Philly Voice: Mütter Museum asks the public to weigh in on ethical battle over displaying human remains. “Philadelphia’s shrine to unusual medical history is in the midst of a culture war between devoted supporters and change-minded leaders who want to review the site’s practices.”
BBC: How will museums of tomorrow tell the Covid pandemic story?. “Covid’s arrival in early 2020 threw organisations and businesses into turmoil. But while most workers grappled with furlough, social distancing and working from home, a small band of museum officers sensed history was in the making. This is one museum service’s story of trying to collect items in real-time to capture the pandemic story for future generations.”
BBC: Bovington: Tank museum videos become global social media hit. “A museum tucked away in rural Dorset has described how tank enthusiasts from around the world have made it an unlikely YouTube success. The Tank Museum in Bovington has more than 100 million views on its channel. This means it reaches a greater audience on the video sharing platform than the likes of the Louvre in Paris and the Met in New York.”
New-to-me — an online mayonnaise museum you can visit virtually. “If you won’t be exploring Japan anytime soon, interactive MayoTerrace online museum tours can be reserved for free and are conducted over Zoom. You’re sure to get some brilliant mayo-centric ideas for your next meal, and might even be inspired to make a permanent home for Kewpie Mayo in your pantry.”
Philadelphia Inquirer: The Mütter Museum launches new collections database, without images of human remains like Einstein’s brain. “The Mütter Museum has launched a new searchable online database of its collection of historical medical equipment and anatomical specimens that will be free to researchers and the public alike. The new database contains more than 20,000 records and photographs, including 5,100 high-resolution photos not previously available. Missing from the database, however, are images of the collection displaying human remains…”
BBC: Auctioneer exposed by BBC admits illegally selling rare ancient coins. “A British auctioneer who was at the centre of a BBC investigation has pleaded guilty at a New York court to a series of charges in connection with unlawful sales of rare ancient coins. Richard Beale, director of London-based auction house Roma Numismatics, admitted two counts of conspiracy and three counts of criminal possession of stolen property, court documents show.”
BBC: British Museum recovers some of 2,000 stolen items. “About 2,000 treasures are thought to have been stolen from the British Museum, but recovery has begun of some of them, chairman George Osborne has said. The ex-chancellor accepted the museum’s reputation has suffered but said ‘it is a mess we are going to clear up’.”
The Feminist Institute: Preserving the International Museum of Women. “Our previous blog post highlighted the history of IMOW and its multiple digital exhibition initiatives. In this project feature, we’ll discuss our approach to capturing this born-digital resource and considerations to take when preserving digital projects that have reached obsolescence.”
Washington Post: Revealing The Smithsonian’s ‘Racial Brain Collection’. “The vast majority of the remains appear to have been gathered without consent from the individuals or their families, by researchers preying on people who were hospitalized, poor, or lacked immediate relatives to identify or bury them. In other cases, collectors, anthropologists and scientists dug up burial grounds and looted graves. The Natural History Museum has lagged in its efforts to return the vast majority of the remains in its possession to descendants or cultural heirs, The Post’s investigation found. Of at least 268 brains collected by the museum, officials have repatriated only four.”
Axios: Fortnite is getting an unofficial Holocaust museum . “The virtual building, called the Voices of the Forgotten Museum, will let players walk its halls to read plaques describing the genocide against Jews in Nazi Germany and see photos of Jewish resistance fighters and heroic individuals who sheltered Jews. While Fortnite is typically used as a cartoony multiplayer competitive shooting game, visitors to the Museum, which will be offered as a separate, peaceful experience, will not be able to play the game inside it.”
GeekWire: Paul Allen estate donates thousands of rare music, film and sci-fi artifacts to Seattle’s MoPOP. “Thousands of one-of-a-kind artifacts from Paul Allen’s collection, spanning decades of cultural relevance, are headed to Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture, the institution he helped found 23 years ago. The bequest by the estate of the late Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist comes just under five years since his death in October 2018 at the age of 65.”
South Carolina State Museum: South Carolina State Museum Launches its First-Ever Online Collection Database . “The South Carolina State Museum’s art collection is now available to explore online allowing educators, students, researchers and others to explore portions of the museum’s collection digitally for the first time. The art collection features more than 4,500 pieces of fine and folk art, historic and modern pottery and ceramics, sculptures, contemporary works, and even topiaries.”
ABC News: Italy wants to put Italians in top museum jobs. The chief of Milan’s Brera hopes to leave his mark. “The British-Canadian director of Milan’s Brera Gallery was hired in 2015 after the Italian government launched reforms that for the first time brought in foreign museum directors. His eight-year tenure is ending as Premier Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing administration seeks to again reserve top cultural jobs for Italians.”
The Wrap: ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ Costumes Highlight Slew of Film Academy Museum Acquisitions. “Included among the additions are costumes from the most recent Best Picture Oscar winner ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’; more than 600 rare silent film posters; personal film collections and film-related materials from producer Gale Anne Hurd, director Harold Ramis, filmmaker Gregg Araki and film scholar Kevin Brownlow; conceptual art for ‘E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial’; and more than 150 hand-painted animation artworks dating back to 1932, donated by Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw.”
Northern Times: Historic objects open up stories for new Highland museum platform. “A new website provides a platform for people to learn about everything from archaeology and ancient stones, clans and Jacobites, the impact of world wars and everyday life to complex colonial histories alongside stories of historic Highlands people. The learning hub, known as Museum of the Highlands, centres around an interactive timeline, allowing users to discover over 350 objects from 3 billion BC to the present day.”
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