Author: M. Rebekah Otto

San Diego County, California | Strange Science

Designed and built by the Institute for Creation Research, the Creation and Earth History Museum is “a show case for a literal six day young earth creation model, as well as expanding the emphasis on the incredible design found in that creation,” according to its website.

Called “a Walk through History” this museum uses the description in Genesis 1:1 – 1:31 to explain the origins of the Earth and all animals. The museums exhibits help explain away any “confusion” the viewer might have. You see, volcanic eruptions prove that the Earth can change very quickly, and the Tower of Babel exhibit explains the origin of all languages. For skeptics in need of further convincing, they feature a “Hall of Scholars,” like Charles Babbage and Michael Faraday, scientists who believed in God. (Though they fail to highlight the fact that simply because a scientist is religious, doesn’t in any way conflict with belief in evolution, nor would it compromise the scientific method.)

To conclude, the “Dueling Viewpoints Walls” explicate how evolution leads to racism and Nazism, whereas Creationism leads to True American government. Though, this is the largest Creation Museum in the United States, but there are dozens more throughout the country.

Malaysia, Asia | Unique Collections

While the city center of Malacca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the People’s Museum is tucked in an unassuming building off the main square.

Four autonomous collections comprise the People’s Museum: The central People’s Museum focuses on the history of the state of Malacca; the Governor’s Gallery displays the governor’s personal collection of paintings and visual art; and the Kite Museum offers traditional Malaysian kite making and flying.

It is on the third floor that on finds the most curious exhibit, the “Enduring Beauty Museum.” The museum exhibits cultural and historical variations in the understanding of beauty. With displays on foot binding, tattooing, stretching lips, corseting and shaping oval heads, the museum makes stilettos seem perfectly reasonable.

It costs about 50 cents for an adult, but beware the building is not air conditioned and can get quite hot.

Rome, Italy | Unique Collections

Five centuries of theater ephemera are artfully displayed in the Palazetto del Burcardo in Rome. The building itself sits on the foundation of the Pompey’s Roman theater, and the Teatro Argentina (which debuted the Barber of Seville in 1816 and Rigoletto in 1851) lies next door.

Most of the collection was bequeathed by Luigi Rasi, an actor and theater historian, and other notable performers have since contributed to the collection. The museum now displays excellent marionettes from around the world, as far as China, as well as rare, vibrant harlequin costumes.

Relics of the origins of Commedia dell’Arte, etchings from the early 1600s reveal the aesthetic beginnings of an art form that influenced slapstick, Charlie Chaplin, and many others.

Some would say Italy’s theater history is more interesting than its current incarnation. You can test the hypothesis by concluding your visit to the museum with a show next door where the current Teatro di Roma is in residence! Or you could follow up your visit with a stop at the International Museum of Film and Cinema on the other side of town.

County of Kent, U.K. | Eccentric Homes

Charles Darwin (naturalist) left a formidable legacy for scientists, as well as for unsuspecting clergy.

From 1842 til his death in 1882, Darwin and his cherished family live in Downe, England, fifteen miles or so south of London in Down House. The house and surrounding land was the family home, where the curious man observed the natural wildlife, built himself a heated greenhouse, and wrote On the Origin of Species.

Following the deaths of Darwin and his wife, Emma, the house was rented until 1907 when it was converted into a girls’ boarding school. But, luckily for the curious amateur naturalist in us all, the house was converted into a museum by English Heritage and the Natural History Museum. The home has been restored to Darwin’s day, down to the angled mirror Charles kept in his study, to keep an eye on whomever was coming up the driveway.

The greenhouse features the types of orchids and carnivorous plants that Darwin examined – though he is best known for his work in the Galapagos Islands during the Beagle voyage, the bulk of his observations were on plants in his own greenhouse!

On the Down House grounds, visitors can stroll the Sandwalk through the woods where Darwin thought about his experiments and their results. Many of his manuscripts are also digitally on display.

(An under-reported fact: Darwin proved that seeds did move across continents before transatlantic voyages, via the guano of migrating birds.)

Rome, Italy | Incredible Ruins

An accidental discovery delivered this unique collection.

In the early 50s when the Italian government began excavating for a new airport, they stumbled upon an ancient port built by Emperor Claudius in 46 C.E. An archeologist’s dream: they found boats, entire hulls of Roman freighters and a fishing boat. These ships provide a precise glance into everyday life of ancient maritime Rome.

These large vessels carried 1,500 tons of grain. After the fall of Rome, boats of that capacity were not built again until the late 1700s.

Next to the Leonardo da Vinci Airport, the museum features the found pieces of the ships as well as other artifacts of sea-faring life, like amphorae, the containers used to move oils and grains from Alexandria in Eygpt to Rome.

Roman fisherman kept their catch alive all the way back to port because their boats were designed with a central compartment with small holes to allow sea water in – an ancient aquarium.

