Difference between revisions of "The Happy Family"
| (14 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | [[image:happyfamily08.jpg|right| | + | [[image:happyfamily08.jpg|thumb|right|400px||The Happy Family or Fox and Rabbit. Both trickers and shape-shifter transgressors.]] |
| − | + | [[Image:Foxprofile.jpg|thumb|The Fox, shown in profile, in a preliminary exhibition in Hartford Village, ca. 1999, c.e.]] | |
| − | |||
==Description of the Diorama== | ==Description of the Diorama== | ||
| Line 8: | Line 7: | ||
'''The Happy Family.''' A diorama display featuring the Red Fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') (also: “Cross Fox”) and the Rabbit (''Leporidae immanus,'' or ''Lepus miniatus [immanus] absentis manus'') (also: “Bunny”). | '''The Happy Family.''' A diorama display featuring the Red Fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') (also: “Cross Fox”) and the Rabbit (''Leporidae immanus,'' or ''Lepus miniatus [immanus] absentis manus'') (also: “Bunny”). | ||
| − | + | fa:1912:001:di: Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) | |
| + | fa:2883:001:di: Rabbit (Leoporidae immanus) | ||
| + | |||
| + | A ponderous base of birch bark and birch logs forms a plinth for the display of these two mammals. Accessories of flowers (both real and artificial), dyed grasses, mosses, lichens (including red-tipped cladonia, ''Cladonia cristatella'' (British Soldier) and others) and ornamental leaves create a pleasing impression for viewers. | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[image:Happyfamilydetail08.jpg|thumb|The Happy Family, detail.]] | ||
==Descriptive text from the combined Main Street Museum, Chadbourne Thaumaturgium exhibition== | ==Descriptive text from the combined Main Street Museum, Chadbourne Thaumaturgium exhibition== | ||
| − | |||
<blockquote>For this Exhibition our mascot is the fox, here emblematic of the trickster myth. The Trickster. That ubiquitous figure in the therianthropic human mythos who appears and re-appears as Huck Finn; Brier Rabbit; Hermes; the Winnebago Coyote, et al. He is both shape-shifter and boundary transgressor of ludic liminality; often a politician getting out of crisis as a modern stage magician denying the laws of physics. Thus, the Trickster has been grist for editorial cartoonists and other chroniclers of the passing scene. —Montague Chadbourne</blockquote> | <blockquote>For this Exhibition our mascot is the fox, here emblematic of the trickster myth. The Trickster. That ubiquitous figure in the therianthropic human mythos who appears and re-appears as Huck Finn; Brier Rabbit; Hermes; the Winnebago Coyote, et al. He is both shape-shifter and boundary transgressor of ludic liminality; often a politician getting out of crisis as a modern stage magician denying the laws of physics. Thus, the Trickster has been grist for editorial cartoonists and other chroniclers of the passing scene. —Montague Chadbourne</blockquote> | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==The History of the "Happy Family" in the American Museum== | ||
| + | |||
| + | "The Happy Family" was the title of an exhibit in the American Museum of Phineas Taylor Barnum as early as the 1850s. Illustrating both natural curiosity (ie: carnivores and their prey living together—more or less—without incident) and parables from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible (ie: | ||
| + | |||
| + | Some time after its opening, Barnum was asked about his plans for the happy family. “The display will become a permanent feature,” he declared, "if the supply of lambs holds out." | ||
| + | |||
| + | The exhibit of these animals did continue, including a "Cherry Colored Cat" and "Golden Pigeons from California" (or Australia) until fire consumed the American Museum on Anne Street and Broadway in 1865. | ||
| + | |||
| + | <blockquote>'''The Happy Family'''. A miscellaneous collection of beasts and birds (upwards of sixty in number), living together harmoniously in one large cage, each of them being the mortal enemy of every other, but contentedly playing and frolicking together, without injury or discord. At the time of the issue of this book, the family comprises 8 doves, 4 owls, 10 rats, 2 cats, 2 dogs, 1 hawk, 3 rabbits, 1 rooster, 8 Guinea Pigs, 1 Raccoon, 2 Cavas, 1 Cuba Rat, 3 Ant Eaters, 7 Monkeys, 2 Woodchucks, 1 Opossum, 1 Armadilla, &c., &c. —'''Phineas T. Barnum''', ''An Illustrated Catalogue And Guide Book To Barnum's American Museum'', NY, 1860, p. 1., No. 884</blockquote> | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==References and Linx== | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | [[category:Dried Things]] | ||
| + | [[category:Fauna]] | ||
| + | [[category:Flora]] | ||
| + | [[category:Phineas Taylor Barnum]] | ||
| + | [[category:Stuck with Pins]] | ||
| + | [[category:Taxidermy]] | ||
Latest revision as of 19:41, 14 October 2012
Contents
Description of the Diorama
The Happy Family. A diorama display featuring the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) (also: “Cross Fox”) and the Rabbit (Leporidae immanus, or Lepus miniatus [immanus] absentis manus) (also: “Bunny”).
fa:1912:001:di: Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) fa:2883:001:di: Rabbit (Leoporidae immanus)
A ponderous base of birch bark and birch logs forms a plinth for the display of these two mammals. Accessories of flowers (both real and artificial), dyed grasses, mosses, lichens (including red-tipped cladonia, Cladonia cristatella (British Soldier) and others) and ornamental leaves create a pleasing impression for viewers.
Descriptive text from the combined Main Street Museum, Chadbourne Thaumaturgium exhibition
For this Exhibition our mascot is the fox, here emblematic of the trickster myth. The Trickster. That ubiquitous figure in the therianthropic human mythos who appears and re-appears as Huck Finn; Brier Rabbit; Hermes; the Winnebago Coyote, et al. He is both shape-shifter and boundary transgressor of ludic liminality; often a politician getting out of crisis as a modern stage magician denying the laws of physics. Thus, the Trickster has been grist for editorial cartoonists and other chroniclers of the passing scene. —Montague Chadbourne
The History of the "Happy Family" in the American Museum
"The Happy Family" was the title of an exhibit in the American Museum of Phineas Taylor Barnum as early as the 1850s. Illustrating both natural curiosity (ie: carnivores and their prey living together—more or less—without incident) and parables from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible (ie:
Some time after its opening, Barnum was asked about his plans for the happy family. “The display will become a permanent feature,” he declared, "if the supply of lambs holds out."
The exhibit of these animals did continue, including a "Cherry Colored Cat" and "Golden Pigeons from California" (or Australia) until fire consumed the American Museum on Anne Street and Broadway in 1865.
The Happy Family. A miscellaneous collection of beasts and birds (upwards of sixty in number), living together harmoniously in one large cage, each of them being the mortal enemy of every other, but contentedly playing and frolicking together, without injury or discord. At the time of the issue of this book, the family comprises 8 doves, 4 owls, 10 rats, 2 cats, 2 dogs, 1 hawk, 3 rabbits, 1 rooster, 8 Guinea Pigs, 1 Raccoon, 2 Cavas, 1 Cuba Rat, 3 Ant Eaters, 7 Monkeys, 2 Woodchucks, 1 Opossum, 1 Armadilla, &c., &c. —Phineas T. Barnum, An Illustrated Catalogue And Guide Book To Barnum's American Museum, NY, 1860, p. 1., No. 884
