Please Touch Museum

     This is a picture of the model in the Centennial Exhibition Fair area of the Please Touch Museum. It was built in 1889 and moved into the building that the Please Touch Museum is housed in (which originally was one of the buildings in 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition Fair. John Barr, who was a Philadelphia businessman and was on the Centennial Exhibition Fair Finance Committee commissioned it. It was made by students, architects, and engineers who created it out of marble, plaster, wood, metal, and isinglass. This model is now enclosed in a wood and glass case. It is on display because the Please Touch Museum is housed in one of the Centennial Exhibition Fair buildings and it wants to acknowledge the building's history.
     This model is interesting and model-makers and also important for historians, especially those who are interested in American and/or 19th century history, but not for anybody else. The point of view of the text is descriptive though it is in a language so that even children could understand it. There are no other objects that are nearby the model except for various activities for children to do that relate to the model itself. These activities include: viewing pictures through a stereoscope; can fill a plate each with breakfast, lunch, and dinner; learning what foods were new at the Fair by putting cut out pieces into the spaces provided; pictures of soda, soda fountains, and popcorn; a Centennial banner; objects from the Fair; seeing "History Through a Window" in which children can learn about a nine-year-old girl named Daisy who went to the Fair; a man selling his popcorn, root beer, ice cream, and ice cream sodas by shouting it; laminated ephemera from the Fair; an area where children can experience the Froebel System of Kindergarten; can see Lincoln Logs; and an area devoted to the train in which children can pretend to be behind the Information desk, play with Bruno blocks, shovel coal, pull the train bell, and hang up signs on the old-fashioned wooden Amtrak arrival and departure sign.
     An opposing point of view would be the view from people of color. How did they view the Fair in those days? In addition, that would be an field of study that I could explore, in addition to researching how the Fair impacted not only Philadelphia, but also the United States and the world. I could engage visitors with the model by having modern-day pictures of where the buildings were and asking visitors to try and figure out with the help of the model which building goes in which picture.

Wagner Free Institute of Science

     This is bituminous coal, which is one of the objects at the Wagner Free Institute of Science. At the Wagner Institute, this kind of coal is found in the fossil collection, and like many fossils, was created by Earth. For most people, such as people who are not interested in environmental science, bituminous coal would not be an important or interesting thing to look at, but it would be for environmental scientists, people who are interested in collecting rocks, or people who have read the book Rocket Boys and/or seen its accompanying film "October Sky." It is on display because it is a fossil and a part of earth. It was acquired by C. W. Johnson, who was the curator at the Wagner Institute around the turn of the twentieth century. There is not just one piece of coal displayed; there are quite a few in a small, shallow cardboard box and is at the end of a long case containing only fossils:  clams, snails, sea-lillies, squid, and lamp-shells.
     The point of view of the label is informative but spartanly descriptive. The text states:
                                                      Bituminous Coal
                                   Coal Measures                 Pennsylvania
                            Braeburn Sta. [Station], Westmoreland Co., PA
                                   C. W. Johnson                      8186

     There are many avenues of research that could be taken. One field of study could be why is coal considered a fossil? What is it made up of? Another field of research could be how coal changed cooking, home life, work, and in essence, everyday life in the Victorian era, when people transferred from using wood to using coal. In addition, people could examine how coal has changed lives in the twentieth and twenty-first century, first as something people would mine for as a living, and then, its forming the backdrop of company towns in the Appalachian mountains which inspired the book Rocket Boys and the film October Sky. An opposing point of view would be if someone did not believe in evolution and said that God created coal, not the Earth. To engage viewers with this object, I could have them use coal. One way to do this would be to have them sketch with it since coal is the basis of charcoal. Another way, would be to let people put coal in a old coal stove and light it up and give them a chance to see how stoves worked in the Victorian era and the early twentieth century.

