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Our Voices; Our Community A Trip to the Thomas Crane Public Library and their February Exhibit, “Our Voices: Woodward Celebrates 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage”

by Hannah Arnow

The exhibit is hard to miss. As you cross the threshold into Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, MA a brightly painted image declaring, “Don’t look back… you’re not going that way” captures your eye. Vivid, bold, it invites you into the exhibit, which is off to the left as you enter.

The exhibit, “Our Voices: Woodward Celebrates 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage,” celebrates the centennial of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote in the United States. The exhibit features the paintings of 24 art students at the Woodward School for Girls in Quincy, MA. The students were asked “what messages they would want people to rally behind today” and these paintings are their response.

The exhibit reaches two audiences: Student Artists and the Community.   Marguerite White, the art teacher at the Woodward School, frames this exhibit as a learning opportunity. She taught students to engage with history and archival materials in a new way and how to incorporate it into their art. She guided her students through an examination of old suffrage posters to learn how women in the past articulated their beliefs and presented strong messages. These lessons show through their attention to detail and strong messages. The artwork, created by the students, reflects bold messages about climate change, women’s rights, immigrant rights, vegetarianism, self-love, coming out, and more. This exhibition creates a space for these art students to share their passion and their voices at the library. Through amplifying the students’ work, the library created a conversation piece, sparking a community engagement.

As you approach the exhibition space, there is a small sign and notebook: “We welcome the chance to hear from the community, so please take a moment to add your own thoughts or concerns in the notebook below.” This exhibit reaches out, beyond the art, asking the observer to participate. It welcomes you in and asks you the same questions posed to the students. It creates a community dialogue.

These paintings moved me. As I took in the names and ages of the artists, the concerns that preoccupied these students caused me to reflect on my own beliefs and the causes that have stuck with me from childhood. I slowly walked through the exhibition, taking it all in. Before leaving, I wrote a comment and felt connected to these students and their causes. With this exhibit, Thomas Crane Public Library creates a space for the community generally, along with the students specifically, to have their voice heard and displayed.

This exhibit invites the community into the library and into art. It encourages people coming into the library to see it as a space where their voice – all our voices – matter. Where they can be heard and be a part of the community. The library uses art to reach into the community, transcending traditional barriers, and inviting people to engage with the institution in a new way.

The exhibit will be on display through the end of February 2020. If you are unable to attend in person, you can view the “Our Voices” Exhibit virtually through Thomas Crane Public Library’s flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomascranelibrary/sets/72157712914607312/with/49468630141/

 

Learn more about the “Our Voices” Exhibit through the words of the artists with a Quincy Access Television interview with Marguerite White and some of the Woodward Art Students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn2wDb_PpTA&feature=youtu.be

Thomas Crane Public Library hosts monthly art exhibits that serve to invite the community in and visit the library. They are intended to be thought provoking and provide a point of conversation between the artists on exhibition and the community. Learn more about Thomas Crane Public Library’s current exhibits here: http://thomascranelibrary.org/events/exhibits

 

 
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Neighborhood Matters: An Outreach and Advocacy Project by Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections

by Angela Lee

“Neighborhood Matters” is an outreach and advocacy project hosted by Northeastern University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections (ASC). This lunch time series aims at promoting diversity and inclusion by organizing a free public event; its goal  includes bridging campus and community. “Neighborhood Matters” first began in 2014 and is held at Snell Library on the Northeastern University (NEU) campus two to three times a semester. The project was proposed and led by the head of NEU’s Archives and Special Collections, Giordana Mecagni. “Neighborhood Matters” started out as the simple format of a Boston-specific documentary screening event; it has  grown into a more interaction-driven forum that encourages thought-provoking communication over the past six years.

The scope of this community-based initiative is confined to the city of Boston.  Within this geographical boundary, “Neighborhood Matters” sheds light on local history that is largely underrepresented through unique stories narrated by our neighbors. The project is an embodiment of NEU’s ASC, aligned with their collection policy to curate diverse historical records to preserve the history of Boston’s social movements. The individual voices captured by “Neighborhood Matters” bring insight and new perspectives to seemingly mundane places in Boston.

The project’s target audience includes local communities, as well as NEU members, but events are open to anyone who is interested in how actual neighbors have shaped and been shaped by Boston’s distinct neighborhoods. Not only does “Neighborhood Matters” encourage community members to appreciate their neighborhood more, but it also offers an opportunity to network. As a result, NEU’s ASC becomes a nexus of rekindled community spirit and identity.

According to NEU’s archivist, Molly Brown, the topic of each event is curated in response to current and socially significant issues that are worthy of public attention. Due to this adaptability, an event is planned a few months ahead of time, rather than on a yearly basis. Sometimes socially active figures reach out to NEU’s ASC and propose an idea for an event. For instance, Alison Barnet, who is a local author and a long time committed attendee of the “Neighborhood Matters,” suggested the recent event entitled “Once Upon a Neighborhood: A History of the South End from Alison Barnet.”

This author talk was held on February 11, 2020, and featured Alison Barnet as a special guest. Originally from New York, but now a resident of the South End since the 1960s when she was a transfer student at Boston University, Barnet has witnessed the ceaselessly changing landscape of Boston over the past half century.

