Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can't Or Won't Show You
While there are more than 15,000 museums in our country, visitors get to see only about  five percent of any institution’s collections. Most museums simply don’t have room to display everything they’ve got. However, there are a wide variety of surprising and intriguing reasons that, for example, the Smithsonian Institution doesn’t display its collection of condoms, Florida's Lightner Museum locks up all but one of its shrunken heads, and a world-class stash of Japanese erotica (shunga) art was kept in the Honolulu Museum of Art's storage until only recently. Each item or collection included in this volume is described and placed in context with stories and interviews that explore the historical, social, cultural, political, environmental, or other circumstances that led to keeping that object or group of objects out of public view—the ultimate museum buff's voyeuristic experience. Color photographs of the artifacts are included.
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Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can't Or Won't Show You
While there are more than 15,000 museums in our country, visitors get to see only about  five percent of any institution’s collections. Most museums simply don’t have room to display everything they’ve got. However, there are a wide variety of surprising and intriguing reasons that, for example, the Smithsonian Institution doesn’t display its collection of condoms, Florida's Lightner Museum locks up all but one of its shrunken heads, and a world-class stash of Japanese erotica (shunga) art was kept in the Honolulu Museum of Art's storage until only recently. Each item or collection included in this volume is described and placed in context with stories and interviews that explore the historical, social, cultural, political, environmental, or other circumstances that led to keeping that object or group of objects out of public view—the ultimate museum buff's voyeuristic experience. Color photographs of the artifacts are included.
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Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can't Or Won't Show You

Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can't Or Won't Show You

by Harriet Baskas
Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can't Or Won't Show You
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Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can't Or Won't Show You

Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can't Or Won't Show You

by Harriet Baskas

Overview

While there are more than 15,000 museums in our country, visitors get to see only about  five percent of any institution’s collections. Most museums simply don’t have room to display everything they’ve got. However, there are a wide variety of surprising and intriguing reasons that, for example, the Smithsonian Institution doesn’t display its collection of condoms, Florida's Lightner Museum locks up all but one of its shrunken heads, and a world-class stash of Japanese erotica (shunga) art was kept in the Honolulu Museum of Art's storage until only recently. Each item or collection included in this volume is described and placed in context with stories and interviews that explore the historical, social, cultural, political, environmental, or other circumstances that led to keeping that object or group of objects out of public view—the ultimate museum buff's voyeuristic experience. Color photographs of the artifacts are included.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780762780471
Publisher: Globe Pequot Publishing
Publication date: 10/01/2013
Edition description: 1st Edition
Pages: 192
Product dimensions: 7.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Harriet Baskas is an award-winning radio producer with a Masters in Communication from the University of Washington. Her radio series include Henrietta’s Holiday: Portraits of Unusual Museums and the Hidden Treasures Radio Project. Both 26-part series explored museum collections around the country and were featured on National Public Radio and various national radio programs. She also maintains the StuckatTheAirport.com website and is the author of three Globe Pequot titles (Washington Curiosities, Washington Icons and Oregon Curiosities). Her previous books include Stuck at the Airport (Fireside,2001) and Museums of the Northwest (Sasquatch Books, 1999).

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Mounted (Non-radioactive) Walrus Skull- 1

Anchorage Museum (Alaska)

Psychiana Collection and Nude Mozert Painting- 4

Sedona Heritage Museum (Arizona)

Gold Jewelry- 7

San Joaquin County Historical Museum (Lodi, California)

Richard Nixon Arm Wrestling George McGovern- 10

Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum (Yorba Linda, California)

Lifelike Sculptures- 13

Denver Art Museum (Colorado)

Boca Raton Museum of Art (Florida)

A Slice of 150-Year-Old Wedding Cake- 16

P. T. Barnum Museum (Bridgeport, Connecticut)

Livingstone's Medicine Chest- 19

Wellcome Collection (London, England)

