Dr. Soanes' Odditorium of Wonders : the 19th century dime museum in a contemporary context
Date
2013
Authors
Edmundson, Jane
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Fine Arts
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Arts, c2013
Abstract
19th century dime museums were a North American phenomenon that flourished in urban
centres from the mid- to late-1800s. Named thusly due to their low admission cost, dime
museums provided democratic entertainment that was promoted to all classes as
affordable and respectable. The resulting facilities were crammed with art, artifacts,
rarities, living human curiosities, theatre performances, menageries, and technological
marvels. The exhibition Dr. Soanes’ Odditorium of Wonders strives to recapture the spirit
and aesthetic of the dime museum to invoke wonder in the viewer and to combine art,
artifacts, and oddities to provoke questions about the boundary between education and
amusement. Both the academic and curatorial texts utilize a mix of methodological
approaches appropriate to museology, art history and cultural history: theoretical research
into historiographical issues concerning theories of display and spectacle; archival
research and discourse analysis of historical documents, and material culture analysis
(including the semiotics of display).
Description
iv, 60 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm
Keywords
Dime museums , Museums -- Philosophy , Museums -- Educational aspects , Museums -- Political aspects , Museums -- Social aspects , Museum exhibits -- Social aspects , Museum exhibitis -- Political aspects , Museum exhibits -- Educational aspects , Dissertations, Academic