Mining the Museum - finally something other than Enola Gay

While writing one of my museum summaries, I came across an exhibit I had never heard of before. It is called "Mining the Museum," and it was displayed at the Maryland historical society in the mid-90s. It was the brainchild of Fred Wilson, an innovative artist who tried to turn history on its head.

The exhibit was a collection of objects that Wilson found in the collections at the Maryland Historical Society. However, it juxtaposed the objects in extremely provocative ways.

Here are some photographs I found on Google images of the exhibit. They are not gory or graphic in a violent way, but they are disturbing and could make you uncomfortable -- I definitely was.

These images are certainly jarring. However, they are extremely effective because they get people thinking. The reactions to this exhibit ranged from complete ambivalence, to sadness, to anger. My question is, why can't we study this exhibit along with Enola Gay? I think it is much more effective at showing controversy than Enola Gay, mostly because it was successful and museums professionals still look to it as a beacon of hope for museum interpretation. This exhibit shows that we are not put in a box as public historians, and we should not be afraid to try our exhibit ideas. Enola Gay is not the end-all be-all of our existence as museum or archival professionals.