Curator's Choice

This week we meet with Robert Hicks, the previous Director of the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. The Museum contains a collection of anatomical and pathological specimens, wax models, and antique medical equipment, and is part of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Along with the many preserved specimens in the macabre repository, you can find the liver of conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker, a 40 lb colon, and anthropodermic books (or books bound in human skin).

Robert shares with us the history of some radioactive artifacts used by Marie Curie, including the Piezoelectric Quartz Electrometer, which is the oldest extant device for measuring radioactivity. We also learn about a very rare disorder called fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), and an incredible individual who not only lived with the disorder but thrived through adversity and even donated her skeleton to be displayed at the Mutter (along with her jewelry, of course!).


CAROL ANN ORZEL

Carol Ann Orzel, born on April 20, 1959, was diagnosed with FOP as a child. When she was 23, she moved to a long-term care facility and spent the rest of her life there. Though her muscles were slowly turning to bone, she was a strong voice in disability activism, established communication networks with other individuals suffering from FOP, and advocated for more research into the disease (of which there currently is no cure). She was also quite the social butterfly, charming many with her bright personality and colorful jewelry. Upon her death, Carol wished for her skeleton to be displayed at the Mutter Museum, alongside the skeleton of Harry Raymond Eastlack Jr, who also suffered from FOP. She did have one condition, her jewelry must also be displayed next to her.


MARIE CURIE

Marie is best known for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was a Polish and naturalized French physicist and chemist who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the first person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields.


Episode Links:

• Mutter Museum webpage: https://muttermuseum.org/
• Carol and Harry, Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP), Mutter Museum: https://muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/harry-and-carol
• Harry Eastlack with FOP, Mutter online exhibit: http://memento.muttermuseum.org/detail/fibrodysplasia-ossificans-progressiva
• The glowing graphic novel "Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout" by Lauren Redniss: http://laurenredniss.com/radioactive/
• Dog Edition Conservation Canines: https://shows.dogpodcastnetwork.com/show/dog-edition/conservation-canines-dog-edition-51/

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers

This week we meet with Kristin DeGrace at the Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum in Maryland. She shares with us the incredible dream behind a vacation paradise destination, getting buried alive to make a living during the Great Depression, and about a railway trying to stay relevant in a changing world. 

“In the late 1800s, a group of Colorado railroad men shared a dream to build a world-class seaside destination on the shores of the Chesapeake and a railroad to connect it to Washington, D.C. The official opening ceremony for the railway took place on June 9, 1900, and the last train departed on April 15, 1935. The amusements continued until the 1970s, evolving with the times. During its heyday, the Chesapeake Beach Resort attracted tens of thousands of people. However, changing tastes, wars, damaging storms, the great depression—experiences that are familiar to us today – all conspired to bring this enterprise to a close. The town created by this grand endeavor lives on, and the traces of its beginnings are evident everywhere. The Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum (CBRM) tells the story of these men, the dream they built, and the town that continues to redefine the story.”

                           -Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum


Episode Links:

• Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum webpage: https://chesapeakebeachrailwaymuseum.com/

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers

This week we meet with Robert Emerson at Old Fort Niagara in New York. The first fortified structure on the area was built in 1678 and has a few rebuilds and remodeling done since. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the roads were abysmal and the best way to travel was by water. And the great lakes created this water superhighway, so the location of the Fort at the mouth of the Niagara River was coveted by the French, British, and Americans. 

Also situated in the fort, is the French Castle, built in 1726. We learn why this castle was meant to look like a peaceful place of business rather than the fortification it was, who occupied the fort throughout its lifetime, and the Star-Spangled Banner’s older sister flag, the 1813 Garrison flag.


Episode Links:

• Fort Niagara website: https://www.oldfortniagara.org/

• Dog Edition episode I produced: https://shows.dogpodcastnetwork.com/show/dog-edition/conservation-canines-dog-edition-51/

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers

This week we meet with Laura Scharle at the Indian River Life-Saving Station Museum in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Life saving stations were erected along the Eastern coastline, at about 5 - 7 mile intervals. The purpose of these stations was to offer rescue and first aid to victims of shipwrecks. A precursor to today’s U.S. Coast Guard, the United States Lifesaving Service staffed these stations with trained servicemen who practiced drills during the day, and conducted beach-patrols at night.  The station at Indian River was originally in 1876, but was moved to its present location in 1877 due to a sand dune building up around the station. It has since been restored to it’s 1905 appearance. 

A lyle gun was used to deploy the breeches buoy:  a gun and carriage of solid bronze weighing 186 pounds would fire a 17 pound steel projectile with a line attached. Once this whip line was secured to the mast of the ship in distress,  the hozer line would be strung up. Hanging from the hozer line was a life ring with a pair of pants sewn to it. Using the system as a zip-line, sailors could be pulled from the sinking vessel to safety on shore. 

