Day two- a marathon, not a race!
Our day revolved around travel; both the physical journey of riding a train to Baltimore and a journey through time at the two historic houses we visited. We also got the opportunity to visit the motherland, JHU’s home campus and catch a glimpse of what the Johns Hopkins experience looks like up close and personal.
A group of some of my favorite museum nerds at the JHU campus
Homewood
The Homewood Museum provided a stark contrast to the site we visited yesterday. While Lincoln’s cottage laid relatively bare, choosing instead to promote freedom of movement within its rooms, Homewood dazzles visitors with brightly painted rooms and finery. Despite the cheerful illusion of refined domesticity that the house presents, further interpretation revealed that it was not a happy home. Michelle Fitzgerald, the Curator of Collections for Homewood, graciously gave us a tour of the rooms and provided sobering context for the people who once lived there. As Michelle told us of the domestic violence, oppression, and abuse that had transpired, the feeling of the space changed. Michelle expertly guided us through these complex emotions and shared the challenge she has faced creating a new tour that balances the artistic merit of the house with an honest exploration of the disturbing realities that took place within its walls.
Plaque at Homewood acknowledging the enslaved people who were held in bondage by the Carroll family
Evergreen
Our second site visit was to the extravagantly eclectic Evergreen Museum and Library once home to the Garrett family, for a tour led by Lori Beth Finkelstein. I was especially charmed by the stories of the family’s beloved Boston Terrier, Beans!
During my conversation with Lori Beth, I discovered that we share a love of clever alliteration in program names, and I look forward to seeing what she creates for future events.
Evergreen Museum & Library
Shelving the Empire
Dr. Claire Wintle
We wrapped up our Baltimore adventure back on the Homewood campus for a lecture by Claire Wintle about post–World War II museum storage in England. She introduced the concept of “publicly accessible storage,” which I find both fascinating and slightly disconcerting. I love the idea of offering visitors a more hands-on way to explore collections, but I couldn’t help thinking of recent climate protests—very literally hands-on—that highlight some of the risks of allowing closer contact with collections.
Protesters from the action group Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) with their hands glued to the glass covering Botticelli’s Primavera at Galleria Degli Uffizi. Photograph: Laura Lezza/Getty Images
Our Baltimore excursion was defined by conversations of honoring the “old”, but consciously making space for the “new”. This applied to shifts in institutional focus, efforts to attract new audiences, and changes in the way we approach what has traditionally been kept behind closed doors.
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