Thomas Church, St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, and Church of
St. Vincent Ferrer, all of which are located on the UES Grolier Club also on the UES Los Angeles Central Library in Downtown L.A.
▪ Holdings include the Science, Technology & Patents Department▪ The John Feathers map collection, which is a recent acquisition. Once cataloguing is finished the
LACL will have the fifth-largest map collection in the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, D.C.
Location, Building, and Context (Continued)
Renovation of an existing building or constructing a new one are both appropriate architectural programs for the AMWCC
Planners and builders have easy access to the Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue Architectural Drawings and Papers, 1882-1980 Collection at Columbia University’s Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library in their Department of Drawings & Archives
Some of Goodhue’s buildings were completed posthumously by other architectural firms and designers, such as the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago
Location, Building, and Context (Continued)
The ideal location would be on the Upper East Side in close proximity to Museum Mile Visitors would have the option of seeing a more
specialized collection that’s close to Museum Mile Museum Mile incorporates several specialized museums,
including the Neue Galerie, El Museo del Barrio, and most recently, the Museum of African Art▪ The Museum of African Art is supposed to reopen in 2014 under
the new name the New Africa Center Demonstrates that Museum Mile isn’t a static area and
the museum-going public desires new institutions that allow visitors to explore alternate U.S. histories and experiences
Board of Directors
Florence Fearrington Joanna Ebenstein Robert D. Hicks, PhD John Coppola Judith B. Prowda, Esq.
Florence Fearrington Education:
AB from the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, 1958
Certificate in Business Administration from the Harvard-Radcliffe Program, 1961
Activities: Trustee at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa Member of the Council of the Bibliographical Society
of America and the Grolier Club, both in New York Member of the American Antiquarian Society in
Worcester, Massachusetts Library Fellow at the American Museum of Natural
History
Professional Experience: Founder and former President of Florence
Fearrington Inc., an investment management firm (now part of the U.S. Trust Company of New York)
Curator of the exhibition “Rooms of Wonder: From Wunderkammer to Museum,” which has been shown at Harvard University’s Houghton Library and the Grolier Club in New York
Since October 4th, 2013, the exhibition has been at Grinnell College’s Faulconer Gallery and will be on view until December 15th, 2013
At UNC-Chapel Hill’s Wilson Library from February 20th, 2014 to April 20th, 2014
Florence Fearrington (left) with William P. Stoneman,the first Florence Fearrington Librarian ofHoughton Library at Harvard University.
Florence Fearrington
Why her? Longtime and avid collector of rare books and
antiques Has easy access to sources and materials that
could be used for exhibitions at the AMWCC Supporter and donator for other organizations
outside of the cultural realm in addition to her professional and academic affiliations▪ A nice way of saying that she has tons of money,
which never hurts
Joanna Ebenstein Founder of the Morbid Anatomy Library in
Brooklyn and its blog, which “survey[s] the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture”
Education: BA, University of California—Santa Cruz
Organizations: Founding Member of Observatory in
Brooklyn Wellcome Trust in London The Coney Island Museum
Activities: Artist Photographer Lecturer Collector Traveler
Joanna Ebenstein Why her?
The Morbid Anatomy Library statement of purpose complements the mission and goals of the AMWCC▪ “The Morbid Anatomy Library is a research library and private
museum in Brooklyn, New York. It is committed to celebrating and providing materials dedicated to the places where death and beauty intersect. The library makes available a collection of curiosities, books, photographs, artworks, ephemera, and artifacts relating to medical museums, anatomical art, collectors and collecting, cabinets of curiosity, the history of medicine, death and society, natural history, arcane media, and curiosity and curiosities broadly considered.”
The MAL is free to the public Observatory offers lectures and studio workshops, some of
which involve taxidermy and Victorian hair art Only working artist on the Board of Directors
Robert D. Hicks, PhD Director of the Mütter Museum and
Historical Medical Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia Director of the Francis Clark Wood Institute
for the History of Medicine at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia
William Maul Measey Chair for the History of Medicine
Education: PhD, University of Exeter Anthropology and Archeology from the
University of Arizona
Professional Experience Director of the Roy Eddleman Institute for
Education and Interpretation at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia
U.S. Naval officer and worked in criminal justice for over two decades
Author of Voyage to Jamestown: Practical Navigation in the Age of Discovery (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2011)
Robert D. Hicks, PhD
Why him? The Mütter Museum as one of the first
American Curiosity Cabinets Experience with collections
management, exhibitions, and educational outreach for over 30 years
Expert in several fields of science and history▪ PhD is in Maritime History
John Coppola Member of the National Museum and
Library Services Board
Graduate Instructor in Curatorial Studies and Museum Management at Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, D.C.
