Holding on to the past: Hoarders and Collectors?

The alternative title is “Why I Watch Hoarders”
            Last week my boyfriend came home to me lying on the couch watching Hoarder: Buried Alive.  He despises all reality T.V. and for the most part I agree with him, but Hoarders I watch for scholarly reasons! On Hoarders a psychologist confronts a hoarder (someone who does not throw stuff out, and often lives in filth dangerously surrounded by their possessions and rotten food ect ect) The show follows the psychologist and the hoarder’s family attempting to clean the hoard up, thus allowing some designated outcome. Every episode the hoarder goes through their things explaining their value. The psychologist and family members usually spend the majority of the show baffled by the hoarder’s wide allotment of significance.  Today’s post is about significance!
            Museums began displaying objects in thematic collections under glass. Early curators hoped the items would encourage critical thinking. Guests were encouraged to draw their own conclusions from the thematic organization thus imbedding the objects with their own significance. This experience not only exposed guests to different prehistorical tools, Egyptian jewelry, ect but taught guests that items held certain significant meanings. Meanings, significant enough to save and display.
I first began thinking about this on the ride back to Tampa from a military turn history museum with my professor and a fellow Pub. Hist student. The place went was result of a private collector’s dedication to military material history. (I’ll talk more about this museum in another post.) This man’s collection turned museum got me thinking, out loud, about the differences between hoarders, collectors, and museums.
Unlike the collection/ visitor relationship I discussed in my Smithsonian post, the relationship between private collectors or hoarders (two different-yet related groups) and their objects appears more personal. (One could argue the personal connection comes from their ability to touch the objects) Collectors own items significant to their culture, and hoarders collect items significant to themselves. A hoarder might keep their favorite outfit despite its tattered unwearable shape. A collector might own a Civil War soldier’s torn up coat. Both articles are torn up outfits, but one has the advantage of being associated with a historic event, the other represents what the show Hoarders and its psychologists would define as an inability to “let go” or a fear of losing a memory or oneself. Arguing whose significance is better is not really worth doing.
Also, hoarders usually don’t have a recognized organization system, the space nor glass cases to display their items. Ultimately the level of professionalization and organization separates the hoarder form the private collector from the museum. As stated earlier the first museums used organization and categorization to display their items to the public. In order to achieve accepted organization through categorizations a collection needs an expert (I use this loosely) to interpret the objects into their proper places. The difference between hoarders, collectors and museums are the viewers’ perception of professionalization in organized display.
(It should be noted that all my information on hoarders comes from the show, take or leave it.)
We live in an interesting time we have shows about hoarding, and shows about picking through people’s hoards in hopes of finding valuable items for resale. On one hand these shows lament the collecting and the loss of control over consumption and on the other hand we watch ‘experts’ explore the depths of their rag tag collections for re-consumption, thus giving extreme consumption approval.
I justify watching Hoarders because 1.) the show makes me want to clean my house, and 2.) it exposes a unique side of consumer and material culture in the United States, which correspond to the museum world, and public history- The connection people feel they have with their history and their personal responsibility to preservation the past.
If you want to look more into the relationship between collectors and professionals Take a look at Benjamin Filene’s 2012 NCPH article Passionate Histories: “Outsider” History-Makers and What They Teach Us. Filene discusses the relationship between professionalized museum workers and history fans, he argues in favor of museums finding inspiration in history fans, attempting to foster a more personal, less academic relationship between visitors and museum, thus creating a relationship like those felt by history fans.

South Florida Museum aka Snooty's House

The South Florida Museum is a strange museum. (strange is good, in most cases) The museum contains a history/archeology museum, a manatee aquarium, and a planetarium, and hosts various community events and fundraisers.
I love manatees, but I am going to go over the museum’s non-manatee related aspects before I gush over Snooty. Knowing where Snooty lives in the museum I tried to avoid him until the very end- and was delightfully surprise with what I saw.
Entering the museum guests first see a Wooly Mammoth. My first assumption was that the museum was going to take me through the evolutionary process that created manatees, knowing elephants and manatees are related in some way. Turns out I was wrong (surprised, nope). The exhibit begins in prehistoric Florida, introducing guests to archeology in the area, displaying dino bones, and engaging graphics. The exhibit leads into pre-European contact Florida and filters outside into a Spanish style courtyard representing colonization. From the Mammoth to the Spanish courtyard the exhibit uses recognizable objects and scenes to build an association between change over time and advancement of material construction.