Beach patrols were a daily part of life for the men working the stations, and between nightly patrols and daily drills, there may have been a man or two who would rather take a quick nap than complete their patrol. With the life saving stations only about 5 to 7 miles apart from each other, the men walking the patrols would meet in the middle, one heading South, the other North) and exchange surfman’s checks with their corresponding identification information. This ensured no one skipped out on doing their portion of the patrol! If a water source like a river inlet blocked the path to next station, a patrol clock would be installed. This clock would punch out a time on a piece of paper (effectively acting as the first punch clock) to show the guard completed his route. 

Episode Links:

• Indian River Life Saving Station webpage: https://destateparks.com/History/IRLifeSavingStation

• U.S. Life-saving Station Service Heritage Association: https://uslife-savingservice.org/station/locate-a-station/

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers

 This week we meet with Bob Beggs, co-founder of the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He shares with us the process of establishing a museum and what progressive programs have been developed there. We discuss rotor heads, whirly girls, and the impressive ingenuity of rotary flight, as well as Harold Pitcairn and his Collier Award for his development of the autogyro and the human-powered, award-winning Aerovelo Atlas helicopter. 

The Whirly-Girls are an international organization of women helicopter pilots that was developed “in hopes of sharing information and camaraderie regardless of country, race, religion or politics”-Jean Ross Howard Phelan, founder and first president of the organization. The first Whirly Girl, Hanna Reistch (WG#1) was the first woman in the world to fly a helicopter, an FW-61 Focke-Achegelis. She also holds the world record for sustained flight and altitude in gliders, flew horizontal bombers, dive-bombers, fighter planes, and a ME 163 rocket plane. She was the only person, male or female to ever successfully fly the V-1 rocket.

Harold is credited with developing the autogyro, the precursor to rotary-wing helicopters. For this, he won the Collier Award, which is a prestigious award given to someone in the aviation industry for the most significant accomplishment in aviation that year. The Collier Award trophy is kept at the National Air and Space Museum in D.C., but each winner is given a personal, mini replica. Harold’s trophy is now on display at the American Helicopter Museum.
 
Find a list of all the Collier Award Winners, click here: https://www.curatorschoicepodcast.com/collier-trophy-award-winners

The Aerovelo Atlas is the first human-powered helicopter that achieved the goals of the American Helicopter Society International’s Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition. It was designed by Dr. Todd Reichert and Dr. Cameron Robertson of the University of Toronto and constructed with the help of students and graduates of the University. Steering was accomplished by leaning the bicycle to tilt the rotor axes. On June 13, 2013, the Aerovelo team flew the Atlas for 64 seconds and achieved an altitude of 3.3 meters (11 feet) in a Toronto area arena, and captured the $250,000 prize.



Episode Links:

• American Helicopter Museum and Education Center webpage: https://americanhelicopter.museum/

• Whirly-Girls International Women Helicopter Pilots webpage: https://whirlygirls.org/history/

• Aerovelo website: http://www.aerovelo.com/

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers

This week we meet with Tim Baxter at the Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls, New York. Historic Oakwood Cemetery was founded in 1852 on land donated by Lavinia Porter, daughter of Judge Augustus Porter (who is also one of the acknowledged founders of Niagara Falls). The Oakwood landscape we know today dates from an original design drawn in 1852 by noted civil engineer T.D. Judah. Drake Whitney, and consists of 18.5 acres of land in downtown Niagara Falls. Oakwood today contains many outstanding examples of funerary art including obelisks, sarcophagi, and beautiful statuary. Additionally, the landscape is lush with mature plantings and trees, many dating from the earliest time of the cemetery.

Annie Taylor
Among those buried at Oakwood Cemetery is Annie Taylor, the first person to travel over the falls in a barrel. Annie wrote a book about her trip and in it she describes her inspiration for making the dangerous ride over the Falls: 

“For two years I had been constantly studying, when not occupied in teaching, what I could do to make money-to make it honestly and quickly. All kinds of schemes ran riot through my brain. Reading in a New York paper about people going to the Pan-American Exposition, and from there to Niagara Falls, the idea came to me like a flash of light, “Go over the Niagara Falls in a barrel. No one has ever accomplished this feat.” -Over the Falls: Annie Taylor’s story of her trip

 Homan Walsh
Also laid to rest at Oakwood is Homan Walsh, the young kite flyer whose kite and progressively larger ropes sent the cable across the gorge for the suspension bridge.
In the mid 1800’s, the area around Niagara Falls was growing in terms of population and recognition as a tourist destination. To increase the opportunities of travel for the Niagara area, a bridge was needed to connect the Canada side of the Gorge with the United States side. The Niagara Gorge is 800 feet across and up to 200 feet deep, and many ideas were concocted to complete this challenging task. However, a kite competition in 1848 proved successful! With an award of $10 (or $5, depending on your source) for the first person to fly their kite across the Gorge, Homan Walsh entered the competition with his kit ‘Union’, and won! Using his kite’s string, stronger string was attached an pulled across, followed with steel cables, until a small cable car could be ridden across the Gorge. This process created the foundation for the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, which stood from 1855 to 1897 and played an important role not only in tourist activity and everyday transportation between two countries, but also as an important escape route of the Underground Railroad.