This South End history writer shared her version of the Bostonian chronicle, which traces Boston’s legacy all the way back to the 1600s, based on her newest book Once Upon a Neighborhood: A Timeline and Anecdotal History of the South End of Boston. The event had a great turn out and a large number of elderly attendees, due to Barnet’s many personal allies who showed up to support her. While she recounted snippets of South End history, the audience reacted with fervent nodding or occasional sighs as a sign of empathy.

Following Barnet’s jovial reminiscing through her long-term residency in the South End, she presented video footage of her 1980s appearance on network TV. Barnet’s satirical performance in the skit addressed a looming threat of gentrification and displacement in Boston. Since the gentrified neighborhoods are still an ongoing battle faced by the city of Boston, her story is not limited to the past but resonates with all of us in the here and now. As the series’ self-explicit title suggests, neighborhood does matter. However, “Neighborhood Matters” asks us to consider why it matters, how a sense of neighborhood can be cultivated, and why it is important to stay connected with the people who live around us. The belief behind this outreach and advocacy project is that posing these questions makes a difference in our everyday life, while also demonstrating the tangible value of NEU’s ASC.

This grassroots empowerment is what has driven the “Neighborhood Matters” forward, resulting in enhanced social recognition of NEU’s ASC. Brown, NEU’s archivist, attributed the continuous positive feedback and growing number of loyal attendees as an indicator of the efficacy of “Neighborhood Matters” since its initiation. This gradual but steady effort contributes to increased community awareness, and its impact reverberates beyond NEU’s neighborhood.

Elizabeth Nagarajah, an attendee who is a Class of 1990 NEU alumna, described “Neighborhood Matters” as an invitation to all to reflect upon their society’s interconnectedness. As a Roxbury resident for nearly 40 years, Nagarajah is frustrated by the frequent marginalization of the Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park neighborhoods in the media. In her eyes, Roxbury is “a neighborhood full of families and people who care and love the area,” even though the neighborhood is “depicted as a crime infested area full of brokenness.” Nagarajah stressed the importance of people seeing more of these marginalized neighborhoods than what the local news displays, with the help of projects like “Neighborhood Matters.”

At the heart of NEU’s ASC’s achievement lies their proactive redefinition of their role as a social activist, as opposed to a simple institutional library and archives. NEU’s ASC has embraced their socio-geographical context as a means of garnering public support and earning advocacy. The more people realize the influence of their neighborhood through “Neighborhood Matters,” the more people commit to building a more inclusive community, supported by NEU’s ASC.

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The Mount: Edith Wharton’s Autobiographical Home

Postcard of The Mount, Courtesy of the Edith Wharton Restoration Organization.

by Christine Jacobson

In her 1893 short story, “The Fullness of Life,” Edith Wharton described a woman’s nature as a “great house full of rooms”:

 “...there is the hall, through which everyone passes in going in and out; the drawing-room, where one receives formal visits; the sitting-room, where the members of the family come and go as they list; but beyond that, far beyond, are other rooms, the handles of whose doors perhaps are never turned; no one knows the way to them, no one knows whither they lead; and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes.”

This passage stayed with me long after I forgot the outlines of the story. The metaphor is as deft as it is haunting, but it also reveals Wharton’s passion for architecture and design. Before House of Mirth brought Wharton critical acclaim as a novelist, Wharton was an authority on decorating and gardening. Her first book, The Decoration of Houses, was a treatise on the new post-Victorian style of American interiors which eschewed clutter and ornamentation in favor of symmetry, utility, and clean lines. Together with her co-author, Ogden Codman, Wharton ushered in the new reigning style of fine-de-siecle America. In 1901, Codman and Wharton embarked on a new project that would put their principles into practice: The Mount, Wharton’s summer home in the Berkshire Mountains.

The Mount is an autobiographical house. It was designed by Wharton exactly to her tastes with elements borrowed from Italian, French, and English traditions—but the execution is wholly her own. Though it contains 42 rooms, The Mount is considerably smaller than the neighboring “cottages” built by wealthy families, such as the Vanderbilts, who preferred to summer in New England. Also in contrast with her neighbors, Wharton opted for a facade of white stucco and black wooden accents rather than brick or stone. Compared with the dark Richardsonian mansions nearby, The Mount cuts a bright, cheerful figure among the verdant Berkshire hills.

I visited The Mount last April to see writer Lauren Groff in conversation with editor Heidi Pitlor as part of the museum’s True Conversations series. The chat was held in Wharton’s airy drawing room and was filled to capacity. Groff spoke movingly about what it meant to her to be inside Wharton’s home and to have browsed Wharton’s library earlier that day. She put her hand over her heart as she described opening Wharton’s copy of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. For me, her story represented three generations of incomparable women writers coming together across space and time through a single book—a book preserved with immense care and kept in a library conserved through great effort and fortitude. For me, this is what great cultural heritage institutes are all about.

The library is one of two crown jewels at The Mount. The other is Wharton’s breathtaking Italianate garden (—Wharton also published a book on Italian Villas and their Gardens in 1904). Each cost the Edith Wharton Restoration organization, which owns the house, roughly two and a half million dollars to restore. Stephanie Copeland, former president of the Restoration Organization, had hoped the gardens and library would galvanize visitors and fundraising opportunities for the house. By 2008, neither had materialized and the organization defaulted on its loans. Copeland resigned and Susan Wissler stepped in to replace her. The Restoration Organization quickly lurched into advocacy and outreach mode. It launched a Save the Mount campaign which led to an outpouring of donations from the public. Additionally, The Mount targeted a cadre of wealthy donors to join the newly formed National Committee, an annual giving society that would support the operation of the estate. The bar for becoming a member is an annual gift of one thousand dollars, but many members are rumored to have pledged far more. (Francis Ford Coppola and George and Laura Bush are among its members.) By 2015, The Mount was back in the green.

