Project #1:4 Response: Site Visit - The Hubbard Collection and Cazenovia Public Library's "Wunderkammern"
Response #1:4
A visit to Cazenovia Public Library's collection
Site Visit date: 02.15.19
Response due date: 02.25.19
Prior to our trip, please link to the Library's website for information listed on the web.
Formulate two questions of interest you want to learn about the collection, insert them into your response writing.
Links:
Your response should direct information to the reader about:
- How old is the museum / how it began / individuals involved?
- Is it a public or private institution? Does it receive Federal/State funding and what kind?
- Different titles of current individuals who work directly with the museum and gallery paid employees / unpaid
- The institution's Mission Statement and the exciting advancements they have made in the last 5 years
- What are a few feasible advances they are planning for and hope to materialize in the next five years?
- Do you foresee any issues that may become problematic in the future? Example: Size, security, stewards of the collections, physical structure / glass, collections archive, etc.?
- Compare the Wunderkammern collection and philosophy to that of the Museum gallery collection
- Description of a favorite artifact and why
Your written response also needs to connect with information related to in Colin Dickey's article lower regarding the "extinction" of these types of museums
Our Guide:
Elisha Davies
Assistant Gallery Director
Cazenovia Public Library
Edavies@midyork.org
315-655-9322
FYI
Student Responses:
Our first trip as a group truly set the tone for the course and our visit to the Cazenovia Public Library was both inspiring and enlightening. Using perspectives from both our guide Elisha Davies as she guided us around the museum and from the article by Colin Dickey we read after, I was able to comprehend the past, grasp the present and predict the future of the Hubbard Collection.
The Library was first opened in 1828 by wealthy and philanthropic merchant John Williams but it was not until 1886, according to Davies, that the Library came to Albany Street. In 1890, John Williams’ Greek Revival home was placed on the market and purchased by Robert Hubbard to house the growing collection of books and artifacts started by Williams, but many of which came from Hubbard himself and were acquired purposefully for the library during his 1894 Grand Tour (Dickey; “Museum”). According to Davies, the Library and attached Hubbard Collection are privately owned but open to the public.
As such, Davies stated that the Library receives the bulk of its budget through donations and not through Federal or State funding, but that the Hubbard Collection has received a few grants in the past for the care and maintenance of its collection. The Library and Hubbard Collection has several full-time and paid staff members including Elisha Davies whose official title is Assistant Gallery Director. Other staff members include Pat Hill and Julia Shotzberger who are paid Museum Educators; Betsy Kennedy who is the paid Library Director; and a rotating cast of interns both paid and unpaid including former Cazenovia student Julia Wiseman (Dickey; “Museum”).
The mission statement as listed on the website for both the Library and Museum is “[The] Cazenovia Public Library strengthens community by: engaging our history, connecting people, inspiring lifelong learning, transforming lives” (“Museum”). Davies was thrilled to tell us about how, in the last few years, some advances to the Museum have been made: for example, some windows were installed with UV-resistant coating -- but most notably the past of Hen the mummy has been explored through CAT scans at the Crouse Hospital (“Museum”). Birds from the taxidermy collection have also gone on loan to other museums and collections to further the spread of knowledge.
Davies was hopeful that moving into the future the Museum and the Hubbard Collection would continue with educational programs for all ages, that new exhibits would continue (like the recent Fashion Takes Flight in Cazenovia), that donor funding would increase and stabilize to add more structural stability to the Museum including the addition of more UV safe windows and expansion of the storage space, and that the Museum would have more interns. Personally, I believe these are all achievable and vital goals because the issues I foresee involve the monetary and physical future of the Collection.
I personally was most concerned by the fact that all of the windows had not been treated to preserve the objects in the collection and given the nature of some of the pieces in the Museum, it is a very real possibility that items could be irreparably damaged by their display conditions. I was also shocked by the fact that they did not have a conservator on staff, which is both an issue and an area I would hope to see changed in the future. Reading Colin Dickey’s article on small natural history collections and remembering Holland Cotter's words on the closing of the Rose Art Museum, it seems to me that the future of museums hangs delicately. It is imperative that institutions like the Cazenovia Public Library know when to modernize, how to learn from museums in the communities around them, and become integral aspects of the small towns they exist in -- but I am hopeful that with such a knowledgeable staff and incredible collection, the Museum will survive (Dickey).
The Wunderkammer is a critical part of the Library’s future, and I believe that the utilization of its philosophy which emphasizes visitor exploration of a diverse range of “notable and unique items from our natural history, geological and ethnographic collections” (“Museum”). The cabinet is the particular focus of the “engaging our history” aspect of the Museum’s mission statement. Bearing these philosophies in mind, I believe that my favorite artifact on display is the mammoth molar inside the Wunderkammer. It is so simple and yet so universal -- teeth are a fundamental part of all life, past, and present. Aesthetically, I loved its organic form and ripples. Academically, according to Dickey, it might be an artifact I may never be able to find again in a small natural history collection. Viewing the molar as a touchpoint for the entire Museum and Library, local collections and history has never been more in need of our aid and never more crucial to the future.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hubbard Collection has been a part of the community of Cazenovia for over one hundred years. The founder of this collection Robert Hubbard opened the library and his collection to the public in 1890. He stored his collections in the in the attic space of the building allowing the space to serve as Cazenovia’s historical society and “ community attic.” Today the museum is a public institution where visitors can visit the gallery and exhibits free of charge. The museum is founded at both a local and state level, allowing for such free public access. Personal monetary donations are accepted, and while donations to the museum’s collection are accepted, all items must be approved by the board of trusties.
