Curio: History, Museums, and the Things We Put in Them

How many poisons are there lurking in museums? A lot. But mostly it's arsenic. From taxidermy to cosmetics, arsenic is everywhere! But the most striking examples are the beautiful pigments and dyes made from arsenic. This week on Curio, Shan informs Jaybee of the deadly dresses, sinister wallpapers, and killer books that hide in museum collections. And the Milkshake Murder. And William Morris! Be careful when handling old green stuff: turns out a lot of it can kill you. 

Pteridomania: an excessive love of ferns.

This week Shan walks Jaybee through the crazy chain of events, from a guy named Ward just trying to watch a moth emerge from a pupa, through the breaking of monopolies, the first female photographer, the near-extinction and creation of species of fern, definition of the aesthetic of an era, which led to our modern biodiverse botanical gardens! Because botanical gardens are museums, too. Expect adventure, romance, crime, and ferns. So, so many ferns. 

About half the population menstruates. Is it weird that the museum about menstruation is run by someone who doesn't? Maybe! But we think he does a good job of it. Jaybee is maybe a bit uncomfortable but like a true ally he sticks it out and has a laugh at Shan's coming of age stories about ... periods. And rants about Gwenyth Paltrow.

Check out the museum website here:

www.mum.org/ 

Then consider donating to Period Equity to help normalise menstruation!

https://www.periodequity.org/take-action/

It's a heist!!! Shan talks about her favourite museum heist (so far): the "theft" of the bust of Nefertiti from the Neues Museum, Berlin. From the unearthing of the bust in the early 20th century to its theft via Kinect camera in 2016, it's a strange and winding road. 

A lot of museum stuff is old. Including the displays. They hide... secrets. Shan regales Jaybee with four tales of human remains showing up in exhibits where they should not have been. 

Warning: this episode deals with death and desecration of human remains and some pretty awful racism so... take care of yourselves. Do what you gotta do. 

Be nice to each other. 

A lot of museum stuff is old. Including the displays. They hide... secrets. Shan regales Jaybee with four tales of human remains showing up in exhibits where they should not have been. 

Warning: this episode deals with death and desecration of human remains and some pretty awful racism so... take care of yourselves. Do what you gotta do. 

Be nice to each other. 

It's da bomb. Shan and Jaybee launch into the nuclear age, learning all about the Nevada Test Site and the development of radioactive technology, and how it relates to a host of irradiated mannequins of the National Museum of Atomic Testing. Learn about all the weird ways people used to ingest radium! Atomize Vegans! Bleeding earballs! And the tragic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the powerful design of the Hiroshima Peace Pavilion. 

It's a party mix of laughter, deep, deep horror, and sadness, on this week's Curio.

Resources: 

http://www.westmuse.org/sites/westmuse.org/files/documents/WMA2014/Sessions/WMA2014_CollectionsThatKill-Notes.pdf

https://www.archaeology.org/issues/152-1411/features/2594-united-states-atomic-age-doom-town

http://time.com/3675016/nevada-a-bomb-test/

http://www.businessinsider.com/operation-doorstep-photos-2016-3#this-group-of-mannequins-is-hiding-under-the-stairs-in-a-basement-likely-to-test-if-this-was-an-effective-strategy-6

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/sep/21/building-the-atom-bomb-the-full-story-of-the-nevada-test-site

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Test_Site#Areas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury,_Nevada

http://www.dark-tourism.com/index.php/15-countries/individual-chapters/758-nevada-nuclear-test-site

https://www.globalzero.org/blog/how-many-nukes-would-it-take-render-earth-uninhabitable

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_technology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irradiated_mail

https://www.mirion.com/introduction-to-radiation-safety/the-history-of-radiation/

http://mentalfloss.com/article/12732/9-ways-people-used-radium-we-understood-risks

https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-08/healthy-glow-drink-radiation

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18940506

https://geoscience.ucalgary.ca/tamaratt-chair/files/tamaratt-chair/death-by-numbers_the-mysterious-illness-of-the-dial-painters.pdf

https://www.news-medical.net/health/Radiation-Poisoning-History.aspx

http://nationalatomictestingmuseum.org/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/many-nukes-world-could-destroy/

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20170422/p2a/00m/0na/010000c

Jaybee's away this week so it's 100% Shan time. Learn about Jumbo the Elephant, P.T. Barnum, and his involvement in one of the greatest pissfights in museum history. 

Resources:

McLellan, Andrew. (2012). P.T. Barnum, Jumbo the Elephant, and the Barnum Museum of Natural History at Tuft's University. Journal of the History of Collections 24(1). 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/nov/11/jumbo-the-elephant-the-afterlife

https://www.biography.com/people/pt-barnum-9199751

Shan fills Jaybee in on all the gruesome details of the Burke and Hare murders, and the horrific ways they're remembered in some museum collections. We're talking human leather (ew). Grave robbing, dissection, and human salads. Listen if you dare. 

Resources:

Listen to another podcast! 

http://www.businessinsider.com/book-bound-in-serial-killers-human-skin-2014-11

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-lindsey-fitzharris/holding-a-book-bound-in-human-skin_b_3772196.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27903742

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/exm3bk/binding-books-with-human-skin-135

https://books.google.ca/books?id=8LoDAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=burke+and+hare&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjy_o3QkI3aAhUD2IMKHRztDdM4ChDoAQgzMAM#v=onepage&q=burke%20and%20hare&f=false

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/feb/01/burke-hare-masks

https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/all-news/anatomy-280212

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-death-mask-of-william-burke-47205

Find "The Anatome Murders" &c by Lisa Rosner in a library near you:

http://www.worldcat.org/title/anatomy-murders-being-the-true-and-spectacular-history-of-edinburghs-notorious-burke-and-hare-and-of-the-man-of-science-who-abetted-them-in-the-commission-of-their-most-heinous-crimes/oclc/320800017

Shan tells Jaybee all about the fascinating and bizarre Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, California: the museum's history, accordion-playing curator slash director David Wilson, and a few of the most puzzling exhibits. 

Sources:

Weschler, Lawrence. (1995). Mr. Wilson's cabinet of wonder. New York :Pantheon Books.

http://www.mjt.org/

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-12-31/entertainment/ca-109_1_museums-jurassic-technology

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-museum-of-jurassic-technology-160774366/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/arts/design/museum-of-jurrasic-technology-shows-its-wild-side-review.html

https://www.npr.org/programs/watc/features/2001/macarthur/011027.macarthur.html

https://www.economist.com/node/14397777

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/inside-las-strangest-museum-180954803/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/an-afternoon-in-the-museum-of-jurassic-technology-the-strangest-museum-in-america

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC1nSF9v3RA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=recdbJpkxt4