portrait-photo

Written by a former museologist (yep, there's such a thing), this blog is dedicated to the small, random museums (and the occasional large institutions) of the world that are full of funny, ridiculous and sometimes mundane collections. And if you're easily offended, keep in mind most of these posts are indeed informative but also easily offensive.

Our ancestors were lucky if they had a single photograph of their wedding day, if they had any at all. That’s nothing compared to the brides and grooms of today who have thousands of pics (and changed facebook statuses) to prove to the world they are married, are important and indeed exist. My favorite story about a modern day bride is an old school friend of mine who had three photographers document every single moment…she even had a separate photo album of her make-up and hair sessions. It’s like everyone thinks they’re a celebrity posing in some magazine. Did you know white did not become a popular option for wedding dresses until 1840, when Queen Victoria got married? She wore a white gown because she was really into lace and everyone likes to follow a queen’s lead. So think of that next time you go on about traditions and shit, especially when the color red is most popular in Eastern cultures. What’s right and what’s wrong? Speaking of Victoria (and Albert)…at their little museum in London you can see the above dress, and believe it or not, it’s from an actual 18th century wedding. This mantua, a type of court dress, is associated with the wedding of Isabella Courtenay to Dr. John Andrew in Exeter Cathedral on 14 May 1744. She might not have worn it during the ceremony, we will never for sure (remember no photographs, people) but it was most likely part of the reception, you know where everyone double fists during the open bar. (Image Source)

Our ancestors were lucky if they had a single photograph of their wedding day, if they had any at all. That’s nothing compared to the brides and grooms of today who have thousands of pics (and changed facebook statuses) to prove to the world they are married, are important and indeed exist. My favorite story about a modern day bride is an old school friend of mine who had three photographers document every single moment…she even had a separate photo album of her make-up and hair sessions. It’s like everyone thinks they’re a celebrity posing in some magazine.

Did you know white did not become a popular option for wedding dresses until 1840, when Queen Victoria got married? She wore a white gown because she was really into lace and everyone likes to follow a queen’s lead. So think of that next time you go on about traditions and shit, especially when the color red is most popular in Eastern cultures. What’s right and what’s wrong?

Speaking of Victoria (and Albert)…at their little museum in London you can see the above dress, and believe it or not, it’s from an actual 18th century wedding. This mantua, a type of court dress, is associated with the wedding of Isabella Courtenay to Dr. John Andrew in Exeter Cathedral on 14 May 1744. She might not have worn it during the ceremony, we will never for sure (remember no photographs, people) but it was most likely part of the reception, you know where everyone double fists during the open bar.

(Image Source)

Happy May Day! No, I’m not talking about the celebration of spring, like in the film Wicker Man, today is about honoring the international labor and left-wing movements from around the world. It all started in Chicago on May 1, 1886 when unionists, reformers, socialists, anarchists and workers got together to fight for the eight-hour work day. The Haymarket Massacre, which occurred after an unknown person threw a bomb at police as they dispersed a public assembly during a general strike and eight of the unionists were found guilty, has been remembered ever since as a day to honor those fighting for the rights of all workers. The Chicago History Museum has a great collection of items related to the events, including this cabinet card photograph, published by the David Bradley Manufacturing Company a year or two after the riot. Many portraits were made during and after the trial. This one is a composite showing the views of the three buildings near Haymarket Square: Grief’s Hall, Crane’s Manufacturing Company and David Bradley (the company who made the card). Along with the portraits of the men convicted in the trial (from left to right: August Spies, Louis Lingg, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwab, and A. R. Parsons) there is also a view of a Haymarket alley with a label: “place where the bomb was thrown.”

Happy May Day! No, I’m not talking about the celebration of spring, like in the film Wicker Man, today is about honoring the international labor and left-wing movements from around the world. It all started in Chicago on May 1, 1886 when unionists, reformers, socialists, anarchists and workers got together to fight for the eight-hour work day. The Haymarket Massacre, which occurred after an unknown person threw a bomb at police as they dispersed a public assembly during a general strike and eight of the unionists were found guilty, has been remembered ever since as a day to honor those fighting for the rights of all workers.

The Chicago History Museum has a great collection of items related to the events, including this cabinet card photograph, published by the David Bradley Manufacturing Company a year or two after the riot. Many portraits were made during and after the trial. This one is a composite showing the views of the three buildings near Haymarket Square: Grief’s Hall, Crane’s Manufacturing Company and David Bradley (the company who made the card). Along with the portraits of the men convicted in the trial (from left to right: August Spies, Louis Lingg, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwab, and A. R. Parsons) there is also a view of a Haymarket alley with a label: “place where the bomb was thrown.”

