It's All Just a Bunch of Rhubarb: Museums

Showing posts with label Museums. Show all posts

Historical Astronomy exhibit at the HRC

Heliocentric diagram from Nicolaus Copernicus' "De Revolutionibus"

I mentioned in a previous post that I went over to the Harry Ransom Center on the Friday at the end of the AAS meeting to see the small exhibit of astronomy texts and items that they had set up for the week. I had already seen several of the items (and I really wish they had brought out the Tycho with the etching of the coats of arms of his ancestors - including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) but it was neat to see them again. There were also a few items from the Herschel collection that I don't think I've seen before. And this was just a small fraction of the stuff they had out for the International Year of Astronomy exhibit back in 2009.

You can see the full set on Flickr here

Banned, Burned, Seized, and Censored

I went over to the Harry Ransom Center last week to see a small display of historical astronomy texts (more on that later) and finally also saw their larger exhibition Banned, Burned, Seized, and Censored shortly before it closed.

The exhibition focussed on the years between the world wars and the various organizations and methods that were employed to "to rid the country of offensive literature". I often find it hard to believe that things like this happened in our nation's history, but then I remember that during this same period, alcohol was banned by Constitutional amendment.

It seems that the rise of fascism, the outbreak of WWII and public Nazi book burnings took the wind out of the sails of organizations who had previously advocated doing the same thing in the United States. I loved this poster with a quote by President Roosevelt condemning book burning:

Of course, banning and/or challenging books, particularly in schools (e.g. this previous post), is still with us, but thankfully not to the extent it was in the period the exhibition focussed on. There were certainly works that were still "scandalous" and certain standards of "decency" were still imposed in movies and television for several more decades. (One could certainly make an argument that is still the case given restriction on certain language and nudity on broadcast television and the movie rating system and age-restrictions it carries. Not to mention fines for "wardrobe malfunctions".) For the most part though, the challenges on grounds of morality, decency, etc that arise today are by private organizations or individuals, and not government censorship.

This was the only other photo I snapped in the exhibition, since the proud label on the cover amused me and all I could think of was "The Library" episode of Seinfeld.

It was a fascinating collection of materials and I was glad that I had a chance to see it. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the next big exhibition coming to the HRC - The King James Bible: Its History and Infuence.This will be the only other US venue for the exhibition that just concluded its run at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. The main thing I'm looking forward to is the material on the Bible before the King James edition, which of course is closely related to my interest in Tudor History!

Help preserve the "Gone With the Wind" costumes

Related to my post below: The Harry Ransom Center has started a campaign to raise money to help preserve the five costumes from "Gone With the Wind" in their collection, including the Green Curtain Dress pictured above. They are planning an exhibition for 2014 to mark the 75th anniversary of the movie that I'm already looking forward to! I donated $10 to the fund since I would love to be able to see the original costumes as part of the exhibit.

Update August 30: They reached the goal in three weeks! They have a cool map of where all the donations came from - my $10 is part of the 174 in Texas. :)

Making Movies

A week or so ago I finally made it over to the Harry Ransom Center's Making Movies exhibition. It's wonderful that I can see such great things on my lunch break by just walking to the other side of campus!

The HRC has had the Gone With the Wind collection for a long time and has acquired many other movie-related collections over the years, and a few years ago Robert De Niro gave the library a lot of items from his movie making-career. The exhibition featured a lot of items from their collection ranging from early scripts, to costumes, to a pamphlet from Mount Rushmore used as research for North by Northwest.

I only had my iPhone to take pictures, so I just grabbed a couple of shots of costumes. Below on the left is a dress worn my one of my favorite actresses, Deborah Kerr, in one of her signature roles - An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant (pretty much my all-time favorite actor). And on the right, the infamous "Red Dress" from Gone With the Wind. One thing that you can't really see in my picture is just how TINY Vivien Leigh's waist was. You can get an idea in the movie in the scenes where she's being laced up in her corset, but seeing it on a model right in front of you really puts it into scale. It was pretty amazing to be able to stand a foot away from that iconic costume!

Picture of the Week #95

Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega in the National Air and Space Museum. Photo September 2006.

Since I just finished listening to a biography of Amelia, I thought this would be a good choice this week.

Picture of the Week #94

Political cartoon honoring the contributions of JFK and LBJ to the first moon landing

Picture of the Week #93

Vostok spacecraft from the "To The Moon" exhibition, April 2009.

Picture of the Week #92

Recreation of a photo of the Mercury 7 astronauts. From the "To The Moon" exhibition, April 2009.

Picture of the Week #91

Painting of Galileo with a replica of one of his telescopes. From the "To The Moon" Exhibition, April 2009.

Picture of the Week #86

Gemini TTV-1 Paraglider Capsule at the National Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center. Photo September 2006.

From the information plaque:
At the start of the Gemini program in 1961, NASA considered having the two-astronaut Gemini capsule land on a runway after its return from space, rather than parachute into the ocean. The controlled descent and landing was to be accomplished by deploying an inflatable paraglider wing. However, NASA later decided to stick with the proven technology of parachutes and water landings.

This full-scale, piloted Test Tow Vehicle (TTV) was built to train Gemini astronauts for flight. It served as the first of two TTVs used to perfect maneuvering, control, and landing techniques. A helicopter released the TTV, with its wing deployed, over the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, where it landed.

Picture of the Week #85

Pan American World Airways Boeing 307 Stratoliner "Clipper Flying Cloud" at the National Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center. Photo September 2006.

According to the Boeing website, this plane was delivered to Boeing in 1940 and was the world's first pressurized commercial airliner.

Picture of the Week #84

Mammoth or mastodon at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. (Sorry, can't tell them apart unless I can see the teeth!)

Picture of the Week #80

Renazzo carbonaceous chondrite meteorite at the Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites in the American Museum of Natural History. Photo: August 2006.

Picture of the Week #78

Meteorite at American Museum of Natural History, Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites. Photo: August 2006.

I think this might be a fragment from the Barringer Crater in Arizona, but unfortunately I don't have a good photo of the information plaque so I can't be sure.

It's All Just a Bunch of Rhubarb