In addition to its fundraising efforts, The Mount also recognized, crucially, its responsibility to the local community and as a result, revitalized its public events program. The True Conversations series I attended last spring is one exciting facet of this in which beloved local figure and nationally acclaimed short story editor Heidi Pitlor interviews American female authors. The museum’s new stewards have also embraced its reputation as a haunted house and host ghost tours in the evenings. And in 2020 the Mount will celebrate the centennial of Wharton’s novel, Age of Innocence with film screenings, discussions, book clubs, and an exhibition. I’m planning to drive out to The Mount to see Elif Batuman in conversation with Jennifer Haytock about the novel, which happens to be one of my favorites, later this year. (If you’re persuading low-income librarians from Boston to rent a zip car to drive four hours for your events, you’re doing something right.)

Wharton only occupied the house for a decade. Though it was one of the most prolific periods of her life as an author, it was also a period of profound suffering and deprivation. Wharton’s husband, Teddy, suffered from a depression that grew worse during their stay in the Berkshires and their life together became intolerable. Wharton sold The Mount after their divorce in 1912. For a house with such a cheerful facade, The Mount has had an unusual share of woe. However, its current stewards appear to be on the right path. Cultural heritage professionals know that advocacy starts with giving people a reason to believe in your work. (See Larry Hackman’s Many Happy Returns for more advocacy wisdom.) With its shrewd grooming of sustainable donors and effective outreach to its local community, The Mount has shown it has plenty of reasons to have our support.

 

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Meet David Kelliher, Director of Government Relations and Public Policy for the Minnesota Historical Society

by Lily Eisenthal

When the Minnesota Legislature is in session from January to May each year, David Kelliher’s laptop bag becomes his office. As the Director of Government Relations and Public Policy for the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS), he often finds himself making the short walk between the State Capitol building and the MNHS’s headquarters at the History Center multiple times a day. He stresses the importance of being present, because those who show up “get to participate, watch the process, and build relationships.” Building relationships with both legislators and their constituents is key in his work, which is all about advocating for public history in Minnesota and making sure that the Historical Society gets the funding that it needs to operate as a research center and museum and to maintain the 26 historic sites it manages across the state.

Kelliher first visited the Minnesota State Capitol as a student at Carleton College, through a course he took with Paul Wellstone called State and Local Government that involved weekly field trips up to Saint Paul to watch the Legislature in action. He also discovered the Minnesota Historical Society during this time, conducting research in their archives for a seminar paper. After graduating from Carleton with a B.A. in history in 1986, Kelliher continued to explore his interests in both policy and history, working on a historic building survey in Illinois, taking a job as a staffer at the Minnesota Capitol, and eventually landing at the Minnesota Historical Society. He started out at MNHS developing programs and writing grants, but when the person who had been lobbying for their budget retired, the Historical Society asked Kelliher if he would take the position. He jumped at the chance and has been working in this unique role for twenty-some years since.

Kelliher says that each of these years has been different. In fact, not even two days in his job have been quite the same, but what it really boils down to is talking to people. He finds that being able to communicate clearly is a must. Crisp and informative writing is essential, whether he’s preparing materials for a formal presentation to legislators about one of the Historical Society’s capital projects or simply responding to an email from someone interested in the MNHS grant application process. Kelliher engages in a lot of what he calls “direct advocacy,” where he works directly with the government to promote the work of the MNHS. He notes that getting the message out can sometimes be challenging. There is a lot going on at the Capitol and it can be hard to get legislators’ attention. Kelliher likes to raise awareness and make connections with legislators by inviting them over to the History Center for behind-the-scenes tours or to check out programs at a historic site in their district. There is also a grassroots side to the work that he does, reaching out to people in communities across the state in order to create a network of people who care about public history and can in turn become advocates for the MNHS.

One of Kelliher’s biggest successes in both grassroots and direct advocacy came in November of 2008, when Minnesotans voted in favor of the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment. The amendment raised state sales taxes to set aside four funds, one of which is the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund (ACHF). A portion of the ACHF is appropriated to the Historical Society each year, which they then use to administer a grants program and to fund programming, partnerships, and other projects. This unique piece of legislation is the result of years of planning, organizing, and coalition-building with the arts and outdoors communities. Kelliher says that in the past, grants had come in fits and starts, and that the Legacy Amendment allowed for a consistent stream of grant funding in the state. Kelliher is happy that Legacy funds have been accessed by a broader network than initially expected: he notes that community oral history projects have been just as popular as more traditional preservation or research projects at established institutions.

In closing our interview, I asked Kelliher if he had any advice for new cultural heritage professionals interested in outreach and advocacy work. He emphasized the importance of making an effort to understand your audience and how they see the world. Don’t talk past the people you are trying to reach, talk with them. Respectful conversations will help you find the best ways to connect people with resources that will enrich their lives.

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Climate Conversations and Commitments at the Arnold Arboretum

by Lily Eisenthal

Early in the autumn of 2019, before the trees making up its extensive collection began changing colors, the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University offered a series of events and activities for Climate Preparedness Week. It was the Arboretum’s first year participating in the weeklong event through a partnership with Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW). CREW is a Massachusetts-based grassroots organization that aims to offer space and resources to help communities face the climate crisis. Climate Prep Week is an effort that helps people and institutions connect around climate change.