When I visited a friend in Berlin over two years ago, I really really really wanted to go to Dresden and Leipzig and Dessau…and the list goes on and on. Thank goodness I have no pennies in my pocket, and my travel itch has been temporarily solved by this blog, because I would have gone crazy a long time ago. “What do you want to do with your life?” “Uh, nothing. But I’d like to be a professional traveler!” Is that an appropriate answer to such a question? Well, maybe one day I’ll go back to Deutschland to see the Dresden Panometer. Located inside a former gasometer, a panoramic painting shows Dresden as it might have appeared in the Baroque days of 1756, or before the British and Americans bombed it death in World War II. The exhibit, created in 2006 by the Austrian-born artist Yadegar Asisi, is a combination of the words “panorama” and “gasometer”. How 21st century! With a cityscape in 1:1 scale, using light, sound and other historical details to show what life was like over 250 years ago, visitors are treated to a one-of-a-kind experience of the senses. Looking down on the recreated city from a 39-foot-high platform, there are the roofs of the royal palace along the Elbe River with birds chirping and carpenters hammering and music playing. I really wish more cities took over old gas containers and put on exhibits like this one. Did you hear me, Chicago? Here’s your chance to pay for your sins, you know, like tearing down all those beautiful old buildings in the name of progress and renewal. (Image Source)

When I visited a friend in Berlin over two years ago, I really really really wanted to go to Dresden and Leipzig and Dessau…and the list goes on and on. Thank goodness I have no pennies in my pocket, and my travel itch has been temporarily solved by this blog, because I would have gone crazy a long time ago. “What do you want to do with your life?” “Uh, nothing. But I’d like to be a professional traveler!” Is that an appropriate answer to such a question? Well, maybe one day I’ll go back to Deutschland to see the Dresden Panometer. Located inside a former gasometer, a panoramic painting shows Dresden as it might have appeared in the Baroque days of 1756, or before the British and Americans bombed it death in World War II. The exhibit, created in 2006 by the Austrian-born artist Yadegar Asisi, is a combination of the words “panorama” and “gasometer”. How 21st century! With a cityscape in 1:1 scale, using light, sound and other historical details to show what life was like over 250 years ago, visitors are treated to a one-of-a-kind experience of the senses. Looking down on the recreated city from a 39-foot-high platform, there are the roofs of the royal palace along the Elbe River with birds chirping and carpenters hammering and music playing. I really wish more cities took over old gas containers and put on exhibits like this one. Did you hear me, Chicago? Here’s your chance to pay for your sins, you know, like tearing down all those beautiful old buildings in the name of progress and renewal.

(Image Source)

Interior of the Field Museum, c.1919. Interior of the Field Museum, c.2011.

Interior of the Field Museum, c.1919.

Interior of the Field Museum, c.2011.

(Source: calumet412)

The Iowa State Fair is celebrating the 100th year of its butter cow sculpture. Whether you like your butter deep fried or prefer to sit in a gooey buttery liquid bath, I bet you didn’t know the earliest known butter art sculpture was shown at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Caroline Shawk Brooks displayed her Dreaming Iolanthe, a basrelief bust of a woman modeled in butter, which was kept cold with a system of layered bowls and frequent ice changes. Not a trained artist, but a farmer who made butter for decades, she began sculpting and selling her butter creations. Dreaming Iolanthe was so popular that Brooks would re-do it over the years at other regional exhibitions, including making busts of Queen Isabella and Christopher Columbus at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

The Iowa State Fair is celebrating the 100th year of its butter cow sculpture. Whether you like your butter deep fried or prefer to sit in a gooey buttery liquid bath, I bet you didn’t know the earliest known butter art sculpture was shown at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Caroline Shawk Brooks displayed her Dreaming Iolanthe, a basrelief bust of a woman modeled in butter, which was kept cold with a system of layered bowls and frequent ice changes. Not a trained artist, but a farmer who made butter for decades, she began sculpting and selling her butter creations. Dreaming Iolanthe was so popular that Brooks would re-do it over the years at other regional exhibitions, including making busts of Queen Isabella and Christopher Columbus at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

