The Main Street Museum
Encyclopedia
The Main Street Museum is an eclectic display space for material culture
and an experiment in a new taxonomy
. Originally thought of as an "alternative" museum, the museum's present form and activities resemble the 18th and 19th century "cabinet of curiosities
" and point to an interest in the historic roots of museum
s and museology
. However, the Museum also focuses on new technology, notably cataloging its collections and conducting online activity through its Wiki
(see below).
, known as The Old South End.
The Museum's collections of material culture
are seemingly unfocused, although this might be the intent of the Museum's highly decentralized administration. Categories include: Flora; Fauna; significant objects from around the world; evidence of tramps; Round Things; Tangled Things; journals; extraneous bits of local history, sheet music; postcard
collections; electromagnetism
devices; relics from the head injury of Phineas Gage
; Elvis impersonators; live music; taxidermy and biological anomalies (dehydrated cats). It simultaneously pays homage to the eighteenth century cabinet of curiosities
(Wünderkammern) and a focal point of new technology through its website. The Main Street Museum believes itself to have been the first museum in the world with a (functioning) blog, initiated in September 2005.
Described by the Washington Post as "quirky and avant-garde", a heterodox assortment of the local public, scholars, musicians, artists, historians, scientists, drunks and all other types of people have been drawn to the Museum's unusual demonstrations, lectures and entertainments.
Currently located at White River Junction's former fire station on Bridge Street, next to the railroad underpass on the banks of the White River, the museum has been acknowledged as an integral part of White River Junction's downtown
revitalization and the new urbanism
of the region. The Museum has been host to prominent, freighthopping
musicians and tramps since 1999.
software in the year 2008. Museum goals include cataloging every item in their collections in this ongoing project.
Material culture
In the social sciences, material culture is a term that refers to the relationship between artifacts and social relations. Studying a culture's relationship to materiality is a lens through which social and cultural attitudes can be discussed...
and an experiment in a new taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
. Originally thought of as an "alternative" museum, the museum's present form and activities resemble the 18th and 19th century "cabinet of curiosities
Cabinet of curiosities
A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer...
" and point to an interest in the historic roots of museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s and museology
Museology
Museology is the diachronic study of museums and how they have established and developed in their role as an educational mechanism under social and political pressures.-Overview:...
. However, the Museum also focuses on new technology, notably cataloging its collections and conducting online activity through its Wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
(see below).
Overview
The Main Street Museum was founded in 1992 by David Fairbanks Ford in an area of White River Junction, VermontWhite River Junction, Vermont
White River Junction is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the town of Hartford in Windsor County, Vermont, United States...
, known as The Old South End.
The Museum's collections of material culture
Material culture
In the social sciences, material culture is a term that refers to the relationship between artifacts and social relations. Studying a culture's relationship to materiality is a lens through which social and cultural attitudes can be discussed...
are seemingly unfocused, although this might be the intent of the Museum's highly decentralized administration. Categories include: Flora; Fauna; significant objects from around the world; evidence of tramps; Round Things; Tangled Things; journals; extraneous bits of local history, sheet music; postcard
Postcard
A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope....
collections; electromagnetism
Electromagnetism
Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
devices; relics from the head injury of Phineas Gage
Phineas Gage
Phineas P. Gage was an American railroad construction foreman now remembered for his improbablesurvival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and...
; Elvis impersonators; live music; taxidermy and biological anomalies (dehydrated cats). It simultaneously pays homage to the eighteenth century cabinet of curiosities
Cabinet of curiosities
A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer...
(Wünderkammern) and a focal point of new technology through its website. The Main Street Museum believes itself to have been the first museum in the world with a (functioning) blog, initiated in September 2005.
Described by the Washington Post as "quirky and avant-garde", a heterodox assortment of the local public, scholars, musicians, artists, historians, scientists, drunks and all other types of people have been drawn to the Museum's unusual demonstrations, lectures and entertainments.
Currently located at White River Junction's former fire station on Bridge Street, next to the railroad underpass on the banks of the White River, the museum has been acknowledged as an integral part of White River Junction's downtown
Downtown
Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's core or central business district ....
revitalization and the new urbanism
New urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
of the region. The Museum has been host to prominent, freighthopping
Freighthopping
Freighthopping or train hopping is the act of surreptitiously hitching a ride on a railroad freight car. In the United States, this became a common means of transportation following the American Civil War as the railroads began pushing westward, especially among migrant workers who became known as...
musicians and tramps since 1999.
“The Main Street Museum forces one to contemplate the nature of museums and curating. Why do we save what we save? How do we decide what to discard, what to display, what to hide away, and what to destroy.”
— Joe Citro, Weird New England, New York, 2006
The Catawiki
A catalog of the museum, as well as other pages describing the Museum's collections and civic activities, was formatted and presented with WikiWiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
software in the year 2008. Museum goals include cataloging every item in their collections in this ongoing project.
External links
- Main Street Museum website
- Main Street Museum Wiki
- Appraisal of both the Main Street Museum and White River Junction, The Boston GlobeThe Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
- White River Junction website
Publications
- What is It? We Have It! You Want to See It!, Description of the organization. White River Junction, 2008.
- Description of the Collections, with pl., White River Junction, 2007.
- The Arts; All Of Them, In White River Junction, Vermont, Hartford, 2000.
- “There Ought To Be A Plaque,” article on Main Street Museum Building and White River Jct. history, Out In The Mountains, Burlington, VT, February, 1998.
- The Mangelsdorf Tripartite Theory of Corn Genetics, Published by the Museum, with pls. Hartford, Vermont, 1998.
- Pickled Eggs In Tar, An Intermittently Sulfurous Specimen, fl;189;66;em, “Number 001 in the Series...Prepared Under the Auspices Of The First Branch Memorial,” Hartford Village, 1998.
- "The Diary of Sabrina Hoisington,” Vermont Genealogy, vol. 1, no. 2 April, 1996. (Separately published as a booklet, with pls, 1997.)
- Big Fish and Good Looking Women (exhibit catalogue for the photos of Jack Rowell), Main Street Museum, White River Jct., 1996.