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Revision as of 19:18, 22 August 2008
Contents
History
A German critic, W. Bürger [writes] "Our Museums...are veritable graveyard-yards in which have been heaped up, with a tumulour-like promiscuousness, the remains which have been carried thither...all are hung pell-mell upon the walls of some noncommittal gallery—a kind of posthumous asylum, where a people, no longer capable of producing...come to admire this magnificent gallery of débris.”
- —G. Brown Goode, Museums of the Future, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., 1891: p. 427
The museum opened on South Main Street in 1992 and immediately attracted a broad cross-section of citizenry: academics, art professionals, musicians, politicians, journalists, the under-employed, habitual evil-livers, and also quite ordinary people (it might as well be admitted, that many in all of these categories were my own blood relatives). Here then was the first site for the museum. It had been the former home of a renown local restaurant, “Lena’s Lunch”. It was a narrow storefront space which had been a public space for over 100 years—a silent picture theater, indoor miniature golf, and a bowling alley, also a restaurant with transvestite waitresses—yes, submarine sandwiches by day and “Judy” and “Barbara” by night. There ought to be a plaque. Here Elvis impersonators and High-Art all enjoyed equal admiration. (or, High-Art claimed as much admiration as it can, when competing with Elvis impersonators.) Our home was directly across the street from an American Legion Hall; and there are no better critics. They would be completely and utterly potted every night. They withheld nothing. learn less...!
Catawiki
The Main Street Museum's Catawiki is a unique digital initiative in material culture studies utilizing open-source code to describe the artifacts in our collections and to create a completely fluid, adaptive taxonomic structure for their interpretation. The Catawiki uses the same "wiki" code utilized by "Wikipedia" and is able to be modified by users from any internet access point. The categoies currently acting as a organizational foundation for these structures are:
- Objects as Evidence of Human Culture, for instance: Pet Toys; Geographically or Historically Significant Items (Relics); Manuscripts; Art; Military History; Textiles and Clothing; Shoes; and "Things, or Fragments of Things Once Owned by, or Associated with, Notable People—Particularly Notable Vermonters".
- Biology: Living, or Apparently Once Living, Objects, including
- Flora: "The Invasive and Native Species of Windsor County" for instance, or "Dried roses from Robert Todd Lincolns House in Manchester, Vermont" and "Roses from the Varina Davis Memorial in Vicksburg, Mississippi".
- Fauna includes: Homo-sapiens; White-tailed Deer and Other Mammalia; Reptiles; Birds; Entomology (Insects); Corals; Flocked Pets; Other, or Unidentified Species; etc.
- Inanimate, or Apparently Inanimate Objects, including Minerals, Man-made Minerals, Silt from the 1927 Flood, Round and/or Rusted Things.
- And, of course, Miscellaneous or Other Things.
- Vinculum (or Overlapping) Categories can be accessed from the sidebar to the left and include: Carbon; Color as a Hysterical Reaction; Cute Things; Flocking; Objects Chewed by Pets; Teeth, More Teeth, Things with Nail-holes; "Things Made from Animals or Parts of Animals" and Tramps and Hobos.
What's Goin On?!
“White River Junction—a beauty spot in the midst of a valley of beauty and cheer.” —Gateway to Vermont, 1903
The Center for Cartoon Studies and Main Street Museum ARTifacts Summer Film Series concludes this summer on Tuesday, August 19th as CCS/MSM and cartoonists Denis St. John and SR Bissette present the Camp MONSTER & GIRLS double feature ROBOT MONSTER (1953) and THE BRAINIAC (1962); the show begins at 8 PM in the Main Street Museum in White River Junction at 58 Bridge Street (802-356-2776). The films are unrated, but are suitable for all ages; admission is $5 per person, free for Museum members and CCS students ... learn less...!
Publicity and Press Clippings
Read what we write about ourselves. Read what others write about us.
Testimonials
“The Main Street Museum—White River Junction’s answer to the Library of Congress.” —Peter Welch, U. S. House of Representatives, 2007.
“It is only due to organizations such as yours that the important works of our Country are brought to the attention of the public.” —Marie Reilly, Museum of Bad Art, Dedham, 1998. learn less...!
The (Virtual) Restroom
The Virtual Restroom of the Main Street Museum was begun in the mid-1990's as an interactive digital resource for the creation and storage of online grafitti. Now that we have our own, actual, restroom in the fire station building, the restroom of the Museum has a both virtual and physical presence. Please feel free to add to both. Please remember however, that only one blackboard coated wall in the actual museum is suitable for writing (in chalk only please) and that general standards of civic-mindedness, and decency should guide your musings and observations. —The Management.
1 August 2008:
Hakuna Matata!
don't mess!
Pariah Beat!
Just like Jack the Ripper Just Like Motjo Hand Just Like Billy Sunday In a shotgun ragtime Band
Wash Hands
I am.
This is where We become Us
Museumology Blog
Our Blog features discursions, miscellanea; Discursions on Material Culture Studies ==
- "As in totemism, we participate in each other as we participate in the object." —Sartre, Les jeux sont faits, 1943, and Norman O. Brown, Love's Body, 1966.
The fully functioning blog of the Main Street Museum is a continuation of our previous blog at Blogspot. You can read the latest entries, musing about roadtrips, history, collections and collective insanity here, and even post responses if youre so inclined!
Shoppe with Us! The Museum Gifte Shoppe
The Museum Gifte Shoppe features things that no one in their right mind would purchase!
Main Street Rummage; The Thrift Store!
What's concentrated at our Rummage? Chic-ness... Hip-ness... New ideas and concepts—created from recycled things... Nowadays—its Thrift Stores! They just make sense! And think about it. Dont you need shirts, Pants, Suits, Blouses, Shoes, Jackets, A small assortment of housewares and books Clean, cut and bagged rags at affordable prices (use them over and over—theyre cheaper then paper towels!) and selected items from the Main Street Museum’s unusual Museum Gift Shoppe: Latte mugs, White River Junction t-shirts, “Post-Modernism is Killing Us!” caps, Genuine silt specimens from the 1927 flood, the super-cute, Japanese “Humping Dog” (must be seen to be believed)
Clothes, Great Gifts! O My! Where will you ever see anything like it? This is true locally-controlled, resourceful retail. We are wide awake. You won’t find us napping. And we promise you will get your money’s worth at our stores—the best looking Thrift Stores youll ever see! All proceeds help the Museum succeed in the 21st century; but best of all, its a Fun Place to Shop! learn less...!
Places we Like; Links on the "World Wide Web"
Places around world that we like, Cyber and Real. Links to Old and New. Above click there—or here...!
The Main Street Museum, 58 Bridge Street, White River Junction, Vermont, 05001-1909, info@mainstreetmuseum.org, 802.356.2776
