Amnesty for the Lost Artefacts of the Steinheim Museum
The Steinheim Museum at Alfred University, was an eclectic cabinet of curiosities created in the 1870’s by the University President, Jonathan Allen. The façade was built from 8,000 different varieties of stone collected from within a three mile radius of the museum and it contained an extraordinary collection included shells, corals, fossils, plants, pottery, glass, American Indian articles, oil paintings, statutory, shoes, basketry, crockery, costumes, ancient and historical implements, relics, rocks and minerals and a flock of stuffed birds.
After the death of President Allen the museum was neglected and started to crumble. In the 1920’s it was an illicit meeting place for lovers. Generations of students dared each other to break into the museum and bring back an artefact as proof. The dilapidation of the building threatened the collection and uncoordinated rescue efforts left artifacts strewn around various departments of the university and other undocumented safe-keeping places in the village.
Between 1953 when the museum was finally closed to the public and 1996 when the building was renovated into a careers development centre, most of the hundreds of thousands of objects had vanished.
There are rumours as to the whereabouts of many of the artefacts. A stone lion apparently sits in a local garden, some coins are safely stored in the attic of an ex-faculty member, a portion of the mollusk collection is in a museum in Philadelphia and two of the oil paintings hang in the Alfred University welcome centre.
Over the next three months I will try to find objects that were stored, stolen, passed on or lost from the Steinheim museum and rather than demand their return, will photograph them in their new context.
I will interview the new owners about how they acquired the object and will collect stories of their time together. Each person will remain anonymous, the idea being not to persecute the new owners but to celebrate and record the subsequent journeys each artefact has managed to travel.
The Steinheim Museum at Alfred University, was an eclectic cabinet of curiosities created in the 1870’s by the University President, Jonathan Allen. The façade was built from 8,000 different varieties of stone collected from within a three mile radius of the museum and it contained an extraordinary collection included shells, corals, fossils, plants, pottery, glass, American Indian articles, oil paintings, statutory, shoes, basketry, crockery, costumes, ancient and historical implements, relics, rocks and minerals and a flock of stuffed birds.
After the death of President Allen the museum was neglected and started to crumble. In the 1920’s it was an illicit meeting place for lovers. Generations of students dared each other to break into the museum and bring back an artefact as proof. The dilapidation of the building threatened the collection and uncoordinated rescue efforts left artifacts strewn around various departments of the university and other undocumented safe-keeping places in the village.
Between 1953 when the museum was finally closed to the public and 1996 when the building was renovated into a careers development centre, most of the hundreds of thousands of objects had vanished.
There are rumours as to the whereabouts of many of the artefacts. A stone lion apparently sits in a local garden, some coins are safely stored in the attic of an ex-faculty member, a portion of the mollusk collection is in a museum in Philadelphia and two of the oil paintings hang in the Alfred University welcome centre.
Over the next three months I will try to find objects that were stored, stolen, passed on or lost from the Steinheim museum and rather than demand their return, will photograph them in their new context.
I will interview the new owners about how they acquired the object and will collect stories of their time together. Each person will remain anonymous, the idea being not to persecute the new owners but to celebrate and record the subsequent journeys each artefact has managed to travel.
2 comments:
Sounds brilliants lenks, I love the thought of the 1920's lovers -do you think any of them are still around?Can't wait to see what you come up with... X
It is really wonderful to see very old couples still in love, holding hands and still sharing life together. I wonder if any couples are still together? X
Post a Comment