The Indiana State Museum is a museum located in downtown Indianapolis , Indiana , United States. The museum houses exhibits on the science, art, culture, and history of Indiana from prehistoric times to the present day.
86-618: The original collection began in 1862 as a cabinet of curiosities collected by State Librarian R. Deloss Brown. In 1869, the Indiana General Assembly enacted a law that provided “for the collection and preservation of a Geological and Mineralogical Cabinet of the Natural History of this State”. Under the Department of Geology and Natural Science, the collection was placed in the charge of a state geologist, who
172-528: A herbarium vivum with over 4,000 specimens of Carniolan and foreign plants, a smaller number of animal specimens, a natural history and medical library, and an anatomical theatre . A late example of the juxtaposition of natural materials with richly worked artifice is provided by the " Green Vaults " formed by Augustus the Strong in Dresden to display his chamber of wonders. The "Enlightenment Gallery" in
258-502: A virtuoso would find intellectually stimulating. In 1714, Michael Bernhard Valentini published an early museological work, Museum Museorum , an account of the cabinets known to him with catalogues of their contents. In the second half of the eighteenth century, Belsazar Hacquet (c. 1735 – 1815) operated in Ljubljana , then the capital of Carniola , a natural history cabinet ( German : Naturalienkabinet ) that
344-421: A cabinet of curiosities has also appeared in recent publications and performances. For example, Cabinet magazine is a quarterly magazine that juxtaposes apparently unrelated cultural artifacts and phenomena to show their interconnectedness in ways that encourage curiosity about the world. The Italian cultural association Wunderkamern uses the theme of historical cabinets of curiosities to explore how "amazement"
430-640: A field of collection for the British Museum that was to increase greatly with the explorations of Captain James Cook in Oceania and Australia and the rapid expansion of the British Empire ." Upon his death in 1753, Sloane bequeathed his sizable collection of 337 volumes to England for £20,000. In 1759, George II 's royal library was added to Sloane's collection to form the foundation of
516-405: A hands-on Cabinet of Curiosities, complete with taxidermied crocodile embedded in the ceiling a la Ferrante Imperato's Dell'Historia Naturale . In Los Angeles , the modern-day Museum of Jurassic Technology anachronistically seeks to recreate the sense of wonder that the old cabinets of curiosity once aroused. In Spring Green, Wisconsin , the house and museum of Alex Jordan, known as House on
602-637: A largely representational function, and dominated by aesthetic concerns and a marked predilection for the exotic," or the less grandiose, "the more modest collection of the humanist scholar or virtuoso, which served more practical and scientific purposes." Evans goes on to explain that "no clear distinction existed between the two categories: all collecting was marked by curiosity, shading into credulity, and by some sort of universal underlying design". In addition to cabinets of curiosity serving as an establisher of socioeconomic status for its curator, these cabinets served as entertainment, as particularly illustrated by
688-524: A love of the marvellous. This love was often exploited by eighteenth-century natural philosophers to secure the attention of their audience during their exhibitions. The earliest pictorial record of a natural history cabinet is the engraving in Ferrante Imperato 's Dell'Historia Naturale (Naples 1599) ( illustration ). It serves to authenticate its author's credibility as a source of natural history information, by showing his open bookcases (at
774-619: A mix of fact and fiction, including apparently mythical creatures. Worm's collection contained, for example, what he thought was a Scythian Lamb , a woolly fern thought to be a plant/sheep fabulous creature. However he was also responsible for identifying the narwhal 's tusk as coming from a whale rather than a unicorn , as most owners of these believed. The specimens displayed were often collected during exploring expeditions and trading voyages. Cabinets of curiosities would often serve scientific advancement when images of their contents were published. The catalog of Worm's collection, published as
860-691: A new Cabinet of Curiosities room was opened at The Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery in Rawtenstall , Lancashire , curated by artist Bob Frith, founder of Horse and Bamboo Theatre . Several internet bloggers describe their sites as "wunderkammern" either because they are primarily links to interesting things, or inspire wonder similarly to the original wunderkammern (see External Links, below). Researcher Robert Gehl describes such internet video sites as YouTube as modern-day wunderkammern, although in danger of being refined into capitalist institutions "just as professionalized curators refined Wunderkammers into
946-590: A new and enthusiastic audience which led to an increase in significant donations of artifacts to the collections. The museum collection began to outgrow its Old City Hall space by the late 1970s. The Museum was again on the search for a new home. In 1979, the Indiana General Assembly created the White River State Park Development Commission to create a new state park to celebrate Indiana, and hosting
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#17327764454141032-649: A new site for the Indiana State Museum fit ideally with the commission’s plans. The museum board approved a move to the White River State Park area in 1984. In 1995, it was announced that an IMAX theater would be built on the museum site and later the museum itself would be attached. The reasoning behind this decision had both practical and political motivations, first, it was understood at that time that ultra-large screen theaters never succeeded as stand-alone facilities, and second, that
1118-469: A perfect jump shot. After the September 11 attacks and subsequent market downturn, Indiana lost 120,000 jobs, tax revenues dropped, and O'Bannon had to cut social services and other services in order to spare education. In 2001 he worked with the state legislature to formulate a major restructuring of the state tax system. His opponents blamed him for various problems arising in the second term, including
1204-585: A portrait and a religious picture (the Adoration of the Magi ) intermixed with preserved tropical marine fish and a string of carved beads, most likely amber , which is both precious and a natural curiosity. Sculptures both classical and secular (the sacrificing Libera , a Roman fertility goddess) on the one hand and modern and religious ( Christ at the Column ) are represented, while on the table are ranged, among