American Philosophical Society

     This is a picture of Cornelius Varley's Patent Graphic Telescope (PGT), which he patented in 1811. It is made of brass with glass lenses inside and is part of the exhibit "Through the Looking Glass" at the American Philosophical Society (APS). It is part of this exhibit because  he used it to make exquisite drawings of places and plants. Having the opportunity to see the PGT is important to people who want to know more about Cornelius Varley or his work.
     The Franklin Institute loaned the PGT to the APS. As an important piece of the exhibit, it is situated in the front center in an enclosed glass circular case, surrounded by Varley's paintings at the outer edge of the exhibit. Surrounding the PGT in the enclosed case are informative descriptive texts, letters from Charles Varley, and other ephemera regarding the PGT. The exhibit makes it clear that not only was Varley an inventor and a painter, he was also a traveler, and he ran his own business.
     If I wanted to expand my field of study on the PGT, I could research who else used the PGT besides Varley, the history of the changes that Varley made to the PGT, its popularity (or lack of it) in the early nineteenth century, or what else it was used for besides drawings. People who are not interested in nature, Cornelius Varley, or early nineteenth century inventions would not be interested in this object. An opposing point of view could be that someone explains why the PGT is not important, specifically because drawings were made from the naked eye during the early nineteenth century and because it was superceeded by the camera about thirty years after Varley invented the PGT. One way to engage the public with the PGT would be to let them try to copy a picture while using it, as the APS lets visitors do, or to see which way of drawing is better for them - with the naked eye, the PGT, or taking a picture and then copying it from that.

Rosenbach Museum and Library

     In the exhibit, "In the Beginning," this is the Hamishah humshe Torah (the Five Books of the Torah (also known as the Five Books of Moses)) printed by Eliezer Toledano on vellum in 1491 in Italy. This Torah, which is important for Jews, was used for study. It was printed with vowels (the lines and dots below the letters), the Targum (Aramaic commentary which is on the outside edge of the pages), and Rashi (formally known as Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhaki) commentary on the inside edge of the pages. (Unfortunately, the above picture does not show either of them.)
     It is part of the "In the Beginning" exhibit, because the Rosenbach family was Jewish and Dr. Abraham Rosenbach had an interest in early and early Hebrew printing. In addition, this Torah presents an excellent example of early Hebrew printing in Italy. In the exhibit, it is opened to Genesis 1:1 with it being its box binding, upright though tilted back. The descriptive text that accompanies it is informative as it states who printed it, when it was printed, exactly where it was printed, the materials of the Torah, and what to look for in the text. It is also a part of a section of early Hebrew printing which includes a book with psalms, a High Holiday prayerbook, and a manual for the Passover meal. In addition to this section on early Hebrew printing, the exhibit also includes some printing by or about Jews in the early United States and some of the Gratz family collection.
     To further my study on the Hamishah humshe Torah, I could research early and/or early Hebrew printing and the history of Jews in the late 1400s in Italy. The people who would not be interested in this object would be non-Jews or people who are not interested in early/early Hebrew printing. An opposing point of view to this Torah would be an explanation from a Christian printer in late 1400s stating why he would not print books in Hebrew. A way to engage visitors with this Torah would be to tell them what are one of God's names in Hebrew (and what it looks like in Hebrew) and ask them to find it on the pages that are open. Another way would be to ask people if they could figure out which section this Torah is opened to.

National Constitution Center

     This is the Scopes Trial biology textbook (made from paper) from 1914 in the We the People exhibition at the National Constitution Center. This books is an important part of United States history because it is at a time that America was changing after the First World War and people were challenging their rights. For the Scopes Trial, it challenged the First Amendment by stating that teachers have the right to teach what they want - even when the teacher is teaching evolution in a state that considers teaching the study of evolution illegal. This book is situated nearby the section on women's right to vote, which challenged the Fifteenth Amendment (which illustrated that voting cannot be denied based on race, color, or creed), stating that sex should be included, and if it is not, there should be another amendment to the U.S. Constitution saying that women have the right to vote.
     The caption of the Scopes Trial book is informative and presents the gist of the trial in one sentence. The placard behind the book presents the trial in more detail and is accompanied by a famous picture of the trial at the bottom.
     To understand the history of the Scopes trial, I could research why teachers did not teach evolution in the early 20th century, read the manuscript of the Scopes trial itself, or research how the teaching of evolution has evolved from the early 20th century until today. An opposing point of view to this book could be a teacher's explanation in the mid-1920s (at the time of the Scope trial) of why they do not teach evolution and whether if they even believe in it or not. To engage the public with this book, I could have them find an interesting topic that the book discusses, connect it to evolution, and then ask people if they think that topic would still be in that book or what would change in the textbook if they were not taught evolution.