Open Forum

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

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Rachel Alschuler
Museum Education/ Visitor Experience
San Francisco CA
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At the American Jazz Musuem, we found two antique funeral home curling irons. I was taken aback when I first put eyes on them and knew they were part of a mortuary collection. However, the mortuary played an important role in the Historic 18th and Vine District which is known as one of the 5 US jazz cradles in the US. This mortuary was not only black-woman owned in the Jim Crow era, but they would have been undertakers for many of the jazz artists and families who passed in the area for decades. 

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

At the American Jazz Musuem, we found two antique funeral home curling irons. I was taken aback when I first put eyes on them and knew they were part of a mortuary collection. However, the mortuary played an important role in the Historic 18th and Vine District which is known as one of the 5 US jazz cradles in the US. This mortuary was not only black-woman owned in the Jim Crow era, but they would have been undertakers for many of the jazz artists and families who passed in the area for decades. 

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

At the American Jazz Musuem, we found two antique funeral home curling irons. I was taken aback when I first put eyes on them and knew they were part of a mortuary collection. However, the mortuary played an important role in the Historic 18th and Vine District which is known as one of the 5 US jazz cradles. This mortuary was not only black-woman owned in the Jim Crow era, but they were undertakers for many of the jazz artists and families who passed in the area for decades. 

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Chloe Willett
Exhibition Coordinator
American Jazz Museum
Kansas City MO

Original Message:
Sent: 08-12-2025 10:32 AM
From: Rachel Alschuler
Subject: What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find?

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Alschuler
Museum Education/ Visitor Experience
San Francisco CA
------------------------------

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Here is a link to an amazing story involving discovery of an historic artifact in our collection:

https://www.sparkmuseum.org/reuniting-history-the-rediscovery-of-joseph-henrys-electromagnet/

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Ms. Alschuler,

On day while I was going through the collection, I found a stick in a bag with an accession number on it. I had no idea why we had this, or why someone had thought to accession it in the first place, but I noticed someone had scrawled "From Germany, #4 Eng. on 338 Cabin in the Sky" on it in pencil. 
I recognized the name "Cabin in the Sky" as the name of a B-17 that served with the 390th Bomb Group during World War II and I did some digging into our records. It turned out the stick was plucked out of one of the engines by the plane's ground crew chief while he was working on the plane after a bombing mission to Berlin. During that mission, the plane lost an engine and the crew was forced to fly at tree level until they reached the Dutch coast to avoid being shot at by German anti-aircraft guns. The stick got lodged in the engine as they were ploughing through the trees.
This still stands as one of the strangest things I have ever found in our collections, but the story behind it was certainly fascinating. 

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

I am always surprised but not shocked when I find some sort of soft porn in a collection. So far I have found it in a military donations from WWI and WWII typically in the form of a naughty postcard or photo torn from a magazine by a soldier.

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

This happened to me when I was a student at our local university museum over 30 years ago. A prominent Dean retired, and his entire office was accessioned into the collection, including his desk. Not sure why we needed to collect everything in his office, but pornographic pictures from the 1940s were found in his desk. Initially, I was asked to catalog them, but I asked the Curator of History if this Dean should "go down in history" as having these pictures? The Curator said he didn't know and took back the pictures. Not sure what happened to them. 

I am always surprised but not shocked when I find some sort of soft porn in a collection. So far I have found it in a military donations from WWI and WWII typically in the form of a naughty postcard or photo torn from a magazine by a soldier.

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Interesting that they chose to accession everything else in the office but were ok with erasing that bit of history from the record. As long as it wasn't illegal to posses i.e. exploitive I think it should have been kept or at least documented that it had been there. People are complex and if their life or at least their career is worth documenting to that extent its unfortunate they chose to censure part of it.  Heck if he was a dean perhaps it was confiscated and he didn't even remember he had it?  Who knows.