Purygin's Park of Recreation- 23

Boca Raton Museum of Art (Florida)

Saltshakers and Shrunken Heads- 25

Lightner Museum (St. Augustine, Florida)

Shunga (Japanese Erotica)- 28

Honolulu Museum of Art (Hawaii)

Malvina Hoffman Sculptures- 31

The Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago, Illinois)

Matchbox Flea Diorama- 34

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (Indiana)

Half-Heads Preserved in Jars- 37

Indiana Medical History Museum (Indianapolis)

Ball Jars Collection- 40

Minnetrista Heritage Collection (Muncie, Indiana)

Abraham Lincoln Pole Banner- 43

Wayne County Historical Museum (Richmond, Indiana)

Ghost Dance Shirt- 46

State of Iowa Historical Museum (Des Moines)

In Cold Blood Tombstones and Gallows- 49

Kansas Museum of History (Topeka)

Creepy Things and Live Ammunition- 51

Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History (Frankfort)

Spiro T. Agnew Collection- 54

Hornbake Library at the University of Maryland (College Park)

Masonic Urns- 57

Grand Lodge (Boston, Massachusetts)

Lifelike Glass Sea Life and Historically Significant Insects- 60

Harvard's Museums (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Drunken Monkeys Diorama and Ford Model T Violin- 64

The Henry Ford (Dearborn, Michigan)

Invisible Art- 68

Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Truman's Portrait on the Head of a Pin- 71

Harry S. Truman Library and Museum (Independence, Missouri)

Human-Skin Wallets- 74

Museum of Osteopathic Medicine (Kirksville, Missouri)

Radiendocrinator- 77

National Atomic Testing Museum (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Hidden Clues in a Music Box- 80

Morris Museum (Morristown, New Jersey)

Our Lady Photo- 84

Museum of International Folk Art (Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Glass Coffin- 87

Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, New York)

Controversial Firefighter Lithographs- 91

FASNY Museum of Firefighting (Hudson, New York)

The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass- 94

Queens Museum of Art (Queens, New York)

Katharine Wright's Knickers- 97

International Women's Air & Space Museum (Cleveland, Ohio)

No Room for the Pig- 100

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (Cleveland, Ohio)

"Old Sparky" Chair Too Uncomfortable to Exhibit- 102

Ohio History Center (Columbus)

John Dillinger's Gun- 106

Dayton History (Ohio)

Battery Notes Too Hazardous to Handle- 109

Chemical Heritage Foundation (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Poisonous Art- 112

Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennyslvania)

Warhol Time Capsules- 115

Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

Wreath from Andrew Johnson's Grave- 118

Andrew Johnson National Historic Site and National Cemetery (Greenville, Tennessee)

John Murrell's Mummified Thumb- 121

Tennessee State Museum (Nashville)

Pottery Sherds- 124

Scurry County Museum (Snyder, Texas)

Coded Message in a Bottle- 127

The Museum of the Confederacy (Richmond, Virginia)

Smallpox Scab and Redacted Love Letter- 130

Virginia Historical Society (Richmond)

TSA 9/11 Artifacts- 134

TSA Museum (Arlington, Virginia)

Moon Boots and Space Suits- 137

National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC)

Condoms and Marie Curie's Radium- 141

National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC)

Repatriated Wampum- 144

National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, DC, and New York City)

Soap Man- 148

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC)

Stolen Art- 151

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, Massachusetts) and Maryhill Museum of Art (Goldendale, Washington)

Barefoot Bandit Evidence- 154

Orcas Island Historical Museum (Eastsound, Washington)

Rock and Roll Artifacts- 158

EMP Museum (Seattle, Washington)

Swastika and KKK Quilts- 161

Yakima Valley Museum (Washington)

Harley-Davidson Beer, Wine Coolers, and Cigarettes- 165

Harley-Davidson Museum (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

Acknowledgments 169

Index 171

About the Author 176

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