Difference between revisions of "Main Page"
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<blockquote>History is false. It has to be. —'''Jules David Prown'''</blockquote> | <blockquote>History is false. It has to be. —'''Jules David Prown'''</blockquote> | ||
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| + | Its really all about questions. We are a museum. We collect and preserve objects. (And other things too. But objects, mainly.) And then we do what all museums are ''supposed'' to do. We discuss the objects. We have ''conversations with you, the viewer, about the objects.'' And we have found, over the years, as we do this, that each object raises a number of questions. Sometimes it seems that each object has about five or 10 questions associated with it. And each question we research raises five or 10 more questions. And we might do this five or ten times for each object. And it also seems that we only end up answering about one question for each ten that we ask the object, or the object asks of us. But with so many questions—just multiply 5 to the 5th power—that still means that we have come up with a lot of answers in spite of ourselves. All in all, we think that the questions are more fun than the answers. But you are free to decide for youself. | ||
Read what we've written about objects. Read what the experts have said as well. This is just a starting point. We have only just begun to really think about things, and ''our relationships to things.'' | Read what we've written about objects. Read what the experts have said as well. This is just a starting point. We have only just begun to really think about things, and ''our relationships to things.'' | ||
Our fully functioning blog features discursions on [[material culture]] studies, miscellanea and much more! [[Museumology Blog]] continues the heartfelt commentary of the previous blog of the Main Street Museum [http://museumology.blogspot.com/ at Blogspot.] You can read the latest entries, musing about roadtrips, history, collections and collective insanity, and post your own responses [[Museumology Blog|here]]. | Our fully functioning blog features discursions on [[material culture]] studies, miscellanea and much more! [[Museumology Blog]] continues the heartfelt commentary of the previous blog of the Main Street Museum [http://museumology.blogspot.com/ at Blogspot.] You can read the latest entries, musing about roadtrips, history, collections and collective insanity, and post your own responses [[Museumology Blog|here]]. | ||
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<blockquote>A German critic, W. Bürger, writes "Our Museums...are veritable graveyard-yards in which have been heaped up, with a tumulour-like promiscuousness, the remains which have been carried thither...all are hung pell-mell upon the walls of some noncommittal gallery a kind of posthumous asylum, where a people, no longer capable of producing...come to admire this magnificent gallery of debris. —'''[[G. Brown Goode]],''' ''Museums of the Future,'' Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., 1891: p. 427 </blockquote> | <blockquote>A German critic, W. Bürger, writes "Our Museums...are veritable graveyard-yards in which have been heaped up, with a tumulour-like promiscuousness, the remains which have been carried thither...all are hung pell-mell upon the walls of some noncommittal gallery a kind of posthumous asylum, where a people, no longer capable of producing...come to admire this magnificent gallery of debris. —'''[[G. Brown Goode]],''' ''Museums of the Future,'' Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., 1891: p. 427 </blockquote> | ||
Revision as of 19:38, 4 February 2009
Contents
Upcoming Events!
Pariah Beat this Saturday!
Its First Fridays in downtown White River Junction again. Come down and see our latest artifacts from Washington, DC and relics of the 2009 presidential inauguration. Our newly refurbished case of mourning art—a wreath made of human hair—will be on display. Sarah Stewart Taylor will give a brief, informal gallery talk on Hair Jewelry, art and other Mourning Things at 6:30.
Wine and cheese, cupcakes and champagne, will be served.
After Sarah's talk we will all troop over to the Tiptop building. They are having a fine open house over there, and a costume party in honor of Ria Blaas and her Large—gigantic even—Spoons in the elevator and stair well of the building.
For our full schedule of Upcoming Events Click Here!
They're Blogging About Us!
People are saying all kinds of nice things about us online. A visitor in early January was impressed with the "very dark" Museum. He's been described as “a wild savant bulldog…what with all the brilliant creative designs, the drooling, the tireless scratching and leg humping." Nice. He's even got a collection of screen captured "Monitor-fuckups" that is both fascinating, ugly, beautiful and, of course, right up our alley! Read Srwild's blog here!
