Penn Museum of Anthropology

      This was the second time I have spent time in the Penn Museum of Anthropology.  On my first visit I only got to look at the Egyptian collection so getting to explore the entire museum was exciting.  The Penn Museum was the first of its kind.  Prior to the museums founding, history as presented in museums was divided by science and art.  The Anthropological Museum was a new idea which wanted to examine human culture.  Prior to this idea, people were never presented as objects themselves at a museum.  The Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893 was the first time that people were ever put on exhibit.  The Penn Museum basically created the academic field of Anthropology and still continues to fund research in the field.
     The museum was broken up into different time periods and geographical boundaries.  I found the exhibits which focused on Asia to be the most interesting.  The room which housed the artifacts from japan was absolutely huge.  A wonderful byproduct was that the items in this room were way bigger than any others on display.  There were large murals and statues, also the second largest crystal ball in the world.  I also enjoyed seeing the second largest sphinx outside of Cairo.  Another thing that was interesting about the Penn Museum was that it covered such a large span of time.  They had artifacts from thousands of years ago but also seemed to be constantly adding to their collections with exhibits on 9/11 and the homeless.

Independence Hall & the Second National Bank

When entering the second floor of Independence Hall you can view the space where Charles Wilson Peale once operated his museum.  The space now is set up to look like what Independence Hall would have looked like during the late 18th century but with the help of letters from Peale himself and his children, you can imagine what the rooms would have looked like while the museum was in operation.  The long room which is the largest of any room on the second floor is where Peale kept his collection of birds as well as insects and fossils.  There are also two small rooms, one on each side of the long room where Peale kept his mammoth skeleton and his collection of mammals.  Throughout the museum space, Peale also displayed portraits that he himself painted.  A portion of those paintings are now displayed in the Second National Bank which has been transformed into a museum.  The portraits in the museum are almost entirely white men.  Each man was chosen by Peale because he felt they displayed the characteristics of a good citizen and good American.  The Second National Bank which at one time was the equivalent to Fort Knox at present time is a large building with a multitude of rooms, all of which displayed the art of Peale.  Each portrait had a number next to it and a blurb about who that person was on a plaque beneath the painting. 

The Wagner Free Institute of Science

William Wagner founded the Free Institute Of Science in the 1850's based on his belief that  the knowledge of science should be available to anyone, man or woman.  The building we visited was constructed by 1865.  When I first entered the Wagner, I was impressed by its size and amount of cabinets and cases.  The museum was set up in a style similar with the curiosity cabinet but much more organized.  The collection was organized by Darwinian standards, and organisms of like taxonomy shared the same cases.  I was amazed at the amount of taxidermy the museum had in its collection.  Not only was the taxidermy well preserved but the collection was of organisms from all over the world. 
I think that the Wagner was a good example of how museums began to shift away from the curiosity cabinet and begin to be set up like most modern day museums.  In that regard it was beneficial to actually see the changes first hand that we had been discussing in class.  It also showed some examples of a museums attempts of showing its power.  For example, the little hand written tags for each piece at  the museum had Latin and English words.  Few people know Latin and it helps to create a feeling that the people running the museum know more than the visitor.