The Arnold Arboretum is the result of a unique collaboration between Harvard and the City of Boston, at once a public park and a center for cutting-edge research and horticulture. To casual strollers-through, the Arboretum is another gorgeous link in the Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Emerald Necklace. Look closer at the trees in this park and you will notice silver accession tags affixed to trunks and research markers dangling from branches. The Arboretum sees itself as a community resource, serving inward to members of the Harvard community and outward to residents of and visitors to Boston. The Arboretum hosts creative programming year-round to help these communities celebrate and better understand the beauty and science of nature.

The main goal of Climate Prep Week at the Arboretum was to support community engagement with a difficult topic through scientific lectures, artist-led workshops, an art exhibition, guided tours, and more. When I arrived at the Hunnewell Visitor Center on a sunny Saturday afternoon, it was abuzz with activity – artist Steffanie Schwam was in the middle of teaching a botanical printmaking workshop. Schwam participates in one of the Arboretum’s citizen science projects, Tree Spotters, which she uses to inform her creative process, and her workshop is a great example of how the Arboretum used Climate Prep Week as an opportunity to showcase the work of both non-traditional (artists) and traditional (scientists) users of the collections and to encourage visitors to engage with the Arboretum is new ways.

I gathered with about twenty other visitors for a tour called Research in the Collections – a Scientific Exploration of the Arboretum to learn about how scientists use the Arboretum’s collections to study the effects of climate change. Docent and biology graduate student Esther Miller led us along the curving paths of the Arboretum, stopping at specific trees to discuss climate change-related research projects currently underway. Miller expertly wove discussions of climate research with information about the history of the Arboretum as well as the science behind the sights and smells of the trees in the collection.

In addition to one-off events, the Arboretum installed week-long activities to create opportunities for visitors to have honest conversations about the climate crisis. Out on the Arboretum lawn, there were two circles of logs with prompts for “Dia-Logs” to encourage guests to sit down and chat about their thoughts and fears around the climate crisis. One circle was geared towards children, with kid-friendly prompts for “environmental discussions” and tips for adults answering tough questions. Inside the Hunnewell, visitors sat arguing at a table with suggestions for making “climate commitments” – a bulleted list of ways to “act toward change.” The Arboretum provided guests with a basket of construction paper leaves and sharpies to make personal commitments inspired by this list. A young girl scribbled out “use less plastic” and then ran over to the “tree” – lines of string hanging in the entrance to the Hunnewell where visitors could clip their commitments – to hang her little orange leaf up. The Arboretum did a great job sharing lifestyle changes and habits that individuals can make to respond to the climate crisis, but it missed out on an opportunity to address (and potentially promote) responses, actions, and initiatives taken by local organizations and government such as the Arboretum, Harvard, and the City of Boston.

From what I observed during my visit, Climate Preparedness Week at the Arnold Arboretum was a success. The Arboretum designed activities and events that facilitated (sometimes difficult) conversations about the climate crisis, educated visitors about the climate crisis and what they can do about it, and fostered a sense of community through shared learning and art-making experiences, reaching their audiences in new and meaningful ways.

To learn about upcoming events at the Arboretum, check out their website.

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Meet Dr. Learotha Williams, Associate Professor of African American and Public History at Tennessee State University, Founder of the North Nashville Heritage Project

by Alex Howard

“The North Nashville Heritage Project taught me that the old lady who fried chicken at the church was just as important as the lawyers who bailed the students who got arrested out of jail,” said Dr. Learotha Williams, referencing the Nashville sit-ins of 1960.

Dr. Williams started the North Nashville Heritage Project in 2010, along with students in his Introduction to Public History course at Tennessee State University. The project seeks to preserve the heritage of North Nashville, a community that has been an epicenter for Black business, culture, and education since the end of the Civil War. The North Nashville Heritage Project started when students asked Dr. Williams questions that he “quite honestly didn’t have an answer to.” His students were interested in the people that lived in the peripheries of North Nashville, beyond its historic Jefferson Street. Dr. Williams realized that “these people had stories that were important” and had not been documented. So Dr. Williams had his students engage in oral histories, encouraging them to “look where people haven’t been looking, ask the questions that haven’t been asked.”

Dr. Williams says the North Nashville Heritage Project “started off as something simple but it has grown into something that was completely unanticipated.” One of these unanticipated results is that “it connected groups that were previously working out there in the wilderness doing their own thing. Now they know about each other. In places where one group is struggling, another may have expertise to share.” One such group is a group of women church historians working to publish and preserve the histories of North Nashville’s Black churches. Dr. Williams says the knowledge and material the church historians have collected is extremely valuable because “the churches were often times the repositories of this community’s history.”

The North Nashville Heritage Project is committed to telling the history of North Nashville through the voices of people who have traditionally been ignored and marginalized. Dr. Williams especially encourages us to “pay attention to Black women in Nashville because we have not done right by them. Not by a long shot.” Intentional community outreach, like to North Nashville’s church historians, is essential to engaging and documenting marginalized voices in Dr. Williams’s work.

This photo was taken from a North Nashville Heritage Project Facebook post on September 25, 2019 highlighting a meeting of the National Association of Colored Women held in Nashville in 1897.

 

According to Dr. Williams, the most effective method of outreach is cultivating long term, mutually beneficial relationships in the community. This was especially important for him to do as he is not native to Nashville. To start building these relationships, Dr. Williams says it’s all about “getting to know people, figuring out their likes and dislikes, hanging out in the same places as them.” Most importantly, Dr. Williams argues that developing strong relationships requires us to listen to the communities we are engaging – “Listen to what they need and what they want to do. They might have a dream. You can help them pull that off.” If possible, Dr. Williams says it is important to make these relationships a permanent feature of our institutions.

Dr. Williams says it took five years of being in academia for him to start feeling free to do the kind of work he is really passionate about. Dr. Williams is originally from Florida and earned his PhD in African American History from Florida State University. He worked as a Historic Sites Specialist for the State of Florida and served as a professor at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia where he started an African American Studies program. When he started in his discipline, Dr. Williams had to advocate for academia to embrace conducting oral histories and working with heritage societies as “real history.” He argues that practicing history in this way is difficult because “you have to learn everything that the ‘traditional’ historians know but you also have to learn to speak to folks who aren’t usually in the audience and more importantly listen to people who have traditionally been ignored.” When Dr. Williams came to Tennessee State University in 2009, he was able to engage at this level of historical practice through the North Nashville Heritage Project which he says “has made me a better historian and a better teacher.”

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Fruits in Decay: An exhibit from the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants

by Vanessa Formato

All these fruits are dying. Wisps of grey mold stretch out from the bottom of a sickly, shriveled strawberry. Plums blush an unnatural shade of teal. A pockmarked peach hangs from a branch, the bark discolored, its leaves curled and scaly. But what makes for a ghastly discovery on an apple picking excursion becomes a work of art in Harvard Museum of Natural History’s Glass Flowers room. This autumn, celebrate the year’s most macabre season with a visit to Fruits in Decay, a special exhibit of botanical blight and beauty.

The exhibition marks the first time in almost twenty years that these unique models will be on show as part of the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants. The Ware Collection, often simply referred to as the Glass Flowers, is made up of 4,300 blown glass recreations of plant life spanning nearly 800 species, all crafted by renowned glass artisans Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka between 1887 and 1936. The first director of Harvard’s Botanical Museum, Professor George Lincoln Goodale, was inspired to commission these stunning models after observing the Blaschkas’ realistic glass models of marine life that were already a prized part of Harvard’s collections. Goodale saw the potential for similar models to illustrate the beauty and complexity of plant life for both his students and the curious public. At the time, botanists-in-training primarily relied on delicately preserved plant specimens and papier-mâché scientific models.

With the help of funding from Mary Lee and Eizabeth C. Ware, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka created the highly realistic flowers in their Dresden, Germany, workshop, through masterful heat shaping and glass blowing techniques. In order to achieve the plants’ vivid hues, the Blaschkas used a combination of colored glass and cold painting. This painstaking process certainly paid off: to this day, the Glass Flowers are among the museum’s most unique and treasured collections, and a consistent crowd-pleaser. During my time with Fruits in Decay, the gallery was never empty, and visitors eagerly engaged with docents ready to explain the history and construction of the flowers. “Are they really glass?” is a frequent question you overhear. The models are part teaching tool, part optical illusion.

The mold-ravaged berries and blighted pears of Fruits in Decay were all created by Rudolf Blaschka toward the end of his life, between 1924 and 1932, as part of a commission by then-Director of the Botanical Museum Oakes Ames. Concerned about the aging glass artist’s ability to pull off the ambitious project, Ames sent Mary Lee Ware to his Dresden studio to observe Blaschka’s creative process. Ware captured this experience, which she described as “breathless to watch,” in a letter to Ames, now excerpted and displayed on panels alongside the fruits themselves. Reading Ware’s firsthand account of the studio and Rudolf’s meticulous work is transporting, and it will surely enrich visitors’ understanding of the models as an artistic accomplishment.

Of course, the fruits encourage visitors not only to find the beauty in unexpected places but to learn more about the depth of our connection to the natural world. They model a variety of botanical ailments and injuries, from mold to fire blight, soft rot to frost damage, that can have a profound effect on daily life, an idea that feels especially poignant in a time when the effects of climate change and the importance of sustainability are increasingly urgent. In a video about the special exhibit, Donald H. Pfister, curator of the Farlow Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany and Asa Gray Professor of Systematic Botany, notes that one of the most “topical and important” lessons visitors can take from the collection is a newfound appreciation of “food security and food sources.”

“It’s another way to reach out and reach the public,” says Pfister, “and because of its beauty, because of the rarity of these models, and because of the stories that we can tell around the apples and their diseases, we think that the public will leave with a broader appreciation of both museums and of biology of plants.”

When you’ve finished taking in these fuzzy fruits, be sure to venture further into the museum, where you can see the Blaschka models of invertebrate animals on display.

