The Skinner Museum

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2007 PAGE 1

rediscovering…

the skinner museum Welcome to the Skinner Museum! Take a fresh look at an old museum – use the collections at the Skinner Museum in your teaching! Artifacts are powerful teaching tools. Tangible objects can help your students connect with subject matter in an immediate and thought-provoking way. With such a diverse array of material culture, the Skinner Museum is an ideal place for examining the stuff of history. This booklet was designed as a guide for faculty by graduate students in the UMass Public History program. Within it, we will present examples of ways material artifacts can be integrated into your classroom. This “tool kit” is arranged both by subject matter and by theme, but we encourage you to explore beyond the boundaries of your discipline. Adapt and manipulate this content to work for you and your students.

HOURS CONTACT INFO 2pm-5pm Meghan Gelardi Wednesday & Sunday Skinner Museum Collections Manager May - October Email: mgelardi@mtholyoke.edu

Mount Holyoke College Art Museum Lower Lake Road South Hadley, MA 01075-1499 (413)538-2245 fax (413)538-2144

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction to Museum 2 Anthropology 3-4 Art History 5-6 English & 7-10 Creative Writing Environmental Science 11 History 12-13 Source Materials 14 Credits 15

An Introduction to the Museum

PAGE 2 The Joseph Allen Skinner Museum is located only a few blocks north of the Mount Holyoke campus. The collections are housed in the former First Congregational Church of Prescott, which Joseph Skinner moved to South Hadley before the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. The museum consists of an eclectic and wide-ranging collection, including early American material culture, souvenirs from around the world, and natural history specimens. A suit of armor stands next to a case of pewter. Colorful minerals and shells share shelf space with Native American pottery. Eighteenth century documents and large deer heads grace the walls. Mr. Skinner, a local silk manufacturer and philanthropist, opened the Skinner Museum in 1932. He displayed his personal collection of artifacts amassed from both trips abroad and throughout New England. Today, the Skinner Museum retains its original layout. The museum is a “Cabinet of Curiosities,” harkening back to nineteenth-century concepts of what museums represented. The Skinner Museum is a valuable teaching resource - both the items housed within, and as an artifact in its own right.

Anthropology

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Course Theme/Project Theme: The Anthropology of Native American Material Culture & the Implications of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Use the stretched buffalo robe and the pottery to talk about Native American material culture, specifically how it relates to NAGPRA and its implications for American museums. Begin by covering up some of the object labels and have students try to identify what the objects are and what they might be used for. In more advanced classes, have students identify the culture or region from which these artifacts originated. Then, have students think about what sort of problems they might face after identifying the items. Are they subject to NAGPRA? Are they sacred or religious objects? Under NAGPRA, what would be the ethical thing to do with such artifacts? Talk about some of the other nation-wide ethical dilemmas surrounding NAGPRA legislation. For example, what are some of the implications of the NAGPRA legislation in terms of repatriated items potentially ending up on the open market? How can museums and Native American groups work to together to best preserve artifacts, while at the same time treating them in a way that is respectful of the culture from which they came? Objects: Stone tools, including celts, scrapers, hammer stones, and axe-heads; a Chippewa buffalo robe, made for the tourist trade; Pueblo pottery; arrowheads from the East and the South Themes: Introduction to Anthropology; Issues in Anthropology: Native American Material Culture; Development of Anthropological Thought Further Reading: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA): http://www.nps.gov/history/nagpra/INDEX.HTM

Anthropology Continued…

PAGE 4 In-Class Discussion Theme: Cultural Values and Museum Display The Skinner Museum has largely retained its original 1930s floor plan and display. Have students think about the way the museum is laid out, and how the non-western artifacts are displayed. For example, the Native American and Mexican pottery are displayed on the opposite side of the museum from the European and American china. What, if anything, do the students think the arrangement of objects within the museum reveals about the cultural assumptions made by Joseph Skinner? Does this sort of museum plan hold true in other museums? Can the students think of any examples? What other ways could these items be displayed? Objects: Mexican and Native American pottery; European and American china, including examples of Wedgwood, Spode, and Ridgway Themes: Introduction to Anthropology; Development of Anthropological Thought