Probably due to its sub-standard lighting system, there are no pictures on Mr. Wild's blog, but his friend, Undeadmolly did take some pics over the summer, as well as the slime mold in the park opposite our Bridge Street Headquarters. Recent discoveries about slime mold indicates that these Floral/Faunal organisms can complete simple tasks like T mazes and the duties of the average county elections supervisor. It makes us wonder, why didnt we make a regional sample of the mold, when it was readily available? Just wait till next summer...I feel a special exhibit coming on.
We admire her pithy, personal writing very much. We hope she comes back with or without her face mask! Read Undeadmolly here!
Catawiki
The Main Street Museum's Catawiki is a unique digital initiative in material culture studies utilizing open-source code to describe the artifacts in our collections and to create a completely fluid, adaptive taxonomic structure for their interpretation. The Catawiki uses the same "wiki" code utilized by "Wikipedia" and is able to be modified by users from any internet access point. The categories currently acting as a organizational foundation for these structures are:
- Objects as Evidence of Human Culture, for instance: Pet Toys; Geographically or Historically Significant Items (Relics); Manuscripts; Art; Military History; Textiles and Clothing; Shoes; and "Things, or Fragments of Things Once Owned by, or Associated with, Notable People Particularly Notable Vermonters".
- Biology: Living, or Apparently Once Living, Objects, including
- Flora: "The Invasive and Native Species of Windsor County" for instance, or "Dried Roses from Robert Todd Lincolns House in Manchester, Vermont" and "Camellia Blossoms and Leaves from the Varina and Jefferson Davis Memorial".
- Fauna includes: Homo-sapiens; White-tailed Deer and Other Mammalia; Reptiles; Birds; Entomology (Insects); Corals; Flocked Pets; Other, or Unidentified Species; etc.
- Inanimate, or Apparently Inanimate Objects, or Boxes of Rocks including Minerals, Man-made Minerals, Silt from the 1927 Flood, Round and/or Rusted Things.
- And, of course, Miscellaneous or Other Things.
- Vinculum (or Overlapping) Categories can be accessed from the sidebar to the left and include: Carbon; Color as a Hysterical Reaction; Cute Things; Flocking; Objects Chewed by Pets; Teeth, More Teeth, Things with Nail-holes; "Things Made from Animals or Parts of Animals" and Tramps and Hobos.
A Letter About Our Economy; About Our Community
During this season, with the world economy being what it is, I think its worth an additional letter, to tell you about the scene here as we view it from the banks of the White River.
The Main Street Museum, so far, has been spared any ill effects from the economic downturn. In fact, over the last five months the Main Street Museum has seen a spike in the number our visitors, (a corresponding increase in admission fees dropped in our ticket "pillar"), and a significant increase in our grant awards as well. Extraordinarily encouraging news in a climate of non-profit uncertainty!
People seem to be thinking and acting more locally. Unwittingly or not, the Main Street Museum—our Tramp and Hobo Symposium planned for May; our new thrift store and our daily increasing activity—is riding this wave of change. We are confident that we can not only ride into the future, but surf! Wishing you All the Best in the Tenuous—but also Exciting—Future, —David Fairbanks Ford, and All of the Staff, Interns and Volunteers at the Main Street Museum
Publicity and Press Clippings
Read what we write about ourselves. Read what others write about us.
Testimonials
The Main Street Museum—White River Junction's answer to the Library of Congress.
—Peter Welch, U. S. House of Representatives, 2007.
It is only due to organizations such as yours that the important works of our Country are brought to the attention of the public.
—Marie Reilly, Museum of Bad Art, Dedham, 1998. learn less...!