Episode Links:

• Niagara Falls Oakwood Cemetery: https://oakwoodniagara.org/
• “Over the Falls”, written by Annie Taylor in 1902 about her trip over Horseshoe Falls : https://archive.org/details/overfallsannieed00tayluoft/page/n3/mode/2up
• “The Kite that Bridged a River” article from Kit History: http://www.kitehistory.com/Miscellaneous/Homan_Walsh.htm
• The Kite That Bridged Two Nations – The Musical: https://thekitemusical.com/

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers

 Starting off the new year, we meet at Historic Sotterley and speak with Katherine Humphries, who is the Education Coordinator, and Jeanne Pirtle, who is the Director of Educational Programming and Partnerships. Sotterley is a historic plantation, with parts of the house dating back to 1703. It has survived 3 major wars, hurricanes, lightning strikes, and numerous renovations, and today is an interpretive site comprised of 94 acres of land, over 20 authentic historical structures, and a sustainable farm that donates food to local pantries. For this episode, we focus on the Chinese Chippendale Banister, which was constructed ~1780, and the portrait of Sarah Satterlee, whose artist was a mystery until a curator from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery visited and thought the style looked familiar!


Episode Links:

• Official Historic Sotterley webpage: https://www.sotterley.org/

• Met Museum’s artifact “The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker's Director: Being a Large Collection of Designs of Household Furniture in the Gothic, Chinese and Modern Taste 1754”: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/591840

• Seth Cheney’s painting of James Jackosn, circa 1842, at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery: https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.98.126?destination=edan-search/default_search%3Fedan_local%3D1%26edan_q%3Dseth%252Bcheney%26edan_fq%255B0%255D%3Donline_visual_material%253Atrue

Sotterleys Recognitions and Awards

2012 Designated a Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Marker’s Project Site

2017 Maryland Sustainable Growth Award for Preservation & Conservation

2018 Maryland Preservation Award for Slave Cabin Exhibit dedicated to Agnes Kane Callum

2019 Designated a UNESCO Site of Memory for the Slave Route Project

2020 Maryland Preservation Award for Excellence in Public Programming for Common Ground

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers

Happy New Year!

And welcome to Season 2 of Curator's Choice! So, for today's episode, I thought it could be fun to do a year review of the podcast, talk about some of the success, some of the not-so-great moments, and give you a sneak peek of what the next year will look like and what goals I have for the podcast.

• 31 regular episodes
• 5 bonus episodes
• 3,143 downloads
• 26 different museums and historical places
• 36 different people interviewed
• 12 different states and territories
• Over 57 artifacts, historic people, exhibits, or fossils featured

What a year! Thank you so much for your support and for listening to Curator's Choice! 

Cheers!
Ayla

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers

This week we meet with Heather Stapleton, who is the Executive Director at The Heritage Center and Indian River Citrus Museum in Vero Beach, Florida. She shares with us the amazing story of their Micro and Mighty Museum, and what makes the citrus from the Indian River District so special (it is the only district in Florida whose name is protected by the Federal Trade Commission).

Though Florida’s state flower is the orange blossom, citrus is not native to the Sunshine State and was introduced by the Spanish explorers. It was known by sailors in the 1700s that oranges prevented scurvy on the long ocean voyages, and Queen Isabella required that each Spanish sailor takes with them 100 sour orange seeds and “plant” them along the southern coast. Then, years later, they would have fresh fruit to stave off Vitamin C deficiency on their return journey. These seeds were probably transported in olive jars, like the one recovered by famous treasure hunter Mel Fisher from the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet Wreck.


Episode Links:

• Indian River Citrus Museum: https://www.veroheritage.org/citrus-museum/
• Indian River Citrus Museum’s Oral Histories: “Stories from the Grove” https://www.veroheritage.org/-stories-from-the-groves/
• Florida Cowboy’s article: https://www.flamingomag.com/2021/10/18/how-these-ranchers-are-carrying-on-the-little-known-legacy-of-florida-cowboys/

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers

Part 3 of 3

This week, for our third and final installment of the American Civil War Museum series, we meet with Robert Hancock, who is a Senior Curator and Director of Collections. The museum manages over 15,000 artifacts and over 150,000 manuscript items, and we talk to Robert about just a few of them. Though many items have been a part of the museum’s collection since the beginning, such as Robert E. Lee’s colt revolver, other items are new acquisitions that are to be preserved for future generations who wish to learn more about history. 

Below is an embedded presentation from the online exhibit: Birth of Monument Avenue. It discusses the origins of Richmond’s most contested and beloved boulevard, and features objects from the American Civil War Museum, the Library of Virginia, The Valentine, and the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.


Episode Links:

• American Civil War Museum webpage: https://acwm.org/
• On Monument Avenue online exhibits: https://onmonumentave.com/
• American Civil War Museum online collections database: https://acwm.pastperfectonline.com/
• General Robert E. Lee's Parole and Citizenship article from the National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/piece-lee

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers