Traveling the World through the Mercer County Library System (or at least the Tri-State Area)
When first introducing the library to patrons, one of my favorite things to highlight is our museum pass program. Everyone is always amazed that you can go to quite an extensive list of museums for free! You can thank your local Friends of the Library group for the passes, as they are the main sponsors of the program. Contact your branch library to find out more about their Friends group.
This year, I decided that instead of simply telling patrons how great the museum pass program is, I should experience it for myself. I decided I would take a trip to Philadelphia to get a taste of the museum pass offerings, and have some fun along the way. I ended up reserving passes for two museums: the Museum of the American Revolution and the Mütter Museum.
I had been excited to see the Museum of the American Revolution because the former Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Robert A. M. Stern, designed the building. The building was beautiful. The museum is relatively small, but the grand, circular staircase leading to the exhibits makes the space feel very open and large.
I visited the traveling exhibition “Hamilton Was Here: Rising up in Revolutionary Philadelphia” first. The exhibit featured a full-size cannon replicating the ones used during the American Revolutionary War. The cannon was a “please-touch” exhibit meant to show museum patrons the labor intensive process of loading a cannon. At least six men were needed to carry out all of the tasks. I found the cannon to be especially interesting because of the legend of Molly Pitcher. Stacy F. Roth took on the character of Molly Pitcher at the Friends of the Lawrence Library’s Annual Open House last year and I was captivated by her story. Mary Hays McCauley, more commonly known as Molly Pitcher, is famous for a cannonball going through her dress while she was helping soldiers load a cannon on a very hot day at the 1778 Battle of Monmouth Courthouse. Seeing the cannon, feeling the instruments that would have been used to load the cannon, and literally stepping into the soldiers’ footprints that were painted on the floor, helped bring McCauley’s story alive.
The main exhibit went a step further with life-size, realistic statues dressed in period clothing. Like the cannon, these statues helped put faces to the men and women who helped found this country. Some of the statues depicted battle scenes, but my favorite set-up was of the Native American leaders who were gathered together to determine whether they would support the English or the Colonists in the American Revolutionary War. The statues came to life with voice-over narration, spotlights and a movie in the background that helped depict what it would have been like to listen to these leaders as they made important decisions for their communities.
Some other fun things to see in the main exhibit were a signed copy of Phyllis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects. The book was small, but her impact was huge. The “Liberty Tree” replica in one section of the exhibit is literally huge. According to the Museum of the American Revolution’s website, the tree is “18 feet tall and weighs 2,000 pounds.” The Liberty Tree is meant to represent the gathering places of colonists planning the Revolution, and “an actual piece of the Annapolis (Maryland) Liberty Tree, an ancient Tulip Poplar that sheltered Maryland colonists in 1775 and survived until 1999, is embedded in the replica tree as a touchable element”. There is even a “large-scale reconstruction of an American privateer ship […] constructed by Independence Seaport Museum’s boat-building workshop, Workshop on the Water”. I also enjoyed how an entire wall of the exhibit is devoted to the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. It was fun to see how Mercer County played such an integral role in the American Revolutionary War.
That same day I made a trip over to the Mütter Museum. The sign outside of the Mütter Museum described the museum as “disturbingly informative,” which was intriguing in the way a good thriller captures an audience’s attention. Before I entered the exhibit, a man walked out saying, “that was disturbing,” which only intensified my anticipation of what was to come. I whole-heartedly agreed with the museum’s description of itself, and was surprised by many of the frightening medical oddities. Some of the tamer exhibits included a skeleton showing the damaging effects of corsets, a series of glass eyes that felt as if I had searched for “what’s wrong with my eye?” on the Internet and found all kinds of tumors and extreme ailments, and medicine bottles meant for children which contained very dangerous ingredients like arsenic and opium. For descriptions of some of the more thrilling exhibits, please check out Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia from the recommended reading list. What was even more surprising than the exhibits, however, was at the very moment that I was examining the Hyrtl skull collection, someone was getting married. Yes, the Mütter Museum hosts weddings and other special events in a separate, private wing. A perfect spot for medical practitioners celebrating the unique history and life-or-death situations their profession calls on them to conquer.
These museums were very inspiring, albeit in very different ways. Each of the 19 museums the Mercer County Library System has passes for all have their own unique stories, histories and sources of inspiration. These were certainly worth the trip!
For more information about the museum passes the Mercer County Library System has to offer, please check out these recommended reads:
• Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia
• A Glorious Enterprise: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Making of American Science
• Battleship New Jersey: An Illustrated History
• Silence: A Social History of One of the Least Understood Elements of Our Lives
• Elmwood Park Zoo Available on hoopla
• Grounds for Sculpture and the Seward Johnson Atelier: A synergy of Ideas
• Grounds for Sculpture: A Living Legacy; Intuitive Encounters with Art in Nature
• The Museum of Non-Objective Painting: Hilla Rebay and the Origins of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
• The Original Water-Color Paintings by John James Audubon for The Birds of America, Reproduced in Color for the First Time from the Collection at the New-York Historical Society
• Andrew Wyeth: Temperas, Watercolors, Dry Brush, Drawings, 1938 into 1966; [exhibition] Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, October 5-November 27, 1966; Baltimore Museum of Art, December 11, 1966-January 27, 1967; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6-April 12, 1967; the Art Institute of Chicago, April 21-June 4, 1967.
Photos:
Museum of the American Revolution - Wikipedia
Mutter Museum - Wikimedia
all others - the author
This year, I decided that instead of simply telling patrons how great the museum pass program is, I should experience it for myself. I decided I would take a trip to Philadelphia to get a taste of the museum pass offerings, and have some fun along the way. I ended up reserving passes for two museums: the Museum of the American Revolution and the Mütter Museum.
I had been excited to see the Museum of the American Revolution because the former Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Robert A. M. Stern, designed the building. The building was beautiful. The museum is relatively small, but the grand, circular staircase leading to the exhibits makes the space feel very open and large.
2018 Friends of the Lawrence Library’s Annual Open House. “Molly Pitcher” is an image of Stacy F. Roth dressed as Molly Pitcher. “Cannonball” is an image of the cannonball Ms. Roth brought with her, and “Loading the cannon” is an image of Ms. Roth explaining how a cannon was loaded during the American Revolutionary War.
I visited the traveling exhibition “Hamilton Was Here: Rising up in Revolutionary Philadelphia” first. The exhibit featured a full-size cannon replicating the ones used during the American Revolutionary War. The cannon was a “please-touch” exhibit meant to show museum patrons the labor intensive process of loading a cannon. At least six men were needed to carry out all of the tasks. I found the cannon to be especially interesting because of the legend of Molly Pitcher. Stacy F. Roth took on the character of Molly Pitcher at the Friends of the Lawrence Library’s Annual Open House last year and I was captivated by her story. Mary Hays McCauley, more commonly known as Molly Pitcher, is famous for a cannonball going through her dress while she was helping soldiers load a cannon on a very hot day at the 1778 Battle of Monmouth Courthouse. Seeing the cannon, feeling the instruments that would have been used to load the cannon, and literally stepping into the soldiers’ footprints that were painted on the floor, helped bring McCauley’s story alive.
The main exhibit went a step further with life-size, realistic statues dressed in period clothing. Like the cannon, these statues helped put faces to the men and women who helped found this country. Some of the statues depicted battle scenes, but my favorite set-up was of the Native American leaders who were gathered together to determine whether they would support the English or the Colonists in the American Revolutionary War. The statues came to life with voice-over narration, spotlights and a movie in the background that helped depict what it would have been like to listen to these leaders as they made important decisions for their communities.
Some other fun things to see in the main exhibit were a signed copy of Phyllis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects. The book was small, but her impact was huge. The “Liberty Tree” replica in one section of the exhibit is literally huge. According to the Museum of the American Revolution’s website, the tree is “18 feet tall and weighs 2,000 pounds.” The Liberty Tree is meant to represent the gathering places of colonists planning the Revolution, and “an actual piece of the Annapolis (Maryland) Liberty Tree, an ancient Tulip Poplar that sheltered Maryland colonists in 1775 and survived until 1999, is embedded in the replica tree as a touchable element”. There is even a “large-scale reconstruction of an American privateer ship […] constructed by Independence Seaport Museum’s boat-building workshop, Workshop on the Water”. I also enjoyed how an entire wall of the exhibit is devoted to the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. It was fun to see how Mercer County played such an integral role in the American Revolutionary War.
That same day I made a trip over to the Mütter Museum. The sign outside of the Mütter Museum described the museum as “disturbingly informative,” which was intriguing in the way a good thriller captures an audience’s attention. Before I entered the exhibit, a man walked out saying, “that was disturbing,” which only intensified my anticipation of what was to come. I whole-heartedly agreed with the museum’s description of itself, and was surprised by many of the frightening medical oddities. Some of the tamer exhibits included a skeleton showing the damaging effects of corsets, a series of glass eyes that felt as if I had searched for “what’s wrong with my eye?” on the Internet and found all kinds of tumors and extreme ailments, and medicine bottles meant for children which contained very dangerous ingredients like arsenic and opium. For descriptions of some of the more thrilling exhibits, please check out Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia from the recommended reading list. What was even more surprising than the exhibits, however, was at the very moment that I was examining the Hyrtl skull collection, someone was getting married. Yes, the Mütter Museum hosts weddings and other special events in a separate, private wing. A perfect spot for medical practitioners celebrating the unique history and life-or-death situations their profession calls on them to conquer.
These museums were very inspiring, albeit in very different ways. Each of the 19 museums the Mercer County Library System has passes for all have their own unique stories, histories and sources of inspiration. These were certainly worth the trip!
For more information about the museum passes the Mercer County Library System has to offer, please check out these recommended reads:
• Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia
• A Glorious Enterprise: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Making of American Science
• Battleship New Jersey: An Illustrated History
• Silence: A Social History of One of the Least Understood Elements of Our Lives
• Elmwood Park Zoo Available on hoopla
• Grounds for Sculpture and the Seward Johnson Atelier: A synergy of Ideas
• Grounds for Sculpture: A Living Legacy; Intuitive Encounters with Art in Nature
• The Museum of Non-Objective Painting: Hilla Rebay and the Origins of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
• The Original Water-Color Paintings by John James Audubon for The Birds of America, Reproduced in Color for the First Time from the Collection at the New-York Historical Society
• Andrew Wyeth: Temperas, Watercolors, Dry Brush, Drawings, 1938 into 1966; [exhibition] Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, October 5-November 27, 1966; Baltimore Museum of Art, December 11, 1966-January 27, 1967; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 6-April 12, 1967; the Art Institute of Chicago, April 21-June 4, 1967.
- Julia C., Lawrence Headquarters Branch
Photos:
Museum of the American Revolution - Wikipedia
Mutter Museum - Wikimedia
all others - the author
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