Category Archives: Museum Mysteries

Director’s Corner

Posted on by
Reply

Eliza Reilly, Director

What Do Objects Want?

Last post I suggested that objects shaped and organized human lives, which leads to the idea that they have some kind of agency, or that they have power to influence our behavior and consciousness.  This is an uncomfortable idea, as it undermines confidence in our mastery over the non-human world, and challenges our assumptions about free-will and self determination.  But it is a very old notion that is gaining new ground.  For example, Michael Pollan in his book The Botany of Desire, proposed that the relationship between plants and humans is reciprocal, and they influence us every bit as much as we “domesticate” them.

One could assert that nitrogen based life forms may be one thing, but man-made objects are another.   However, the idea, or at least the conceit, that inanimate objects “want” things, that they have desires of their own, is cropping up in art historical and archeological scholarship, including James Elkin’s The Object Stares Back, and WJT Mitchell’s What do Pictures Want?  Mitchell points out that while a vast majority would agree that they do not believe that pictures have “personhood,” people still “insist on talking and behaving as if they did believe it. “  Few of us are immune to this impulse to personify images.  As Professor John Stilgoe of Harvard demonstrated in a famous psychology experiment, tell someone to take a picture of a loved one–a parent, spouse, child—and offer them ten dollars to gouge out the eyes of the picture.  Hardly anyone will take you up on the offer.

An archeologist, Chris Gosden, has framed this development in a way more directly relevant to our work at the Phillips Museum of Art, and to our course “Museum Mysteries.”  In his article “What do Objects Want,” he writes:

“A building, a pot or a metal ornament …channel human action, provide a range of sensory experiences (but exclude others) and place obligations on us in the ways we relate to objects and other people through these objects.”[i]

The students in “Museum Mysteries” can attest to the fact that objects, especially the unfamiliar and “mysterious,” channel their human action, if only by “refusing” to provide some types of information, and freely offering others.   They also sense that this sense of “obligation” towards an object has some relationship to, and can teach us something about, our human relationships and obligations. As Rob Hassler, a student in the first iteration of “Museum Mysteries” (who is now a graduate student  in museum studies), put it:

One of the things that can often be lost in today’s fast paced, technology-based society, is the inability to stop, look, and examine something. I find that the relationships between humans and objects are related to the relationships between human and human, and how we as a society can interact with one another.

[i] Gosden, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 12, No. 3, September 2005.

 

Student Spotlight: Anthony Gruzdis

Posted on by
Reply

This week’s post was written by History Major, Anthony Gruzdis ’13

Anthony Gruzdis, History Major ’13

The fact that I am presently working for an “Art Museum” hasn’t quite sunk in yet. While I would grant myself that I have a few moderately useful talents, the ability to create any meaningful representations that could generously be classified as artistic has thus far escaped me. However, nearly a month after I began working at the Phillips Museum of Art, I can honestly say that it has been one of the most unique, practical, and stimulating experiences I have had during my four years at Franklin and Marshall.

I became affiliated with the museum by way of a course entitled Museum Mysteries. As it was a 300 level history course, I admittedly opted to enroll because it fulfilled one of the final distribution requirements within my History Major. While the course was extremely refreshing – it was a novel experience to view history from a material perspective – the most memorable aspect of the course was the final project. Initially instructed to select a “mystery” object or collection from the museum vaults, we were then required to research the material and context of the objects with the ultimate goal of determining their history and significance.

After a suggestion from the instructor, I selected a collection of paintings by Henry Mylin Kieffer. These paintings depict a wide range of images, including dramatic naval engagements from the First World War, presentations of exotic locations such as the Yangtze and Nile Rivers, and landscapes of rural Pennsylvania. The only information I knew about these paintings was the artist’s name, so my task was to discover who this man was and how his artwork was connected to the college.

Map of Habitat of the Queensland Flotilla

Thus began a whirlwind of a few weeks, as I soon discovered that Kieffer and his family are uniquely linked to the history of both the United States and Franklin and Marshall. Kieffer, a graduate of the Naval Academy, served at the Battle of Veracruz prior to WWI in the Atlantic Theater, was later stationed throughout the Mediterranean, commanded destroyers during the Yangtze River Patrol in the 1920s, and ultimately supervised the Philadelphia and Baltimore Navy Yards during WWII. An amateur artist, Kieffer later worked professionally upon his retirement.