Professional Experience
Director of the Office of Exhibits Central at the Smithsonian Institution
Chief of the Bureau of International Expositions
Exhibitions Program Manager for Arts America at the U.S. Information Agency (now part of the U.S. State Department)
Exhibition Manager for the Museum of Latin American Art, the Smithsonian Latino Center, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., St. Thomas University in Miami, and the Stonewall Library & Archives in Fort Lauderdale
John Coppola
Why him? Appointed by President Obama to the
NMLBS Governing and political experience Works with international and culturally
diverse communities▪ Museum consultant in the Middle East and
Latin America▪ Has overseen exhibitions pertaining to
historically underrepresented groups
A lawyer
A team of lawyers
Why are several lawyers necessary?
Dealing with multiple and often overlapping fields of practice, including Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law (EASL) Environmental Law Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law Intellectual Property (IP) Law International Law
Need specialists within these fields Copyrights, Trademarks, and Patents (IP) International Business and Transactions (International
Law) Cultural Property and Ownership (EASL)
New York State Bar Association EASL Committees EASL Committees include:
Alternative Dispute Resolution Copyright and Trademark Digital Media Fashion Law Fine Arts Literary Works and Related Rights Motion Pictures Music and Recording Industry Publications Television and Radio Theatre and Performing Arts International Committee
NYSBA IP Committees
IP committees include: Copyright Law International IP Patent Law Pro Bono and Public Interest Trademark Law Transactional Law
NYSBA International Law Committees
International Law committees include: Committee on Europe Committee on International Art Law, Art
Funds, and Art Finance
Judith B. Prowda, Esq. Senior Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New
York
Education: LLM from New York University School of Law JD from Fordham University School of Law MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins
University MA in French from Middlebury College Certificate from l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques in
Paris
Professional Experience: Chair of the NYSBA Committee on Fine Arts Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the NYSBA
Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution Immediate Past Chair of the NYSBA EASL Section Editorial Board Member of the Copyright Society
of the USA Author of Visual Arts and the Law: A Handbook for
Professionals (Lund Humphries 2013)
Judith B. Prowda, Esq.
Why her? Expert in EASL, IP Law, and International Law▪ Specializes in legal issues pertaining to fine arts
Holds prominent positions in professional organizations while working in academia
Writes several articles for law journals and professional texts
Former journalist and interpreter for the U.S. State Department
Based in NY, but has worked in Paris and Geneva as an attorney and mediator
Planning Exhibitions at the AMWCC
One permanent collection, and three or four special exhibitions a year, with the possibility of traveling nationwide and/or internationally in the future References American cultural history and
phenomena, such as circuses and sideshows, as well as the rapid physical expansion of the U.S.
Planning Exhibitions at the AMWCC (Continued)
Relics and Reliquaries around the U.S.▪ The Holy Finger of Kansas City at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in
Kansas City, Missouri▪ St. Valentine’s relics at Old St. Ferdinand Church in Florissant, Missouri▪ The Maria Stein Convent in Maria Stein, Ohio ▪ St. Herman’s Reliquary in Kodiak, Alaska ▪ St. Edmund’s arm in the Chapel of Our Lady of Assumption at Saint
Edmund's Retreat in Mystic, Connecticut Medical and pharmaceutical ephemera in the growth of the
American drugstore—explores scientific breakthroughs, “cure-alls,” quack medicine, and the like▪ Materials from the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices in Minnesota
(now part of the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul)▪ The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy in Madison, Wisconsin
Memento moris and Victorian funerary practices▪ Death masks▪ Postmortem photographs
Das Ende • La Fin • La Fine • Конец • The End
William Michael Harnett, Music and Literature, 1878, oil on canvas, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY