A 1915 sketch of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, by Willem Witsen that is in the collection of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. The sketchbook was brought to light during #AskACurator day on September 13. Photo: Rijksmuseum via Twitter.
This year’s #AskACurator day—the annual social-media Q&A blitz—was not without controversy internationally.
One British Museum curator was called out for racism and an (admittedly humourous) debate erupted between a science museum and a natural history museum in the UK.
In Canada, the dialogue was quieter. But a few shortfalls, curiosities and treasures were nonetheless revealed.
On the political front, a question to the Canadian Museum of History revealed that its curators would have liked to expand more on arts and culture in its new hall—but couldn’t due to space constraints.
#AskaCurator @CanMusHistory What part of #cdnhist would you have liked to have added or expanded upon in the new Hall but weren’t able to?
— Carmen (@cdnhistorybits) September 13, 2017
Arts & culture in Canada, including music & performance. We had to make difficult choices & there are some we had to leave out #AskACurator https://t.co/1QWunZb662
— Museum of History (@CanMusHistory) September 13, 2017
On a related note, the National Gallery of Canada revealed that only about two percent of its collection is on display at any given time:
Roughly 2%, which means between 1,200-1,400 items, but doesn't include the Origins collection of over 10,000, not all of which are fine art.
— Nat'l Gallery Canada (@NatGalleryCan) September 13, 2017
In the curios section, Ontario museum professional Fraser McDonald prompted a few international museums to share Canada-related works from their collections
The responses included a New Brunswick sketchbook at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and a stuffed walrus at Poole’s Horniman Museum:
The painter Willem Witsen traveled to Canada in 1915, this is the St. Andrews coast from his sketchbook https://t.co/JHa7xVVsvO #askacurator pic.twitter.com/C2E2OHXRoE
— Rijksmuseum (@rijksmuseum) September 13, 2017
Our famous walrus is from the Hudson Bay area and was first displayed in South Kensington in 1886. #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/kiUfhZGbWb
— Horniman Museum (@HornimanMuseum) September 13, 2017
Canadian tweeter Dan McKnight asked several international and domestic museums to share Canadian-related objects in their collections.
This yielded immigration-area photos from Detroit, a medal awarded to a First Nations fighter stored in London and (strangest of all) a box of tissues that once travelled with the Queen. (That last one is at the Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa.)
Michigan Central Train Depot, “Canada Customs and Immigrations” by Russ Marshall © By Russ Marshall #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/g0hyb79ILb
— Detroit Inst of Arts (@DIADetroit) September 13, 2017
Hi, curator @PeteAJohnston‘s is the medal awarded to First Nations fighter Sose Sononsese, in our Soldier Gallery https://t.co/nX4kcNH3p6 pic.twitter.com/ggWZOSeWY2
— National Army Museum (@NAM_London) September 13, 2017
This poster from our archives advertising the minimum charge for a cable greeting to Canada! #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/FXazxKFDHr
— The Postal Museum (@thepostalmuseum) September 13, 2017
Other than our deadlines? Box of tissue from a commercial flight the Queen took to Canada in 1970s. I mean it’s a box of tissue! pic.twitter.com/KdOwhF50NL
— Anna Adamek (@CuratorNatRes) September 13, 2017
And no curatorial foray on social media would be complete without consideration of ancient Canadian video game technology and a Roman nail clipper.
Not quite arcade, but we have a Telstar made by Coleco Canada Ltd in Montreal Quebec from 1976? https://t.co/BVwGVjazci #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/DSUFjV1mWz
— #SciTechMuseum (@SciTechMuseum) September 13, 2017
#AskACurator what is the most underappreciated object in your collection? I love the little things, like this Roman nail cleaner ???? #atrom pic.twitter.com/PKih3ybpKb
— Alexandra Bauer (@QuiDocet_Discit) September 13, 2017
Not to mention a lasting collections-based mystery.
What’s the most mysterious object in your collection? #AskACurator
— Stefan Aguirre (@Railok) September 13, 2017
Among the mysteries, why a humble Welsh-Canadian doctor in rural Canada would own a painting of Naples: https://t.co/KRNEUkXpA1 #AskACurator https://t.co/RZIeUgccmh
— Archives @ PAMA (@archivespama) September 13, 2017