On the second floor the museum focuses on more modern Floridian history. The exhibits on the second floor include maritime history, medical, an art gallery, and a few taxidermy aquatic sea creatures.
 My favorite part of the second floor is the Visual Storage. Steven Conn famously discusses museum’s move away from displaying historical objects, preferring more hands on or educational displays. The majority of the SFM takes part in this trend. The new museum style places object collections in storage. (Recall the storage hanger at the end of Raider of the Lost Ark.) However, The SFM’s Visual Storage exhibit allows guests access to the museum’s unused collections. While this may seem very innovate the actual set up is a classic. (Things in glass cases with informational cards) Reverting back to old museum displays in this area allows the museum to use modern exhibit techniques and still satisfy their guests desire to see objects. The museum is an excellent place to learn about museum history and get a visual understanding of the trends Conn and others are talking about now.

I got this from the museum’s page.http://www.southfloridamuseum.org/
Snooty is the world’s oldest manatee. He was born in captivity sixty four years ago and does not have any skills for taking care of himself outside of the tank. He is a lot like an indoor cat, or someone who has never been camping. However, Snooty is not doomed to a life of solitude!  The museum takes in and rehabilitees other manatees who share the tank with Snooty. Snooty eats from his caretaker’s hands, and loves broccoli, he also has amazing back muscles and can pull himself up-on the edge of the pool. Snooty is a buff manatee.
Enjoy these.


He fears NO speed Boats!

The Smithsonian Part 1: History Museum

The National History Museum houses items embedded with a near magical quality of cultural significance. On my visit I began to ask myself why we kept all this stuff.
 My group and I stopped at The “Star-Spangled Banner” exhibit first. The flag made me think about the rationalization behind the museum’s collection. The exhibit’s full title (The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag That Inspired the National Anthem) tells us that this flag inspired the national anthem. But what of it now? Why do we still keep it, why preserve it for future viewing? (On Hoarders they would ask “do you plan on using it again?”) Though it failed to inspire with me renewed sense of patriotism it did make me think about my Catholic upbringing. Catholics excel at holding on to old things. The museum keeps the flag for the same reason churches have mummified saints (or fingers, jewelry, teeth, cloth, personal items) on display: to inspire the masses and hopefully transfer a spiritual power to the views. i.e. If the flag inspired one person once, we ought to keep it just in case it works again!
Mission
The National Museum of American History’s mission statement reads “The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History dedicates its collections and scholarship to inspiring a broader understanding of our nation and its many peoples. We create opportunities for learning; stimulate imaginations, and present challenging ideas about our country’s past.” I can’t argue against that, the museum brought me a broader understanding of the nation’s deep attachment to material culture. The museum collects the objects that represent the United States.  That is not to say that museum simply collect and display them in glass boxes, there are some exhibits that are fashioned in the 19^th century style, and others are modern museum display. The display variety allows the museum to showcase museum history, alongside US material culture.
Favorite
“Communities in a Changing Nation: The Promise of 19^th-Century American,” discussed Industrial workers, Jewish Immigrants, and newly freed Black Americans at the turn of the last century. A short display introduced each vignette in the exhibit, explaining what the guests were going to encounter, what they were expected to learn. This exhibit contracts nicely with uncontextualized or lightly contextualized item displays.

