[There are few
practices more AmericanStudies, but also more complex, than that of collecting historical,
cultural, and artistic treasures and memorabilia. This week I’ll highlight and
analyze five such collections and the collectors who assembled them. Please
share collections and museums of interest to you for a collected weekend post!]
On three
evocative moments in the history of America’s national collection.
The Smithsonian Institution, the self-proclaimed “world’s
largest musem and research complex,” was created by both the generosity and the
caprice of an Englishman. When scientist
James Smithson died in 1829 he left most of his estate to his nephew Henry
James Hungerford; but in Smithson’s will,
if Hungerford died childless (which he did only six years later) that estate would
pass to the U.S. “to found … an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of
knowledge among men.” I suppose many museums begin with the actions and choices
of an individual, but I think in this case it would do Americans good to
recognize that one of our national treasures woud likely not exist if there had
been a little Hungerford or two running around. We’ve been transnationally
influenced and dependent throughout our history, and we owe the rest of the
world—including
those Brits—much more than we like to admit.
Smithson’s
bequest didn’t exactly specify how the institution was to increase and diffuse knowledge,
but in the years leading up to and after the Smithsonian’s 1846 establishment
collecting became the principal mechanism through which it was developed. One
particularly productive source of those early collections was the Navy’s United States
Exploring Expedition, which circumnavigated the globe under commanding
officers Thomas ap
Catesby Jones and Charles
Wilkes (among others) between 1838 and 1842. The expedition collected
numerous animal and plant specimens, ethnographic artifacts, and other
resources, most of which made their way back to Washington and became part of
the Smithsonian’s founding collections. In an era when the U.S. was beginning
to venture into imperialistic
international endeavors, the expedition, and through it the Smithsonian, offered
a far different way to think about our engagement with the world.
Obviously and
unfortunately that didn’t stop our
imperialistic endeavors, but the Smithsonian has likewise continued to amass and expand its collections and museums
over the
century and a half since those origin points. There have been plenty of
evocative moments along the way, but I would highlight a very recent one: June
21, 2013, when, in honor of
Go Skateboarding Day, the National Museum of American History mounted an extensive
exhibition on and demonstration of the sport, featuring Tony
Hawk’s first skateboard and numerous other submissions, items, and
professional skateboarders. I’m sure there were criticisms that such an
exhibition was beneath the Smithsonian’s standards or the like—but the truth is
that the collection has been both haphazard and wonderfully all-encompassing
from the start; and as anyone who’s had the chance to visit any of the
institution’s (free!) museums can attest, the results have been American in the
very best sense.
Last collector
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you think? Collections you'd highlight?
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