Art History

PAGE 5 Project Theme: Native American Material Culture Students will select one Native American object from the collections of the Skinner Museum. They will research the culture from which it came and describe its function within its original context. Was this an object of ceremony, luxury, or utility? How did the object's maker view this object? How did its user view it? For the second half of this paper, students will write a speculative response that examines the object's context within the museum, both physically and symbolically. Why did it appeal to the original collector, and how do today’s museum visitors perceive it? Objects: Native American collections, including pottery, baskets, stone tools, clothing, and accessories Themes: Native American Material Culture and Art Project Theme: The Iconography of America Students will examine examples of Christian iconography in the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum and portraits of George Washington in the Skinner Museum. They will then write a paper comparing and contrasting styles used in religious iconography, as seen in paintings at the Art Museum, with portraits of George Washington from the Skinner Museum. In this paper, they will incorporate research on the history of George Washington, and on the role of religious iconography in American politics, into their aesthetic critiques. They will examine the broader role that George Washington's image played in American culture during the early 19th century. Objects: Examples of religious iconography in the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, including sculpture and paintings of the Virgin Mary, Byzantine and Renaissance depictions of Christ, and images of Christian saints; portraits and commemoratives of George Washington in the Skinner Museum Themes: American Art, Religious Iconography Further Reading: Hay, Robert P. “George Washington: American Moses.” American Quarterly 21 (1969): 780-791.

Art History Continued…

PAGE 6 Course Theme: Objects of Art, Objects of Utility This course will use the collections of the Skinner Museum and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum to explore definitions of art and the culture of connoisseurship and collecting. Students will develop non-traditional ways of looking at and thinking about art and objects as material expressions of American social, political, and cultural ideas. We will examine modes of thinking about museum objects from a number of viewpoints, including maker, user, collector, and viewer. Other questions asked in this course may include, what makes something a luxury item? What makes something a utilitarian item? Where does artistry intersect with utility? What is the role of craftsmanship along this continuum? Objects: Four paintings by Erastus Salisbury Field; ceramic and pewter plates; Native American pottery; early American chairs; hand tools, including augers, bores, and planes; agricultural equipment, including yokes and scythes In-Class Discussion Theme: The Wooden Bowl Joseph Skinner collected a wide variety of objects over his lifetime. He devoted a significant portion of his museum to the display of domestic objects from the colonial period. Look at this wooden bowl. If you could use only one word to describe this bowl, what would it be? If you were creating your own museum collection, would this bowl be part of your collection? Why or why not? What do you think Skinner saw in this object that made it worth adding to this collection? What makes this bowl special? Why is such a simple item displayed in a museum? Do you think our every day objects will be part of museums in the future? Why or why not? Objects: Wooden Bowl Themes: Connoisseurship, American Art, Material Culture, Art and Cultural Politics

English and Creative Writing

PAGE 7 Project Theme: Creative Writing in the Skinner Museum The collections at the Skinner Museum consist of nearly 7,000 objects. Ask your students to breathe life into an inanimate object by writing a poem or narrative from the object’s perspective. Contemplate the original function of the object in question and explore what it saw and experienced in its original state. Then ask yourself how this object would feel about its use today, languishing in a museum as an object of curiosity. Objects: Any object will do, but examples include: a dinner plate, the doll carriage, a gun, the dinosaur footprint, or the chandelier.

English and Creative Writing Continued…

PAGE 8 Course Theme: The History of Books and Connoisseurship in Late 19th and Early 20th Century America Joseph Skinner was a collector of cultural artifacts long before opening the Skinner Museum to the public in 1932. While it is certain that the Skinner Museum speaks volumes about the time of its creation in the 20th century, Skinner was very much a product of the 19th century, having graduated from Yale in the early 1880s. One essential group of objects that every gentleman of Skinner's stature would have was a collection of books. This course will explore what it meant to have a gentleman's library, what texts would constitute such a library, and how the library and material culture objects in Skinner's collection relate to the concept of cultural capital within society at the turn of the 20th century. More broadly, we will use the Skinner Museum to explore the history of books and connoisseurship as a whole, and themes within late 19th and early 20th century literature which are manifested through the collections of the Skinner Museum. Example: Skinner has a two-volume set of the Penny Magazine. The significance of the Penny Magazine is that it was the first popular attempt to bring art education to the public. With this in mind, explore why the Penny Magazine would have a place on the bookshelves in Joseph Skinner’s library. Objects: Books, including religious tracts and collected sermons, travel narratives, and volumes of local history and culture Themes: 19th Century Literature, 20th Century Literature, Book History, Material Culture, Connoisseurship and Collections Further Reading: Anderson, Patricia. “Pictures for the People: Knight's "Penny Magazine", an Early Venture into Popular Art Education,” Studies in Art Education, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Spring, 1987), pp. 133-140.

English and Creative Writing Continued...