The Main Street Museum forces one to contemplate the nature of museums and curating. Why do we save what we save? How do we decide what to discard, what to display, what to hide away, and what to destroy. —Joe Citro, Weird New England, 2004
Material Culture Studies, Including The Electric Organ
History is false. It has to be. —Jules David Prown
Its really all about questions. We are a museum. We collect and preserve objects. (And other things too. But objects, mainly.) And then we do what all museums are supposed to do. We discuss the objects. We have conversations with you, the viewer, about the objects. And we have found, over the years, as we do this, that each object raises a number of questions. Sometimes it seems that each object has about five or 10 questions associated with it. And each question we research raises five or 10 more questions. And we might do this five or ten times for each object. And it also seems that we only end up answering about one question for each ten that we ask the object, or the object asks of us. But with so many questions—just multiply 5 to the 5th power—that still means that we have come up with a lot of answers in spite of ourselves. All in all, we think that the questions are more fun than the answers. But you are free to decide for youself.
Read what we've written about objects. Read what the experts have said as well. This is just a starting point. We have only just begun to really think about things, and our relationships to things.
Our fully functioning blog features discursions on material culture studies, miscellanea and much more! Museumology Blog continues the heartfelt commentary of the previous blog of the Main Street Museum at Blogspot. You can read the latest entries, musing about roadtrips, history, collections and collective insanity, and post your own responses here.
A German critic, W. Bürger, writes "Our Museums...are veritable graveyard-yards in which have been heaped up, with a tumulour-like promiscuousness, the remains which have been carried thither...all are hung pell-mell upon the walls of some noncommittal gallery a kind of posthumous asylum, where a people, no longer capable of producing...come to admire this magnificent gallery of debris. —G. Brown Goode, Museums of the Future, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., 1891: p. 427
Shoppe with Us! The Museum Gifte Shoppe
The Museum Gift Shoppe features souvenirs, a wide variety of books on museums and museum-y things, our own booklets with hand-stitched bindings, and wonky gifts that no one in their right mind would purchase!
Main Street Rummage; The Thrift Store!
What's concentrated at our Rummage? Chic-ness... Hip-ness... New ideas and conceptsâcreated from recycled things... Nowadays its Thrift Stores! They just make sense! And think about it. Dont you need shirts, Pants, Suits, Blouses, Shoes, Jackets, A small assortment of housewares and books Clean, cut and bagged rags at affordable prices (use them over and over they're cheaper then paper towels!) and selected items from the Main Street Museum's unusual Museum Gift Shoppe: Latte mugs, White River Junction t-shirts, Post-Modernism is Killing Us! caps, Genuine silt specimens from the 1927 flood, the super-cute, Japanese âHumping Dog (must be seen to be believed)
Clothes, Great Gifts! O My! Where will you ever see anything like it? This is true locally-controlled, resourceful retail. We are wide awake. You wonât find us napping. And we promise you will get your money's worth at our stores—the best looking Thrift Stores youll ever see! All proceeds help the Museum succeed in the 21st century; but best of all, its a Fun Place to Shop! learn less...!
Links
Other Museum-things.
- "As in totemism, we participate in each other as we participate in the object." —Sartre, Les jeux sont faits, 1943, and Norman O. Brown, Love's Body, 1966.
Parking Harassment—Special Note: The Museum again must apologize for a local man Bob Pickering who harasses visitors parking here at the Museum. He wears a baseball style cap, or other hat, and is sometimes followed closely by his partner Elizabeth who carries a tiny dog. The museum has filed "Notice Against Trespass" papers against Mr. Pickering. Please alert museum staff if they are seen on museum property, or if they approach museum patrons. The museum takes no responsibility for their actions. Daniel Johnson, property owner of the former "ProCam" building employs this man and thus is responsible for Mr. Pickerings actions. You can report the actions of Mr. Pickering directly to Mr. Johnson at design-build@valley.net, or 802-291-7080.
Parking for Museum patrons is available by the Museum Riverside in the back of the Museum Building, on the street (Railroad Row works!) or in the Courthouse/Depot Parking lot or—if you wish—in front of the former ProCam building. (We think.)
The Main Street Museum, 58 Bridge Street, White River Junction, Vermont, 05001-1909, info@mainstreetmuseum.org, 802.356.2776
