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Curious Ming Dynasty Hairpins in the shape of two shrimps. Found on a gilt silver hair cover excavated in a tomb in Shanghai. Exhibited at the Shanghai Museum of Art.

It's incredible how people have been protesting pants and skirts not having pockets but not a single peep is heard over the fact that skirts no longer have underskirts by default. Underskirts (or lining) was a thing when I was a child, no skirt would be made without lining, you didn't have to think and check if your whole ass is visible in a skirt because lining was a thing!!!! Now most skirts don't and it's simply because it's cheaper, fuck the fact that a customer doesn't want their panties shown in broad daylight, it saves a couple of cents on material.

a lot of ppl in the notes of the previous post are mentioning museums hoarding stolen cultural objects which is important beyond measure but museums shutting down due to lack of funding will not result in repatriation of cultural materials, they would most likely be auctioned off to private ultra-wealthy collectors to recoup some of their debt and we'd never find these objects again let alone be able to repatriate them. i understand the desire to say 'fuck museums let them die' for this reason but it won't have the result you think it will, and it will also mean that all of their ethically sourced and donated materials (which for most museums are the vast majority of their collections) will no longer be cared for by experts but again, sold off to private collectors who can do whatever they want with them or deteriorate in storehouses indefinitely. this would be catastrophic for public history and collective knowledge-sharing across the globe across cultures, and museums in post-colonial and run by/for racialized or otherwise oppressed ethnic groups will fall first because they receive FAR less funding than the large western institutions. just repeating phrases and sentiments you've seen online as a form of performative activism without knowing anything about what you're talking about does more harm than good and doesn't make you look smart or clever just foolish it's so deeply annoying and frustrating

I get to play with swords today at work!

determining which of out fraternal order swords will work best for the exhibit I am helping develop :)

An ATA pilot climbs into the cockpit of a Spitfire en route to a military airfield in September 1944

Miniature teapot. 1829–30. Credit line: The Joseph M. and Aimee Loeb May Collection, 1963 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/202743

the importance of proper flag storage!

pictured above are two flag boxes - - the former, and the updated storage for a flag!

The (I am unsure of the exact dimensions but a bit bigger than 3x5 ft) flag was creased, crumpled, folded, and shoved into the tiny box a number of years ago. As we have been slowly working through out textiles collection, we came across it and immediately recognized its need for better storage.

when working to update and improve the storage for a flag, it is important to fold the flag in new places (with padding!!), to not further the harm that a crease will create over time

so happy that this flag has a new home !!

Ballgown, c.1900

the GRIP that late 1880s fashion has on me!! I love it!!

Dress, c.1892

☝️my wife

(From Early New England Gravestone Rubbings by Edmund Vincent Gillian)

Women want one thing and it's quite obvious, A large affordable interconnected North American Rail Network

Bedford and County Record - Tuesday 23 August 1910

Source: British Newspaper Archive

we are sorting the mannequins! it has started me so many times!

the museum is currently littered with mannequin parts and bodies as we work to sort our exhibit mannequins - which is exciting!! but also extraordinarily unnerving as I keep running into mannequins that are not where I expect them to be

here are some of the less scary (newer) ones next to my archive entrance

unfortunately I can't post the torsos and heads on the first floor (the ones being decommissioned) for privacy reasons. I wish I could though, because it is hard to put into words how genuinely unnerving these figures are.

immediately upon entering the museum each day I am greeted by a distant hoard of torsos, limbs, and heads decorated in obscenely dramatic makeup - the mannequins having been taken apart for ease of transport down the stairs. This is actually my first time seeing the faces of many of these figures, during the exhibit season they were covered with stockings as the makeup did not suit the clothing displayed. Which was frankly also pretty terrifying, seeing just the clear ghost of a hidden face underneath the fabric

a part of me feels bad for the ones we are disposing of?? they have spent their career in this institution, helping us display history, and now their future is wholly unknown

-- but also they are the type of model that do pose a threat to delicate historical clothing (damn you articulated arms that can pinch and tear), so I am glad we have found the means to upgrade --

ANYWHO - despite my terror the museum is once again filled with life! we are preparing for our opening, building exhibits, and diving back in to in-person projects! :)

Musings of a Museum Professional.

Ma'am, we're a museum. Our collections are not for sale.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Whoops! It was such a nonstop day, I forgot about posting here until I got home. So, here’s a picture of my cat.

we are back in person at the museum!

is is finally warm enough to be fully back in person!

which means the exhibits get to begin taking physical shape!!!

(it also means we found an envelope full of postcards shoved through our mail slot but thats a different issue)

I am so excited!!!

Linen tennis dress, 1873