PAGE 9 In-Class Discussion Theme: Imagine Yourself as an Early 20th Century Female Visitor to the Skinner Museum Think about the context in which Joseph Skinner created the Skinner Museum and how he felt the museum would educate women in particular. Keep in mind that during the 1930s, before the advent of television and the mass media, there were few forms of entertainment and even fewer educational resources available to women or the public at large. Write a paper from the perspective of an early 20th century woman. Explore how the Skinner Museum would benefit you as a student of Mount Holyoke College or as a female member of the community. Ask your early 20th century self how you would feel looking at items such as a piece of the Great Pyramid of Giza or a collection of early American artifacts and how you would situate yourself within this history, especially in light of the social and scientific revolutions taking place around you. As society is a reflection of self, what does this collection say about you as an individual? Keep in mind your social and economic background as either a female student in a private university or as a member of the South Hadley community. Objects: The entire Skinner Museum, as a curiosity cabinet; particular sections of the collection, including natural history specimens and souvenir items from abroad Themes: Cultural Identity, Identity of Self, Women’s History, American Education, Industrial Revolution, Darwin and the Scientific Revolution In Class Discussion Theme: Skinner Museum Review The Skinner Museum, and its collections, are a time capsule. Write a review of the Skinner Museum that includes both description and analysis of the site. After touring the collection, consider the museum’s personal, cultural, and social importance then ask yourself if you agree with the site’s interpretation. Why or why not? If you disagree, offer alternatives to the current interpretation of the site and its collections. Be sure to engage museum staff or visitors if you feel the need to do so. Further Reading: - Museum reviews: local newspapers; The New Yorker; Museum News - Ames, Kenneth, Barbara Franco, and L. Thomas Fry, eds. Ideas and Images: Developing Interpretive History Exhibits. Nashville: AASLH, 1992. - Belcher, Michael. Exhibitions in Museums. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1992.

English and Creative Writing Continued…

PAGE 10 In Class Discussion Theme: Course Specific Exercise, The Victorian Era Joseph Skinner was clearly influenced by Victorian-era culture. Find items of the Victorian era at the Skinner Museum. Consider the Arts and Crafts movement. Look at objects within the museum which reflect this movement. When Queen Victoria took the throne in England, English society was primarily agrarian. By the time of her death in 1903, the Industrial Revolution had radically changed the landscape. The Skinner Museum has several groups of objects which speak to pre-industrial society and the early industrial innovations in work and leisure. Explore how these objects can be the basis for reading the Victorian era in innovative ways. Objects: Kerosene and gaslight lamps; stuffed birds; watch collection Themes: Victorian Social History and Material Culture Further Reading: Victorian Era Website: http://www.victorianweb.org/index.html

The Environmental Sciences

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Project Theme: Mineralogy The Skinner Museum houses a large collection of rock and mineral specimens, both local and exotic. Have students examine the various specimens in the museum’s collection. Joseph Skinner intended these specimens to be used as educational tools for the general public, as well as Mount Holyoke College students. Students will then describe the properties of various minerals as if they were writing an object label. Terminology should be appropriate for individuals who may have no prior knowledge. Students will then observe and describe the arrangement of specimens, specifically noting patterns and mineral groups. In their opinion, is Skinner’s exhibit successful, or would they arrange the minerals in a different way? Objects: The mineral collection, including examples of quartz, agate, calcite, flint, and granite In-Class Discussion Theme: Women and the Environment Joseph Skinner’s collection includes many material culture objects related to women’s work. Many of the artifacts in the collection are agricultural in nature. How does this fit with the large collection of weapons, also on display at the Skinner Museum? Have students think contextually about the purpose of Mr. Skinner’s exhibit. What was the rationale behind a weapons display, specifically in a museum whose audience is largely made up of female students? Is this a contradiction? Objects: Weapons, including rifles and spears; farm implements, including yokes, scythes, butter-making equipment, and maple sugaring tools

History

PAGE 12 Project Theme: Moving from a Barter Economy to a Cash Economy For the first part of this project, students will examine early American account books in the Skinner Museum collections to see how the rural economies in New England functioned, paying particular attention to the types of goods and services being traded over time. Using secondary sources, they will put their findings into the larger context of the Industrial Revolution and the wider shift from a bartering economy to a cash economy. Finally, students will go back to the Skinner Museum collections, and pick one object which they feel played a role in the bartering economy and one object which played a role in the cash economy. They will then write analyses of the objects’ roles, based on their findings in both the account books and the secondary literature.

