Barnum's American Museum was a spectacle full of all the odds and ends and oddities that could be found by Barnum. He stocked his museum with everything from mermaids to siamese twins to bearded ladies to a rifle range ect. ect. Many americans went to this museum and some sources boast even 15,000 visitors a day. With a large group of American's piling in every day, and the museums location in NYC what could be more American?
However Barnum's museum was full of oddities and fake artifacts and was just a spectacle in itself. Whitman certainly understands spectacle but as a poet who tries to get to the deeper aspect of life and constantly is in a struggle with what "truth" may be, i can't see this museum appealing to him. We do know however that, at the same time as Barnum's museum was going on there was another museum of Egyptian artifacts that did appeal to Whitman. Dr. Henry Abbot's collection of artifacts was frequented by Whitman. In fact Whitman's name appears on the ledger to sign in to the museum.
I can see how both would appeal to him. Barnum's museum appealing to to the masses and being a lively spectacle if mostly a fictitious one, and Abbot's as a real showing of Egyptian artifacts. Whitman would appreciate both i believe for the different aspects of culture they display.
Sources:
Wikipedia. Barnum's American Museum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum%27s_American_Museum. Accessed 2/8/2012
Maurita. "Egypt on Broadway" New York Historical Society. http://blog.nyhistory.org/egypt-on-broadway/. Accessed 2/8/2012
No comments:
Post a Comment