For more information about Fruits in Decay and the Glass Flowers, visit:

https://hmnh.harvard.edu/fruits-decay 

 

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/08/fruits-in-decay-on-exhibit-in-harvards-glass-flowers-gallery/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ZXr69I16g

 

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Historic Congressional Cemetery has Gone to the Dogs: How Dog Owners Saved a Historic Cemetery

by Mattie Clear

Congressional Cemetery sign
Congressional Cemetery

The Historic Congressional Cemetery has gone to the dogs, in all the best ways. Before the wonders of the Washingtonians and their ingenuity can be appreciated, one must know the story of this small, but important cemetery. From its formation in the early 1800s, it was immediately associated with the US Congress; it predates Arlington National Cemetery by 50 years. This close tie is evident through the plots purchased by Congress for Congressional Representatives who died while serving in Washington.[1] Outside of this early history, Congressional Cemetery is known for its interment of a larger number of LGBTQIA+ identifying deceased and is one of the few (if not only) cemeteries in the country with an LGBTQIA+ section, which was  established in 1988.[2]

While the cemetery enjoyed great prominence and prestige through the 19th and early 20th centuries, the cemetery was largely forgotten in the late 20th century. This fading from collective consciousness prompted its addition to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of the most endangered historic sites in 1997. Following Congressional Cemetery’s addition to the list of the most endangered historic sites, community members took it into their own hands to save their neighborhood cemetery through self-taxation.[3] As one of the only green spaces in the area, with the added bonus of being fully enclosed, it is no surprise that individuals enjoyed walking their dogs there. It was this taxation that grew into the K-9 Corps that currently provides about one-fourth of the operating costs of the cemetery (this is approximately the cost of maintaining the grounds).[4]

The K-9 Corps is composed of a group of Washington locals who wish to use the cemetery as a place to walk their dogs. This program informally began in the 1990s and has grown to include 770 dogs and more than 400 people on a waitlist to become members. Memberships are purchased yearly beginning March 1 for $235 with a $50 fee per dog and a maximum of three dogs per membership. This membership also includes a mandatory volunteer commitment of eight hours per year.[5] In March of 2018, I had the pleasure of speaking to then Program Director, Lauren Maloy, who further elaborated on the information provided on the website. She explained that members must go through an orientation session and, upon completion, receive tags for their dogs that are checked by an individual at the gate every time they enter the cemetery. Dogs are allowed in the cemetery any time except during funerals, special events, and Saturdays from 11AM-3PM. The three canine-free hours each Saturday allow visitors who may not feel comfortable around dogs to visit the cemetery. When I spoke with Maloy, the waitlist for joining the K-9 Corps was over 200 individuals, thus indicating the success of such an out of the ordinary fundraising and outreach efforts.

Members are not the only ones who can enjoy the cemetery, Non-members of the K-9 Corps may bring their dogs to the cemetery, for a fee of a $10 day pass. In addition to this fee, the non-member owners are required to read and sign a waiver that is to be carried with them while in the cemetery.[6] The one exception to this rule is Congressional Cemetery’s “Day of the Dog” Celebration. This celebration occurs annually in May and is the one day that the cemetery is open to all dogs for free. “Day of the Dog” typically includes raffles, pet-related vendors as well as local food and brewery options. While not explicitly related to the K-9 Corps, “Day of the Dog” is a way for the cemetery to pay homage to the community that helped save it.[7]

Today, due in large part to the continued support of these dog walkers, Congressional Cemetery is flourishing as an active cemetery and tourist destination.  Following a trend of novelty, Congressional Cemetery’s program is rather out of the ordinary for similar cemeteries and includes soul strolls in October where the center chapel is transformed into a bar,  Yoga Mortis, Tombs and Tomes book club, Cinematery, and many more. For more information about this cemetery and all that it has to offer, please visit their website at https://congressionalcemetery.org for the most up to date information. For specific information regarding the K-9 Corps please visit, https://cemeterydogs.org.

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

“Cemetery Dogs: Serving the Historic Congressional Cemetery.” Historic Congressional Cemetery, 2019. https://cemeterydogs.org.

“Day of the Dog at Congressional Cemetery.” Historic Congressional Cemetery, 2019. https://hccemetery.wixsite.com/dayofthedog.

“Dog Walking.” Historic Congressional Cemetery, 2019.  https://congressionalcemetery.org/dog-walking/.

“Historic Congressional Cemetery – History.” Historic Congressional Cemetery, August 14, 2019. https://congressionalcemetery.org/history/.

“K9 Corps Waitlist: Frequently Asked Questions.” Historic Congressional Cemetery, 2019. https://cemeterydogs.org/membership/.

“Walking Tour: LGBT Community.” Historic Congressional Cemetery, 2019. https://congressionalcemetery.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/LGBT-tour.pdf.

 

 

[1] “Historic Congressional Cemetery – History,” Historic Congressional Cemetery, https://congressionalcemetery.org/history/.

[2] “Walking Tour: LGBT Community,” Historic Congressional Cemetery, https://congressionalcemetery.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/LGBT-tour.pdf.

[3]  “Historic Congressional Cemetery – History,” Historic Congressional Cemetery, https://congressionalcemetery.org/history/.

[4] “Dog Walking,” Historic Congressional Cemetery, https://congressionalcemetery.org/dog-walking/.

[5] “Cemetery Dogs: Serving the Historic Congressional Cemetery,” Historic Congressional Cemetery, https://cemeterydogs.org.

[6] “K9 Corps Waitlist: Frequently Asked Questions,” Historic Congressional Cemetery, https://cemeterydogs.org/membership/.

[7] “Day of the Dog at Congressional Cemetery,” Historic Congressional Cemetery, https://hccemetery.wixsite.com/dayofthedog.

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The Rainbow Arcade at Schwules Museum

Banner from Rainbow Arcade Kickstarter
Banner from Rainbow Arcade Kickstarter

by Jonathan Fryerwood

The RAINBOW ARCADE exhibition hosted at the Schwules Museum in Berlin presented itself as the first major exhibition of queer content in video games. The event ran from December 2018 to May of this year. The project was overseen by the museum and the LGBTQ Video Game Archive, whose mission involves documenting the history of the LGBTQ community in video games.