Note: on the first Saturday and last Sunday of each month, a special archeological tour is led of the whole port area. It leaves from the museum at 9:30 a.m.

Rome, Italy | Unique Collections

Operated by Italy’s federal Prison Administration, this unique collection of prisons, torture, and criminal anthropology was open only to government officials from its founding in 1931 until 1994. Recognizing the public interest in incarceration, the Italian government reorganized the collection and opened it to the general public in 1994.

Because of Italy’s deep history, the museum showcases an unusually detailed body of work. The collection, which was first assembled in 1873 for the school of prison guards, displayed methods of investigation, restraints used against prisoners, as well as objects made by prisoners in vocational programs. Other European nations were interested in prisons as well and there was extensive international discussion on the correct way to rehabilitate a ‘criminal person.’ This collection was on display during the International Penitentiary Congress held in Rome in 1885.

The museum today features many of the artifacts from the original collection, but it is organized along very different principles. Part of the museum is dedicated to artifacts from notorious 20th century criminals, and to judicial methods before the 19th century – execution and torture. Featured in this exhibit is the Milazzo Cage, a body-shaped iron cage, was hung on the outside of a building or castle with a mutilated criminal for all to see.

A large section, though, highlights the developmental history of justice, prisons and criminology that reflects more modern methods and practices.

Florida, US | Eccentric Homes

The artist Rubens and the elephant Dumbo may not have much in common on the surface, but John Ringling, the entrepreneur and circus magnate, unites them.

During his lifetime, John Ringling, along with his wife Mabel, used their fortune to build a beautiful Venetian mansion and art collection in Sarasota, Florida. Their estate was bequeathed to the State of Florida, in hopes that Sarasota would become a cultural travel destination.

The State neglected the property, but in 2000 it was turned over to Florida State University and has been restored. With funds raised by the University, a new Visitor’s Center, featuring a museum about the circus, was added to the large estate, which already offered the art museum, the Ringling’s lavish home, and the grounds with a rose garden.

As with any personal collection, the assorted pieces of art and artifacts are an idiosyncratic mixture, from notable pieces by the Old Masters to Cypriot antiques. The mansion, or Ca d’Zan (House of John), is something out of the Great Gatsby. The house has been restored to the elegance it held during the Ringling’s era.

The attached circus museum features the largest circus miniature in the world!

Riverside County, California | Watery Wonders

This may sound obvious, but most rain eventually finds its way to the oceans, either via groundwater, rivers or lakes with permeable rock underneath. Some water, though, gets trapped in large basins that sit below sea level, and the water flows in but never flows out.

The Salton Sea near the Mexican border in Southern California has been at various levels for three million years. Technically a “saline lake,” it is saltier than the ocean, though slightly less salty than the Great Salt Lake. The basin was nearly dry until the beginning of the 1900s when failed irrigation canals diverted the Colorado River into the large basin, and the raging river brought the snowmelt from the Rockies into the Salton Sea.

The engineers from the Southern Pacific railroad were unable to stem the waterfall that the river created. By petitioning Congress and President Roosevelt, the engineers received the “battleship” loads of rock they needed to block the hole, however, it took more than six months before they diverted the river again. The Salton Sea had grown larger than Lake Tahoe to its current size of about 15 miles wide and 35 miles long.

At first, it was unclear that this lake was a nuisance. The Sea was a productive fishery during the 40s, and with post-war wealth became a popular tourist spot in the 50s with resorts, beach-front homes, and water skiing.

But the incredible salinity of the lake and the heavy agriculture of Southern California slowly destroyed the ecosystem. Runoff from farms polluted the sea, and many of the fish species, save the hardy tilapia, could not survive, while migratory birds were poisoned with botulism and other lethal bacteria.

The State of California has been involved in efforts to restore the sea, but such extreme efforts are obviously easier said than done. In the interim the banks of the Salton Sea are a vivid, surreal empty landscape littered with dead fish and other detritus of human habitation.

Gloucestershire, U.K. | Unique Collections

Music boxes, adorned with spinning ballerinas, are probably the most popular mechanical music players. “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” emanates from the tiny toy, to the delight of young girls everywhere.

But mechanical music has a history of complex machines and parts, from the most minute to large, intricate player pianos propelled by sheets of music and pneumatic systems. Before radios (and then television), mechanical music entertained the whole family – without being able to play Gershwin, you listen to him!

In the rural Southwest Britain, Keith Harding’s collection of mechanical music players and automata exhibits the most impressive of these antiquated machines. From a pianola of the Victorian era to a gramophone of the 1930s, the museum’s collection draws visitors from all over. The museum also repairs old players in its workshop!

Brooklyn, New York | Unique Collections

The New York Transit Museum is operated by the folks who know it best – the MTA. Who better to collect and display the history of the New York Transit system?

The museum features “Steel, Stone, and Backbone” about the building of the subways. The oldest artifacts in the museum are in the “On the Streets: Trolleys and Streetcars” section, which also describes the evolution of fuel technology in our buses.

Do you remember old tokens? They were the predominate fare on New York Subways and buses from 1953 until 2003, when the brass coins were replaced by the now-ubiquitous MetroCard. A permanent collection at the New York Transit Museum presents the token-operated turnstiles and the paper-machines dating back to 1904; visitors enter the stations like their grandparents once did. Once upon a time, the rider paid to get out – not to get in.

There is a forthcoming exhibit on the archaeology of the South Ferry with objects dug up from the new South Ferry station.

Saint Paul, Minnesota | Museums and Collections

While technically this museum closed in 2002, thanks to the intrepid efforts of the Science Museum of Minnesota and curator and collector Bob McCoy, the collection lives on as the “Questionable Medical Device” collection in the Science Museum of Minnesota.

This collection of dubious medical devices reminds us that sometimes, medicine is best left to the doctors. Exhibits on display include a phrenological machine that gauges personality by measuring the size of bumps on the head, a foot-powered breast enlarger, and glasses and soap products designed for weight-loss.

You can still have your phrenology read by the fully functional machine today, and as the machine outlines the bumps on your skull, the phrenology reader “maps” intelligence, morality, and much more. Machines such as these were all the rage at State Fairs of the early 1900s, as were other questionable medical devices. The infomercials of their time, these snake oils and pseudoscience gadgets could cure impotence, tell how smart you were, and make you live forever.

Unfortunately these contraptions were also often dangerous to the public that was tricked into using them. A depilatory machine removed unwanted hair with x-rays, and ultimately caused cancer in the thousands of women who paid for the treatment. Another apparatus, used in shoe stores, allowed you to see your feet in your new shoes with an x-ray machine. How else could you tell if the shoes fit? The machine was declared unsafe by the FDA in 1970.

The museum’s roots lie in a modern day “phrenology parlor” started by Bob McCoy in the early 80s. Bob and his friend acquired a dozen or so phrenology machines and opened up shop in a waterfront mall in downtown Minneapolis. Demonstrating the machinery for a few bucks a pop, word soon spread about McCoy and his vintage devices. McCoy continued to acquire additional pieces from garage sales and other collectors, and the exhibit now also holds exhibits on loan from The American Medical Association, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, The St. Louis Science Center, The Bakken Library, and The National Council Against Health Fraud. When McCoy retired, he donated his collection of more than 325 exhibits to the Science Museum of Minnesota.

The museum is currently the world’s largest display of “what the human mind has devised to cure itself without the benefit of either scientific method or common sense.”

Fort Worth, Texas | Unique Collections

When we think of cowgirls, ivory halls don’t immediately come to mind. But in Fort Worth, Texas, a beautiful museum honors the legacy and continued work of cowgirls, whether in body or in spirit.

According to their mission statement, the Cowgirl Hall of Fame “celebrates women, past and present, whose lives exemplify the courage, resilience, and independence that helped shape the American West.” What other museum could unite Sandra Day O’Connor, Annie Oakley, Sacagawea, and Liz Cheney?

In the Texas Panhandle town of Hereford, a group of women founded the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and Western Historical Society in 1975, to showcase the accomplishments and influence of women of the West to the larger public. Due to community interest, the museum searched for a new home in 1993. They found it in the cultural district of Fort Worth, near the Will Rogers Memorial Center, and opened the current building in 2003.

The museum honors of women of all stripes who reflect their values, from Kay Whittaker Young, a lifelong cowgirl who has been competing since the age of 12, to Mary Jane Colter, an architect of the late 1800s who designed many buildings now in the National Historic Register, to former First Lady Laura Bush, for her work in literacy.

In addition to the Hall of Fame, the museum hosts rotating exhibitions honoring female artists and heroines, such as an exhibit of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work forthcoming in 2010.

Los Angeles, California | Unique Collections

LA has long been home to mystics, far-out spirituals, and occult practices.

The city boasts an Alchemy Lab and a “Magickal Marketplace.” The Philosophical Research Society has been at the center of the occult in LA since its inception in 1934. Founded by Manly P. Hall, the PRS explores “wisdom traditions” ranging from religion to science to more esoteric philosophies. Even for those of us who aren’t trying to tap into the spirit world, the library of the Philosophical Research Society provides a wealth of information on obscure, rare religions and philosophies.

The library has some very notable titles: a book on divination once owned by Napoleon from 1801, a rare book about theosophy, and a book on mesmerism from 1852. According to lore, the books about Satan are kept under a Buddha statue, to balance the energies. They even, according to some, have books about black magic. These books are not open to the public with the rest of their collection; one must obtain special permission from the librarians to explore them.