It’s not a songbird, it’s not Led Zeppelin’s airplane, it’s not a even a Musical Instrument Museum…it’s the Museum of Making Music. Get it right, man. Part of the National Association of Music Merchants, the mission of the eleven year old museum in California is to “celebrate the rich history and encourage the future of music making.” The permanent exhibits tell the history of American popular music from the 19th century to the present, mostly focusing on the manufacture and retail of musical instruments in the music products industry. There are more than 450 vintage instruments and artifacts on display, hundreds of audio samples of obscure early 20th century songs…and yes, they take their name seriously…a place where you can literally make music if you want. What did I learn? That there’s always a Chicago connection. In the late 19th/early 20th centuries, Chicago was the western hub of the music industry. When I hear the name Lyon & Healy, I always think of the ghost sign on the side their old building on Wabash now owned by DePaul University. Founded in 1864, this harp manufacturer is still in existence today. They were one of the first retailers to use the radio for advertising by sponsoring radio broadcasts of concerts on WGY radio station. Their factory located at Fullerton just west of Pulaski (then Crawford) still stands, even though operations have moved to another part of the city. (Image Source)

It’s not a songbird, it’s not Led Zeppelin’s airplane, it’s not a even a Musical Instrument Museum…it’s the Museum of Making Music. Get it right, man. Part of the National Association of Music Merchants, the mission of the eleven year old museum in California is to “celebrate the rich history and encourage the future of music making.”

The permanent exhibits tell the history of American popular music from the 19th century to the present, mostly focusing on the manufacture and retail of musical instruments in the music products industry. There are more than 450 vintage instruments and artifacts on display, hundreds of audio samples of obscure early 20th century songs…and yes, they take their name seriously…a place where you can literally make music if you want.

What did I learn? That there’s always a Chicago connection. In the late 19th/early 20th centuries, Chicago was the western hub of the music industry. When I hear the name Lyon & Healy, I always think of the ghost sign on the side their old building on Wabash now owned by DePaul University. Founded in 1864, this harp manufacturer is still in existence today. They were one of the first retailers to use the radio for advertising by sponsoring radio broadcasts of concerts on WGY radio station. Their factory located at Fullerton just west of Pulaski (then Crawford) still stands, even though operations have moved to another part of the city.

(Image Source)

Wow! If I thought I already found some very specific museums (like the Aluminum Tree and Seasonal Ornament Museum or Funeral Carriage Museum) I just discovered one to top them all. Yes, ladies and gentleman there is a Bicycle Pedaling Museum. Actually the correct term should be “was” as the place closed its doors in November 2009 after eighteen years. Hmmm…wonder why? Too specific, maybe? Thousands of antique and classic American cycling-related memorabilia are safely tucked away in storage awaiting purchase. Hopefully, someone will be interested in reopening the museum as it saddens me that people will never see this bike wear mannequin display ever again. P.S. I don’t even like Disney, but I want a Donald Duck bike. Who’s with me? (Image Source)

Wow! If I thought I already found some very specific museums (like the Aluminum Tree and Seasonal Ornament Museum or Funeral Carriage Museum) I just discovered one to top them all. Yes, ladies and gentleman there is a Bicycle Pedaling Museum. Actually the correct term should be “was” as the place closed its doors in November 2009 after eighteen years. Hmmm…wonder why? Too specific, maybe? Thousands of antique and classic American cycling-related memorabilia are safely tucked away in storage awaiting purchase. Hopefully, someone will be interested in reopening the museum as it saddens me that people will never see this bike wear mannequin display ever again.

P.S. I don’t even like Disney, but I want a Donald Duck bike. Who’s with me?

(Image Source)

Happy Pride! At the Chicago History Museum, a new exhibit “Out in Chicago” explores the stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Chicagoans who shaped the city and various communities over the past 150 years. In 1958, Chuck Renslow and his friends had an affinity for leather that was too much for a Chicago gay bar called Omar’s. Tossed out, he decided to open his own nightspot, the Gold Coast Bar, the country’s first leather bar. Now 82 years old, Renslow recalls of the bar, “I was just trying to bring the leather community together. It was a place where leather men could meet and know each other.” A mural of Renslow and his bar buddies painted by Dom “Etienne” Orejudos in 1973 is part of the new exhibit. (Image Source)

Happy Pride!

At the Chicago History Museum, a new exhibit “Out in Chicago” explores the stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Chicagoans who shaped the city and various communities over the past 150 years. In 1958, Chuck Renslow and his friends had an affinity for leather that was too much for a Chicago gay bar called Omar’s. Tossed out, he decided to open his own nightspot, the Gold Coast Bar, the country’s first leather bar. Now 82 years old, Renslow recalls of the bar, “I was just trying to bring the leather community together. It was a place where leather men could meet and know each other.” A mural of Renslow and his bar buddies painted by Dom “Etienne” Orejudos in 1973 is part of the new exhibit.

(Image Source)

I went to a baby shower yesterday. I think I’d rather have gone to a museum. Seen at the History of Medicine Museum, Paris. (Image Source)

I went to a baby shower yesterday. I think I’d rather have gone to a museum.

Seen at the History of Medicine Museum, Paris.

(Image Source)

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