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A Cabinet of Curiosities [1]

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Date: 2023-04-29  

Regarding the origins of cabinets of curiosities, Joan Lester, in an article in The Indian Historian, writes:

“In the eighteenth century, the well traveled gentleman placed in his home a cabinet, a piece of furniture, in which he displayed those curios that he had collected on his journies. They included anything that caught his fancy, either man-made or from the natural world. They were chance assemblages of objects arranged according to the whim of the owner.”

Operated by the Lincoln County Historical Society, the Burrows House Museum in Newport, Oregon, tells the story of the area’s history. One of the interesting displays in the Museum is a Cabinet of Curiosities. According to the Museum display:

“As early as the 15th Century, curiosity cabinets, displays of rare objects and oddities, became fashionable. Some curiosity cabinet collections grew to become museums, perhaps most notably the British Museum, which began with Sir Hans Sloan’s ‘Wonder Room’ collections.”

The Lincoln County Historical Society’s Cabinet of Curiosity includes:

“Objects once commonplace that are now, unless you are of a certain age, unidentifiable curiosities Natural oddities, many of which were found on our local beaches Weird—what else can we say?” The Museum’s display also states: “These odd objects are more than just curiosities, they also shed some light on the history of the Central Oregon Coast, the evolution of technology, as well as human nature and the fascination we all have for the out-of-the ordinary.”

Williams’ Twentieth Century Battery is actually a kind of medical device, used as a time when people believed that an electrical shock could help in the treatment of many ailments.

Shown above is a 1915 tooth extractor.

Shown above is a wooden thread rack.

Shown above is a noodle maker and a mold for shaping butter.

Shown above is a knee rest to be used when scrubbing floors. According to the Museum display: “Clearly the inventor had never actually scrubbed a floor.”

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/29/2152948/-A-Cabinet-of-Curiosities

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