Piecing together an exhibit
Three historians, one med student, and a physicist walk into a coffee shop…
It might sound like the beginning of a bad joke but no – it is the beginning of our exhibit planning. We started meeting regularly in Hilary term and kicked off our brainstorming sessions by concentrating on the theme of traces. We searched the museum database, consumed caffeine and produced a preliminary list of objects that we wanted to include.
We took our ideas to the MHS and have started the process of selecting objects for the exhibit. This process, which we hope to share with you, is an interesting one. One minute you are laughing (see Anna and Phil in the photo with a very patient Assistant Keeper, Stephen, in the foreground) and the next you are arguing, staunchly and unflinchingly advocating for one of the instruments you selected to be included. Negotiations are primarily based on space constraints. We have three cases for our three themes. In the coming weeks we hope to use this blog to include some of the objects that either will not fit in the cases or cannot be displayed for some other reason. Some of the artifacts are just plain quirky, others mysterious, and some too fragile for display. We cannot wait until our objects are dusted off, removed from storage, and are on display to be shared with you.