Curio: A Museum History and Comedy Podcast

Using an object from the German Historical Museum as a starting point, Shan and Jaybee explore the history of PPE through the lens of the Plague Doctor. Was the bird-like figure as prevalent as we have been led to believe? And when was the outfit created, and by whom? And were plague doctors actually bird-people hiding in our midst? The answers to all these questions and more await!  Sources at end of the episode. 

A special guest host and a physical manifestation of an acid trip, we cover the famous roadside attraction The House on the Rock, this time on Curio! Shan loves the place - and it turns out, so does famed museum consultant Beverly Serrell! There's a lot to learn from this mish mash of objects, architecture, and art, and things get pretty... theoretical. Oh, also, American Gods references, obviously. Neil Gaiman has a heck of a take. 

Another heist episode babyyyy! On Labour Day Weekend 1972, three thieves made off with 2 million dollars worth of art and jewelry from the Montreal Museum of Fine Art in Canada's largest art heist - and it's never been solved. Shan walks Jaybee through the case, digging into the research of Catherine Schofield Sezgin to lay out the known facts of The Skylight Caper! True crime in museums? Dreamy.   Learn more on Ms. Sezgin's blog here http://unsolved-1972-theft-montreal.blogspot.ca/ Or in her article for the Journal of Art Crime, Fall 2010 issue, here (pdf): http://www.artcrimeresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/JAC-Fall-2010-eVersion-Final.pdf

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. 

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! https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/most-notorious-a-true-crime-history-podcast/e/50827518   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