The Board of Trustees are the head of the museum and hold public meetings every fourth Monday of the month. Members of the board do not receive payment for their service as they are choosing to volunteer their time and resources to the organization. However, the museum does have three paid positions which are the director, assistant director, and the museum educators. Currently, the director’s position is held by Betsy Kennedy, the assistant director’s position is held by Elisha Davies, and the current museum educators are Pat Hill and Julia Shotzenberger. They are responsible for educating the public on the collections and local history of Cazenovia. Over the past five years, they have added new items to the collection such as paintings of local scenery done by artist William Boardman, as well as a two hundred year old grandfather clock made in Cazenovia. In addition to expanding the collection, they have acquired more information regarding the mummy Hen collected by Robert Hubbard in 1894.
One of the newest more interactive features to come to the museum is the Cabinet of Curiosities which stores items collected by Robert Hubbard. Its interactive drawers and information guide allow viewers to first use their imaginations as to what these mysterious objects could be. The cabinet holds a variety of objects such as a wooly mammoth’s tooth, to beaded works of art from native tribes of the area. Like the Wunderkammern collection, it features curiosities from all over the globe, however, this exhibit still holds true the Cazenovia Libraries museum policy of local history. Each item relates to or was collected by locals of Cazenovia, whereas Wunderkammern focused on rare oddities from all over the globe not relating to a specific regional area.
The cabinet exhibit has allowed the museum to showcase more items from their collections and open up more space in their attic storage space. However, with the age of declutterazation, more donations are being made to the museum, and there is simply not enough space to keep adding additional items. With limited exhibition and storage space, it will be harder to keep items in the library overall permanent collection. Due to this, many of the future projects the library is trying to accomplish are geared to furthering the overall preservation of the collections, and improving how the items are displayed. With further research being conducted on Hen the Mummy, the museum is trying to find more interactive ways of conveying the new information they have obtained about Hen’s health.
While Hen may receive most of the attention, my favorite artifact within the Hubbard collection was the passenger pigeon displayed in the room next to Hen’s. It is rare to see a well preserved extinct animal species, and I feel it serves as a reminder to what overhunting and loss of habitat can do to a local species. I do wish, however, that they would have moved the pigeon out near the feather fashion exhibit, where it could be better viewed. The museum's mission statement is, “ Cazenovia Public Library strengthens the community by engaging our history, connecting people, inspiring lifelong learning, and transforming lives.” After our classroom visit to this museum, I can verify that they are staying true to their mission statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cazenovia’s first library opened in 1828, some 35 years after the town’s founding in a region that had been Iroquois Indian territory. A merchant named John Williams established a circulating library in his general store on what is now Albany street. In 1886, the Cazenovia Library Society was created and the organization was similar in nature to the companies that established and maintained libraries. John Williams’ 1830 Greek Revival house, that was located down the street from his store, was purchased in 1890 by a Cazenovia benefactor, Robert J. Hubbard.
The building was donated to the Society in November of 1890, the Library was open to the public and was fitted with shelves and bookcases. The circulation room, stacks, and reading rooms were set up on the building’s ground floor, while an upstairs room was specifically reserved for natural history specimens, objects of local interest and a collection of Egyptian artifacts. Among these artifacts were a complete mummy and its case, purchased by Hubbard in Egypt on his 1894 Grand Tour. The Williams' house had comprised the community library’s complete collection until 1996 when a modern, two-story structure was attached to serve as the main working building. The Cazenovia Public Library continues to acquire a number of various collections through donations. Also, with the help of a Museum Committee, comprised of local professionals, these collections have been curated into various exhibits on display for everyone in the community to see.
The library receives money through donations and grants, there are the staff and board of trustees who run everything and approve what goes into the museum. In addition, the Cazenovia Library’s mission is to promote culture throughout the community and get more people involved. In the next five years, the library plans to expand the exploration on findings of the mummy they possess as well as expand their collections. However, many museums like this are starting to vanish because they cannot get enough state funds and they do not get the attention that they once did. Without funds, there is no money to expand and thus, some small museums are starting to run out of space and they will probably not have the funds in order to expand.
The Wunderkammer collection and philosophy to that of the Museum gallery collection seem to have very similar messages. As the Cazenovia Public Library provides a gallery space as part of its cultural mission. The artwork serves to enhance the Library’s physical environment and to promote both art and artists. While all artwork will be considered, space is not available for commercial, religious or political purposes. Which leads back to the Wunderkammern collection, nothing in the collection or the library promotes religion or politics, it all connects to science, history, and culture.
A favorite artifact of the library’s collection has to be the mummy; I have always had a passion for Egyptian history. Seeing mummies have always aroused questions of how any of it even had begun. Why did they believe in the afterlife? What did the mummies actually look like? However, the most curious thing of all is wondering the story of that mummies life and no matter what there will always be a million what ifs.