Of course, the library is non-circulating, as it is solely a research facility.

Alameda County, California | Unique Collections

Once called Bagatelle, pinball descended from billiards and other table games of the mid-1700s. But pinball was first patented in 1871 by Montague Redgrave who added the spring-loaded plunger to start the game.

During the Depression, pinball popularity boomed. A coin-operated version sold for $17.50, so saloons and drugstores quickly made back their investment on this table-top game.

However, because of its association with gambling, pinball machines were banned in many large American cities, like New York and Los Angeles, in the 1940s. By the mid-70s the laws were overturned when a pinball-defender proved that pinball was a game of skill, not a game of luck.

The Pacific Pinball Museum outside of Oakland offers over 90 “playable, historic pinball machines” with the signature lights, bells and whistles of the greatest models. Like most museums, the PPM owns a much larger collection – over 400 machines! – but only some are available for the public to see.

From Oct. 1 – 3, 2010, the Pacific Pinball Museum will host the Pacific Pinball Exposition in collaboration with the Pinball Revival Company.

New York, New York | Incredible Ruins

Few diseases have had a greater impact on the history of human civilization than smallpox.

The bubonic plague certainly wins for its baroque presentation. Malaria and HIV are concurrent with our times and thus feel more real. But smallpox takes the contamination cake. It has been around for more than 3,000 years in all parts of the world.

Before the vaccine was discovered in 1796, more than 400,000 people a year died from smallpox in Europe alone. According to the World Health Organization, smallpox killed one in ten children in Sweden and France and one in seven in Russia.

The disease killed Louis XV of France and other European monarchs. Queen Elizabeth I had the disease as a child and wore heavy make-up to conceal her pockmarks. In the French and Indian Wars, blankets containing smallpox were purposefully given to Delaware Amerindians, in an early instance of biological warfare. Through extensive worldwide vaccination efforts, the disease was eradicated in 1979 – the only disease to be completely eradicated through human intervention.

By the end of the 1800s, efforts were made in Western Europe and the United States to eradicate the disease by universal vaccination. But before that time, many cities built hospitals specifically for treating smallpox sufferers.

In New York City, the southern tip of Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island) provided ferry access but kept the infected patients far away from the population. Better know for Grace Church on Broadway and St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Madison Avenue, James Renwick Jr. designed the smallpox hospital in his Gothic Revival style. From 1856 until 1875, the hospital treated about 7,000 patients a year. In 1875, the building was converted into a nurses’ dormitory, and the city smallpox hospital was moved to North Brothers Island, in part because Blackwell’s Island had become more densely populated. By the 1950s, Renwick Hospital had become useless and was abandoned by the city, quickly falling into disrepair.

However, in 1975, the Landmarks Preservation Commission took interest in the dilapidated structure and declared it, in its ruin, a city landmark. They reinforced the walls to prevent it from completely falling apart but have not renovated it or opened it for tours. Only some of the outer walls and the foundation remain today. It is behind a fence on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island.

Seattle, Washington | Outsider Architecture

Exploring the woods inevitably involves detritus – a broken branch decaying on the ground, leaves slowly turning to dust, pine cones gone to seed. Perhaps you’ve stumbled across a behemoth of a once-tree, felled by lightning or creeping, internal rot.

In the Olympic Sculpture Park of Seattle, you’ll find sculptures by modern masters like Claes Oldenburg and Richard Serra, but you’ll also find another more unusual work of art: a rotting tree. It’s slowly rotting, in a controlled environment called the Nekoum Vivarium. (Vivarium means “a place of life” in Latin.)

The tree in the sculpture park is not entirely sculpture nor nature, but is perhaps a mixture of both – natural decay under the careful gaze of the artist. This Western Hemlock lived its life in the Green River Watershed and was brought, with permission of the State, to the Olympic Sculpture Park in 2006. This vivarium was the vision of artist-cum-arborist Mark Dion. As he puts it:

“In some ways, this project is an abomination. We’re taking a tree that is an ecosystem—a dead tree, but a living system—and we are re-contextualizing it and taking it to another site. We’re putting it in a sort of Sleeping Beauty coffin, a greenhouse we’re building around it. And we’re pumping it up with a life support system — an incredibly complex system of air, humidity, water, and soil enhancement — to keep it going. All those things are substituting what nature does—emphasizing how, once that’s gone, it’s incredibly difficult, expensive, and technological to approximate that system—to take this tree and to build the next generation of forests on it. So this piece is in some way perverse. It shows that, despite all of our technology and money, when we destroy a natural system it’s virtually impossible to get it back. In a sense we’re building a failure.”

The display includes magnifying glasses to examine the rot and a chalkboard for lessons on trees. The room is open whenever a volunteer staffer is there.

The vivarium is in a 9-acre park on Seattle’s waterfront, adjacent to Myrtle Edwards Park.