Entrance to Rainbow Arcade, originally published at: https://technical.ly/philly/2018/12/14/a-museum-exhibit-on-lgbtq-video-games-co-curated-by-a-temple-prof-is-now-live-in-berlin/

Spanning from the 1980’s to the present, the exhibit featured both well known mainstream titles that involve queer content, and independent works by queer creators. Items on display included playable games, preserved documentations of online game communities, concept art, and even modifications and “hacks” by queer fans that seek to adjust or add relevant content to existing games. The official press release for the exhibit states that it “[took] stock of contemporary pop cultural questions of representation, stereotypical and discriminatory narratives in entertainment media, and our cultural memory.” To this end it highlighted the often turbulent history of queer themes in prominant games. Harmful stereotypes, underwhelming romantic narratives compared to straight counterparts, and disingenuous representation have been issues in the game industry since the beginning, and the curators of RAINBOW ARCADE aimed to show how things have changed and how they have not over the years. Conversely, underground and “indie” spaces have a long history of of queer art and community that has hardly been documented. The digital history of these communities, often hosted on abandoned forums and outdated operating systems, is ephemeral and much of it has already been lost to time. By preserving and highlighting these materials, RAINBOW ARCADE provides a valuable view into a small but vital part of the twentieth century pop culture zeitgeist.

The project was realized in part by a Kickstarter campaign in 2018. The Kickstarter allowed the RAINBOW ARCADE team to produce a catalog of the exhibit and its featured games, which boasts the claim of being the first comprehensive guide to the queer history of video games. Though initially only given to Kickstarter backers, the book is now available for purchase. The success of this campaign allowed for not only the exhibit and catalog themselves, but an extensive supplemental program as well.

Rainbow Arcade exhibit, originally published at: https://technical.ly/philly/2018/12/14/a-museum-exhibit-on-lgbtq-video-games-co-curated-by-a-temple-prof-is-now-live-in-berlin/

The RAINBOW ARCADE exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Schwules Museum, Temple University, and the LGBTQ Video Game Archive, and it was funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe. It was an official part of gamesweekberlin, an industry-wide networking event hosted by Berlin-based tech company Booster Space.

The LGBTQ Video Game Archive is a grassroots organization that, by its own admission, is not a “true” archive. Though it has not yet collected enough primary materials to consider itself a full archive, it does maintain a database of information spanning over 1000 LGBTQ and queerly read games, aimed to be a resource for researchers. The success of RAINBOW ARCADE has afforded the organization greater visibility and attention, which will hopefully lead to similar projects in the future and allow for the collection of more objects.

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Saving Sheldon Jackson

How Alaskan advocacy gives the Sheldon Jackson Museum a fighting chance in the face of imminent peril

By Karen Trop

 

Composite Image. Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum. State Proposes to SELL Sheldon Jackson Museum and Collection. Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum, 29 Mar. 2019, friendsofsjm.com/2019/03/14/state-proposes-to-sell-sheldon-jackson-museum-and-collection/.

IN EARLY MARCH 2019, word spread across the state of Alaska that newly incumbent Governor Michael Dunleavy was trying to sell the state-run Sheldon Jackson Museum (SJM).[1] Governor Dunleavy was elected on a campaign platform that promised to increase the value of the permanent fund dividend (a once-per-year check cut to all eligible Alaskans from the state’s oil revenue coffers) from an average of $1,600 to an amount close to $6,000.[2] Once in office this promise materialized in the form of severe and unprecedented budget cuts across all aspects of the FY2020 state budget. In response to Dunleavy’s directive to reduce spending, the House Finance Subcommittee for the Department of Education and Early Development announced the state’s plan to “sell or transfer” the SJM[3], one of Sitka’s premier tourist destinations with a collection of 5,900 artifacts representing all of the native groups in Alaska.[4]

The public swiftly responded to the news. Over the next few weeks key Alaskan political figures, Alaska residents, professional organizations and advocacy groups came out in organized opposition to the museum’s sale. Within days of the news breaking, Senator Bert Stedman went on record to call the  plan “crazy.”[5]

Simultaneously, the Friends of the Sheldon Jackson Museum (a non-profit fundraising network for SJM) posted their own call to action. The Friends encouraged supporters to spread the news, including that “if you are associated with an organization you might consider having a supporting article in your newsletter.”[6] The Friends’ impassioned plea for supporters to email the Division Director, State Libraries, Archives and Museums, as well as Chief Curator, Alaska State Museums, their support is as follows:

Let them know you wish them to do everything in their power to save the Sheldon Jackson Museum from this pillage. Give them your experiences at the Museum and if you’ve had family and friends from out of town, let them know that too. If your kids have experienced programs or had the chance to use the hands-on materials let them know. The Sheldon Jackson Museum is an EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION![7]

Later that week, Museums Alaska (a professional organization for Alaskan museums and professionals) published an “Advocacy Alert” informing readers of the SJM’s threatened status. In similar form, the post also encouraged readers to share social media posts in support of SJM while tagging their elected officials’ social media handles. Other resources provided were a template letter of support for SJM and a call for interested parties to participate in the organization’s Advocacy Task Force.[8]

Screenshot. Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum. “‘PLEASE SHARE…”.” Facebook.com, March 27, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/270415132993429/posts/please-share-the-house-finance-committee-is-seeking-input-on-the-state-operating/2411474008887520/.

