First, a note on my prolonged absence from the blog. Following a health issue that took me out of commission for several weeks, I started an internship at a local historic house. I spend my days off cataloging all sorts of furniture, glass and paintings in an attempt to complete the first-ever inventory of this particular organization's collections. The emphasis in this project has been on getting the basics down on paper: a description of the object; its dimensions; and its location within the house. More in-depth analysis and research will be done later, once the full inventory has been completed.
This relatively new area of my life collided with my "real life" last weekend on a visit to Pittsburgh. I, along with my boyfriend and best friend, visited the Heinz History Center (which you should definitely check out on your next stop in the Steel City).
We strolled through a fascinating exhibition entitled Shattering Notions, which described in detail the importance of glass manufacture to the Pittsburgh region. As I studied some of the objects in the exhibition I realized that I had seen them before--when I cataloged them.
I nearly squealed with delight in the middle of the exhibition. The historic house at which I am interning has no curatorial files whatsoever. We know next to nothing about the objects in the collection or from where they may have come. And, as previously mentioned, our focus is entirely on other areas at the moment. I was naturally excited to be able to match an object to a label on a wall and take back a few valuable pieces of information. We can now correctly date several objects, as well as accurately report their manufacturer, which will eventually lead to new avenues of research.
This episode, for me at least, represents more than a strange coincidence on a weekend away or the ability to fill in gaps of knowledge for a wonderful historic house. My encounter with a piece of Pittsburgh pressed glass reminded me of something that I love about objects--they can connect us to another time and place. Just like hearing your favorite song from fifteen years ago can transport you back to the first time you heard it, seeing an object that used to belong to a grandparent can make you relive the moments you spent with them.
As museums reconsider the role that objects should play, we need to remind ourselves of the power that objects can have when used and interpreted effectively. As Stephen Conn states in his book Do Museums Still Need Objects?, objects lose relevance when "the objects cease to provide coherence to the ideas behind their collection and display, when the ideas themselves fail to coalesce into a coherent body of knowledge, and when other institutions position themselves better as producers and providers of information." When used as complements to fantastic ideas objects can help an visitor relate to an exhibition on a much deeper and more personal level than label text. Sometimes we just need a piece of pressed glass to remind us.
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