Kieffer’s family also is extremely significant, as his ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War, his father fought in the Civil War (while graduating from F&M), and many others have contributed greatly to medicine, journalism, philosophy, and theology. For the past 150 years, many of them have attended F&M, including a surgeon I was lucky enough to speak to about this project. Excited, he allowed me to borrow a 1917 naval diary of Kieffer’s that corresponds to the map seen above.

The Phillips Museum has been gracious enough to allow me to continue my research this semester. While I may not have discovered any new artistic talents, I have gained an introductory understanding of how museums function and handle objects. Ultimately though, the practical experience of conducting open-ended original research has been at the highlight of my college career.

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Coffee Grinder

Posted on by
Reply

Today’s Guest Blogger is Deena Gittle an F&M Art History major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

Coffee grinder, The Imperial Arcade Manufacturing Company (est. 1885), Freeport, Illinois, 1930s, iron, wood, and plastic

Coffee lovers agree that any device used to savor the flavor and aroma of coffee beans is useful. This coffee grinder was one of numerous designs produced by The Imperial Arcade Manufacturing Company over many decades. The company molded its name into the gold-colored cast iron and printed it along with the model and patent number on a label now missing from the front. This 1930s model has a distinctive S shaped handle that incorporates a knob made of an early type of plastic, which was an upgrade to wood.

“Burr grinders,” as these coffee grinders were sometimes called, were known for their innovative design that made them quieter, less messy, and less likely to clog. The distance between the two grinding wheels inside the grain-painted wood box was adjustable, allowing the user to select a finer or coarser grind, thereby enhancing the distinct flavor of the coffee beans. Ground coffee fell into the drawer below. -Deena Gittle ’12-

Student researchers are exploring some of the mysteries behind museum objects to reveal hidden histories. Objects from the Museum Mysteries seminar course will be on view in The Nissley Gallery at The Phillips Museum through May 11, 2012.

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Tiara

Posted on by
1

Today’s Guest Blogger is Emily Felber an F&M American Studies major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

Tiara, probably United States, 1930-60, stamped brass

Today, a tiara may be used for many occasions:  from playtime dress-up to formal weddings, from Halloween costumes to proms. To the wearer it denotes a sense of being special: regality, individuality, and perhaps an attention-demanding presence. This tiara, however, was not manufactured for twenty-first century aspiring princesses. Although nothing is known of its history, this stamped brass tiara has pseudo gemstones of modest quality and an adjustable strap to fit the user’s head. This cheaply constructed and inexpensive hair accessory likely mimicked fashions of some high-style elites of the 1920s and 1930s. -Emily Felber ’12-

Student researchers are exploring some of the mysteries behind museum objects to reveal hidden histories. Objects from the Museum Mysteries seminar course will be on view in The Nissley Gallery at The Phillips Museum through May 11, 2012.

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Binnacle Lamp

Posted on by
Reply

Today’s Guest Blogger is Cat Serpe an F&M History major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

Binnacle lamp, probably northeastern United States, c. 1920, copper, brass, and glass

This unusual lighting device was most likely used on a ship to illuminate the binnacle, a stand designed to hold and protect a navigational compass for viewing by the helmsman.  For nighttime navigation, a binnacle lamp was used to illuminate the compass. The binnacle lamp materials were specifically rust resistant and nonmagnetic, so as not to interfere with performance of the compass. The heavy collar at the top of the lamp suggests that it was securely held in place for use; the swinging handle suggests that it was removed for safekeeping in the daytime. A trapezoidal glass window directs light to the compass. A hinged door opens for access to a kerosene oil burner. Holes along the bottom edge of the lamp and a screw-off domed chimney provide proper airflow.

The tag attached to the lamp handle notes that the lamp belonged to the USS Tulsa, a United States Navy gunboat used from 1923 to 1946. How this lamp became part of The Phillips Museum collection is unrecorded. -Cat Serpe ’12-

Student researchers are exploring some of the mysteries behind museum objects to reveal hidden histories. Objects from the Museum Mysteries seminar course will be on view in The Nissley Gallery at The Phillips Museum through May 11, 2012.