The Board of Directors of Museums Alaska also sent a letter of support directly to Gov. Dunleavy’s office. The letter argued, among many aspects, that the SJM operates as “an economic driver and beloved community asset.” The letter strongly discouraged selling the museum’s collection on the hypothesis that the sale “would require a great deal of time, money, legal assistance, consultation with tribes, and possibly even court proceedings.”[9]

In the following weeks, local news outlets continued their coverage on SJM’s uncertain future. KCAW Radio published an opinion article written by Friends of SJM board member Rosemary Carlton, titled “A passionate opponent of closing the doors on Alaska’s history.”[10] Carlton’s opinion that “this invaluable collection should remain in Alaska and forever have its doors open” would reverberate through public testimony.[11] As reported by Robert Woolsey, KCAW, sixty-two Sitka residents voiced displeasure with the state’s budget cuts on the whole at the Town Hall meeting of March 24. Frederick Olsen, Jr. spoke directly against the proposal to sell the museum, saying:

I guess one of the last straws for me with this budget proposal was when he started talking about selling off museums. When you start to talk about this — or even take it seriously — you’re really feeding into this colony [sic] mindset. And you see the embedded conflicts of interest where on the one side you see oil payoffs, and on the left side, society.[12]

Though the advocacy efforts of Alaskans has made it clear to the Dunleavy administration that selling the Sheldon Jackson Museum will not and cannot be an easy fix, the museum still faces an uneasy future. However, perhaps not as unstable as Gov. Dunleavy’s administration itself. As of September 5, 2019, over 49,000 signatures have been collected in support of recalling the governor, well over the required amount required to file the application.[13]  As Alaskans continue to face uncertain times, many now stand united in support of protecting Alaska’s cultural heritage.

 

 

 

 

[1] Matthew Shuckerow, Press Secretary to Governor Dunleavy, clarified that the budget “does not call for the sale of the museum or its assets. However, in light of a $1.6 billion deficit, it does call for the removal of state funding for museum operations beginning July 1, 2019.” Either way, the operation of the museum has been put at risk. From Enrique Pérez de la Rosa, “Sheldon Jackson Museum Supporters, Staff in Dark over Possible Sale of Collection.” KCAW Radio, April 15, 2019. https://www.kcaw.org/2019/04/11/sheldon-jackson-museum-supporters-staff-in-dark-over-possible-sale-of-collection/.

[2] Robyn Sundlee, “Alaska’s Universal Basic Income Problem,” Vox, 5 Sept. 2019, www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/5/20849020/alaska-permanent-fund-universal-basic-income.

[3] United States, House Finance Subcommittee for Department of Education & Early Development (DEED). “Budget Overview: Alaska State Libraries, Archives and Museums,” 2019, pp. 14.

[4] Museums Alaska Board of Directors, “Letter in Support of the Sheldon Jackson Museum,” Received by Governor Michael Dunleavy, 19 Mar. 2019, Juneau, Alaska. Accessed October 14, 2019. https://museumsalaska.org/resources/Documents/2019%20MA%20letter%20of%20support%20Sheldon%20Jackson%20Museum.pdf

[5] Enrique Pérez de la Rosa, “State Plans to Sell Sheldon Jackson Museum in Cost-Cutting Efforts,” KCAW Radio, 14 Mar. 2019, www.kcaw.org/2019/03/12/state-looks-to-sell-sheldon-jackson-museum-in-cost-cutting-efforts/.

[6] Friends of Sheldon Jackson, “State Proposes to SELL Sheldon Jackson Museum and Collection.” Friends of Sheldon Jackson. 29 Mar. 2019, friendsofsjm.com/2019/03/14/state-proposes-to-sell-sheldon-jackson-museum-and-collection/.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Museums Alaska, “Advocacy Alert: Sheldon Jackson Museum.” Museums Alaska, 14 Mar. 2019, museumsalaska.org/news/7219967.

[9] The letter in its entirety is worth reading. From Museums Alaska Board of Directors, “Letter in Support of the Sheldon Jackson Museum,” https://museumsalaska.org/resources/Documents/2019%20MA%20letter%20of%20support%20Sheldon%20Jackson%20Museum.pdf.

[10] Katherine Rose, “Legislators Prep for Finance Town Hall in Sitka,” KCAW Radio, 26 Mar. 2019, www.kcaw.org/2019/03/22/legislators-prep-for-finance-town-hall-in-sitka/.

[11] Rosemary Carlton, “A Passionate Opponent of Closing the Doors on Alaska’s History,” KCAW Radio, 23 Mar. 2019, www.kcaw.org/2019/03/22/a-passionate-opponent-of-closing-the-doors-on-alaskas-history/.

[12] Olsen’s use of the word “colony” is likely a reference to Alaska’s long history of colonization.

From Robert Woolsey, “‘We Can’t Do This’: Sitkans Oppose Gov. Dunleavy’s Budget Plans,” KCAW Radio, 29 Mar. 2019, www.kcaw.org/2019/03/26/we-cant-do-this-sitkans-oppose-gov-dunleavys-budget-plans/.

[13] Alex DeMarban and James Brooks, Recall Dunleavy Campaign Turns in 49,000 Signatures Collected in 5 Weeks, Anchorage Daily News, September 6, 2019, https://www.adn.com/politics/2019/09/05/recall-dunleavy-campaign-turns-in-48000-signatures-collected-in-five-weeks/.