This happened to me when I was a student at our local university museum over 30 years ago. A prominent Dean retired, and his entire office was accessioned into the collection, including his desk. Not sure why we needed to collect everything in his office, but pornographic pictures from the 1940s were found in his desk. Initially, I was asked to catalog them, but I asked the Curator of History if this Dean should "go down in history" as having these pictures? The Curator said he didn't know and took back the pictures. Not sure what happened to them. 

I am always surprised but not shocked when I find some sort of soft porn in a collection. So far I have found it in a military donations from WWI and WWII typically in the form of a naughty postcard or photo torn from a magazine by a soldier.

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

In 2007, we received five objects from the estate of Elizabeth Osler, who came from a family with strong connections to the legal profession. One of the items was a top hat box. The box, which belonged to her father, is striking, but it's the big "Cunard" stamp on its side that makes it truly special. The stamp tells us that the box travelled on the Lusitania, towards New York, leaving its departure point on Feb. 26 of an indeterminate year. Given the ship's well-known history, it would have been sometime between 1907 and 1915. 

A quick search of Ellis Island Foundation records revealed that Mr. Osler travelled from Liverpool, arriving in New York on March 5, 1910, on his way to his residence in Toronto. He was 36 years old, a barrister, and married at the time. He was 5'9", with a dark complexion and dark hair. His declaration reveals that he had been in New York earlier that year, that he was carrying at least $50 and that he had purchased his ticket himself. He claimed to be sound of body and mind and reassured the authorities that he was neither a polygamist nor an anarchist!

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Hi Rachel,

This is such a fun question! When I was working at a small/mid-size regional museum in Pittsfield, MA we found all kinds of unexpected pieces in the collection. It was the kind of place that had accepted almost anything and everything in the early decades after it was established in 1902 so it has a very eclectic collection. On top of that, there was (and still is I'm sure) an ongoing effort to standardize and transfer thousands of records that had been kept on paper in various forms into the online database. This meant that every now and then when we were looking for one thing in storage we would stumble across something we didn't even know we had. Probably the most exciting example that I witnessed was the discovery of a rare broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence. You can read more about it in this article if you're interested! Digging around and finding unexpected discoveries was one of the best parts of my job, now that I'm in a more specialized role at a much larger institution I definitely miss these moments!

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Hi Rachel,

This is such a fun question! When I was working at a small/mid-size regional museum in Pittsfield, MA we found all kinds of unexpected pieces in the collection. It was the kind of place that had accepted almost anything and everything in the early decades after it was established in 1902 so it has a very eclectic collection. On top of that, there was (and still is I'm sure) an ongoing effort to standardize and transfer thousands of records that had been kept on paper in various forms into the online database. This meant that every now and then when we were looking for one thing in storage we would stumble across something we didn't even know we had. Probably the most exciting example that I witnessed was the discovery of a rare broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence. You can read more about it in this article if you're interested! Digging around and finding unexpected discoveries was one of the best parts of my job, now that I'm in a more specialized role at a much larger institution I definitely miss these moments!

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel

Hi Rachel,

This is such a fun question! When I was working at a small/mid-size regional museum in Pittsfield, MA we found all kinds of unexpected pieces in the collection. It was the kind of place that had accepted almost anything and everything in the early decades after it was established in 1902 so it has a very eclectic collection. On top of that, there was (and still is I'm sure) an ongoing effort to standardize and transfer thousands of records that had been kept on paper in various forms into the online database. This meant that every now and then when we were looking for one thing in storage we would stumble across something we didn't even know we had. Probably the most exciting example that I witnessed was the discovery of a rare broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence. You can read more about it in this article if you're interested! Digging around and finding unexpected discoveries was one of the best parts of my job, now that I'm in a more specialized role at a much larger institution I definitely miss these moments!

Dear All

What is the one object in your museums collection you did not expect to find? I am wondering what could be in collections that is un-expected but does fit with in the collections. I look forward to your stories insights.

Thanks,

Rachel