This photo illustrates old items in a context and story heavy exhibit. In the photo you see a Jewish immigrant’s trunk, shoes, and books.  Though it is possible to display items as they would have looked new, (or lightly used) in the 19^th century, the display plays on the authenticity of the collection. The items look 100 years old, because they are. The visible authenticity fosters a relationship with museum guests and the 19^th century immigrants. An intimacy only achieved by relative closeness to culturally defined significant objects. Imagine putting those shoes on, would they allow you time travel? Probably not, but I didn’t put them on so maybe. Fostering an intimacy with the past allows modern visitors to place themselves with in a story that, by the existence of the museum itself, is worth telling and saving.
Truthfully, not all guests think about the items in terms of historical significance or their own relationship with the items; however people justify their visit to the museum by citing the collection. “I want to see________.” Lincoln’s hat, Kermit, the First Ladies’ tea sets, Washington’s uniform, Greensboro lunch counter, ect ect.  The want to see things “in person” reveals a need to associate with items that carry a larger significance than oneself.

Here i am associating myself with Kermit the frog. Lastly-My disappointment
The World War One vignette in the U.S. war exhibit was painfully small, and under contextualized.

This guy needs more explanation. Why the gas mask? How did this war create the “lost generation?” SO much left!

Virginia

Ferry Farm

I spent June in Fredericksburg VA doing archeology and interpretation at George Washington’s Boyhood Home. Though my research is focused on the late 19^th/early 20^th U.S., taking part in the Ferry Farm field school allowed me to explore different museums, and develop a better understanding of historical archeology, and why not?

The Ferry Farm dig started about a decade ago. Their original goal was to find the foundations of Washington’s boyhood home. They found the foundations in the early 2000’s and today they focus on small finds, like the wig curler I am holding in the photo. Along with a few wig curler we found some broken ceramic sherds, various building materials from the 18^th-20^th centuries, 20th century toys, a rodent burial, and other fun items.

Ferry Farm is a unique Washington site because it focuses on the land opposed to buildings, or furnishings. Visitors learn the story of the landscape-who lived there, what it was used for, its significance in early Fredericksburg, and the interaction with the Washington family.  

Ferry Farm has an unique advantage-there are no 18th century buildings on the entire site! FF's missing buildings enable it to incorporate creative and educational additions to the landscape. There are a lot of exciting things on the horizon for Ferry Farm.

Kenmore

Kenmore is Ferry Farm’s sister site (literally). Originally Washington’s sister’s house, Kenmore showcases a traditional house museum in a new and rather innovative way.

When I visited Kenmore with the other students from Ferry Farm we tested their newest tour.  Each room in the house showcased various chairs, cloth swatches, and any number of cabinets and tables.  With the docent’s help guests pick the furniture they believe belonged best in the room. The tour engaged the guests to think critically about material culture and allow them to play curator in a house museum.

  House museums are like a department store's furniture section,( but most of us don’t get to buy the furniture we see in museums). For the most part when guests go to a house museum and admire the furniture they are simply admiring the furniture and judging it based on their own 21st century tastes. Kenmore understands their guests desire to pick furniture for themselves, and challenges them by asking their guests to pick out and understand 18th century furniture.

Instead of glorifying recognized historical objects, (or object that look like items from the past) the museum encourages guests to think about the furniture in terms of its cultural definitions throughout time. The tour allows the house museum to transcend the stale stereotype house museum are known for and become an interactive learning site.

Lastly- Something I thought was neat-Fun Fact

The recently restored walls in Kenmore were painted using period paint brushes in the 18^th century style. If you have ever painted a room (in the past 100 years or so) you would know we use a “W” pattern when painting the walls in order to blend the strokes. In the 18^th century painters painted in vertical strokes leaving behind lines in the paint. For the 21^st (and 20^th)century lines mean carelessness or a general disregard for the “W,” but 18^th century home owners recognized the difficulty of painting in vertical strokes, and paid a lot of have people do it.

Welcome

Welcome to Museming,
With this blog I will explore my thoughts on the museums I visit and the public history I encounter.
I will try to include photos, and make reading enjoyable!
 Also, I moved here from tumblr so I have a few posts from there I will post here before I start writing new posts.