Objects: Early 19th century account books from South Hadley and environs; spinning wheels; Themes: History of Industrialization; Economic History Course Theme: The Cabinet of Curiosities and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism This course explores the significance of imperialism in the history of the United States as seen through the lens of the collections in the Skinner Museum. How have different forms and phases of empire shaped the development of the nation and its relation to the world at large? How have they shaped and been shaped by racialized and gendered power relations within the United States? How was the late 19th century passion for collecting scientific, archaeological, and anthropological objects a manifestation of the imperialist paradigm? Topics may include: continental expansion; the United States' rise to world power; military, economic, cultural, and political tools of empire; U.S. anti-imperialist activism; and the local politics of imperialism in lands targeted for control or acquisition by the United States. This course will include a deep engagement with the objects of material culture contained in the Skinner Museum. Other questions pertaining to the Skinner Museum collections may include: What role did trade play in bringing these objects together? What does the context in which these objects are displayed tell you about American attitudes towards non-white and non-American cultures during the early 20th century? How is gender represented in this museum? What does the context in which these objects are displayed tell you about how gender was viewed during this period? Objects: Opium pipe; tapa cloth and stick; South Sea Islands fishing spear; African hunting spear; collection of souvenir stones/architectural fragments (i.e. Parthenon, Pyramids) Themes: Imperialism, Victorian Culture and Society

History Continued…

PAGE 13 In-Class Discussion Theme: The Two-person Bicycle

Though the bicycle was originally invented in 1790 by Frenchman M. de Sivac, the size and shape of the bicycle was not perfected until the mid-19th century. At this point, however, the bicycle grew quickly in popularity, finding a use as both an instrument of utility and leisure. This two-person bicycle is most likely from that period of initial popularity. Looking at the bicycle, who do you think it was built for? Do you think this particular bicycle was used for leisure or utility? Why?

In 1896 Susan B. Anthony, a prominent American civil and women’s rights leader commented on this new means of transportation saying, “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in this world.” For this exercise, have students imagine themselves as women in the 19th century, in an era preceding the car, when walking and horse-drawn carriages were the only methods of transportation. How would the invention of the bicycle have changed their lives? Lead students in a discussion about the ways in which bicycles may have contributed to the women’s rights movement. Sample topics that directly pertain to women’s use of the bicycle: freedom to travel without a male companion; dress reform (the restrictive clothing of the Victorian era, including long, heavy skirts, corsets, hooped dresses, and high-collared shirts were replaced by bloomers and more practical attire); and sexual equality. Object: Two-person bicycle Themes: Women's Studies, Women's History, History of Industrialization Further Reading: Strange, Lisa S. and Robert S. Brown. “The Bicycle, Women's Rights, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.” Women's Studies 31 (2002): 609-626.

Further Reading

PAGE 14 Included here are additional readings which may be of interest to educators wishing to know more about how to use material culture objects in their classrooms, as well readings for those who would like to know more about cultural context of the Skinner Museum. Using Material Culture in Education Appadurai, Arjun, ed. The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Daston, Lorraine, ed. Things that Talk: Object Lessons from Art and Science. New York: Zone Books, 2004. Kingery, W. David, ed. Learning from Things: Method and Theory of Material Culture Studies. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999. Schlereth, Thomas, ed. Material Culture: A Research Guide. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1985. Museums in Society Ames, Kenneth, Barbara Franco, and L. Thomas Fry, eds. Ideas and Images: Developing Interpretive History Exhibits. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1992. Anderson, Patricia. “Pictures for the People: Knight's "Penny Magazine", an Early Venture into Popular Art Education,” Studies in Art Education, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Spring, 1987), pp. 133-140. Belcher, Michael. Exhibitions in Museums. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1992. Elsner, John and Roger Cardinal, eds. The Culture of Collecting. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994. Kohlstedt, Sally Gregory. “Curiosities and Cabinets: Natural History Museums and Education in the Antebellum Campus.” Isis, Vol 79, No. 3, A Special Issue on Artifact and Experiment. (Sep., 1988): 405-426. Kaplan, Wendy, ed. Designing Modernity: The Arts of Persuasion, 1885-1945. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995. Websites: Victorian Era Website: http://www.victorianweb.org/index.html Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA): http://www.nps.gov/history/nagpra/INDEX.HTM

Credits

PAGE 15 This resource came out of a collaboration between the Joseph Allen Skinner Museum and the UMass-Amherst Public History program during the fall semester of 2007. As part of their Public History Field Service project, Kate Freedman, Cheryl Harned, and Kristin Lailey worked with staff at the Skinner Museum to create this faculty packet. A special thanks to Meghan Gelardi, Skinner Museum Collections Manager and Field Service project liaison, for all her valuable time and effort. The errors are all ours.

Content: Kate Freedman, Cheryl Harned, Kristin Lailey Layout: Kate Freedman and Cheryl Harned, with the help of Kristin Lailey Design: Cheryl Harned, with the help of Kate Freedman and Kristin Lailey Photo of Joseph Skinner on Elephant (p. 2): Courtesy of Wistariahurst Museum Photos of the Skinner Museum: Cheryl Harned, with the exception of the Buffalo Robe (p. 3), which was taken by Kristin Lailey.