1290-464: A practicing attorney and a newspaper publisher for The Corydon Democrat before his entrance into the political arena. A conservative Democrat , O'Bannon was first elected to the Indiana Senate in 1969. He eventually became one of the body's most prominent members. O'Bannon ran for Governor of Indiana in 1988; however, instead of facing a hotly competitive primary, O'Bannon dropped out of
1376-435: A range of cupboards contain specimen boxes and covered jars. In 1587 Gabriel Kaltemarckt advised Christian I of Saxony that three types of items were indispensable in forming a "Kunstkammer" or art collection: firstly sculptures and paintings; secondly "curious items from home or abroad"; and thirdly "antlers, horns, claws, feathers and other things belonging to strange and curious animals". When Albrecht Dürer visited
1462-405: A rotation. The 92 County Walk is an art experience incorporated into the building's façade that spotlights Indiana's 92 counties by featuring an original sculpture for each county. The sculptures, created by 32 different artists, are made of limestone, aluminum, glass, and other materials, and represent the uniqueness of each Indiana county. The original Tea Room existed for nearly 90 years at
1548-427: A slow response by his environmental agency to a big fish kill , and problems at two-state centers for the developmentally disabled . His record, however, was firmly established as an educational leader for the state. He helped lead development of Indiana's first community college system, pushed for early-childhood learning opportunities, development of alternative high schools, and charter schools. His work as chair of
1634-886: A stone monument featuring the Ten Commandments on the state capitol grounds. However, the courts blocked this effort. O'Bannon suffered a massive stroke on September 8, 2003, while he was in Chicago attending the U.S. Midwest–Japan trade conference. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he remained unconscious, and his condition worsened over the following days. In accordance with his living will , his family discontinued further treatment, and he died on September 13, aged 73. O'Bannon donated organs (having signed legislation making organ donation easier in Indiana), including his cornea, which helped an Illinois woman regain her sight. O’Bannon's ashes were scattered in
1720-700: A teaching tool for young physicians. Just prior to Mütter's death in 1859, he donated 1,344 items to the American College of Physicians in Philadelphia, along with a $ 30,000 endowment for the maintenance and expansion of his museum. Mütter's collection was added to ninety-two pathological specimens collected by Doctor Isaac Parrish between 1849 and 1852. The Mütter Museum began to collect antique medical equipment in 1871, including Benjamin Rush 's medical chest and Florence Nightingale 's sewing kit. In 1874
1806-400: A term as Chairman of Midwestern Governors Association . O'Bannon died in office in 2003 and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Joe Kernan . He is the most recent governor of any U.S. state to die in office. To date, he is also the most recent Democrat to be elected governor of Indiana. O'Bannon was a native of Corydon, Indiana (the first state capital of Indiana), where his family owned
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#17327764454141892-506: A theater was easier and cheaper to sell than the complete theater-museum package. The IMAX Theater opened in White River State Park in December of 1996. The theater was later enveloped into the museum's building design in 1998. They did not break ground for the museum site until 1999 due to a lack of immediate funding and disagreements in the design phase. The Indiana State Office Building Commission hired local firm Ratio Architects to design
1978-466: A third consecutive term as governor due to term limits, O'Bannon became the Democratic nominee for governor. He overcame an early deficit in the polls against his Republican opponent, Indianapolis mayor Stephen Goldsmith and won in a close race, 52% to 47%. He was re-elected by a larger margin, 57% to 42%, in 2000 against second district Congressman David M. McIntosh . During the boom years of
2064-559: A twelve-volume herbarium from her gardens at Chelsea and Badminton upon her death in 1714. Reverend Adam Buddle gave Sloane thirteen volumes of British plants. In 1716, Sloane purchased Engelbert Kaempfer 's volume of Japanese plants and James Petiver 's virtual museum of approximately one hundred volumes of plants from Europe, North America, Africa, the Near East, India, and the Orient. Mark Catesby gave him plants from North America and
2150-581: Is manifested within today's artistic discourse. In May 2008, the University of Leeds Fine Art BA programme hosted a show called "Wunder Kammer", the culmination of research and practice from students, which allowed viewers to encounter work from across all disciplines, ranging from intimate installation to thought-provoking video and highly skilled drawing, punctuated by live performances. The concept has been reinterpreted at The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History . In July 2021
2236-548: Is responsible for commissioning the painting of an oil portrait for each new governor and the inclusion of that painting into the permanent collection. Most of the portraits currently hang in government offices in the Indiana Statehouse . The museum is part of the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites . This statewide institution maintains the museum and 11 state historic sites. Each site interprets
2322-538: The Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Places of exhibitions of and places of new societies that promoted natural knowledge also seemed to culture the idea of perfect civility. Some scholars propose that this was "a reaction against the dogmatism and enthusiasm of the English Civil War and Interregum [sic]. " This move to politeness put bars on how one should behave and interact socially, which enabled
2408-485: The British Museum , installed in the former "Kings Library" room in 2003 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the museum, aims to recreate the abundance and diversity that still characterized museums in the mid-eighteenth century, mixing shells, rock samples and botanical specimens with a great variety of artworks and other man-made objects from all over the world. Some strands of the early universal collections,
2494-532: The Chamber of Art and Curiosities at Ambras Castle in Austria. "The Kunstkammer was regarded as a microcosm or theater of the world, and a memory theater. The Kunstkammer conveyed symbolically the patron's control of the world through its indoor, microscopic reproduction." Of Charles I of England 's collection, Peter Thomas states succinctly, "The Kunstkabinett itself was a form of propaganda." Two of
2580-760: The Corydon Democrat , the town's newspaper. His father, Robert Presley O'Bannon, served in the Indiana House of Representatives and later served in the Indiana Senate. His mother was the former Faith Dropsey. Frank's great-grandfather was named for his uncle, Presley Neville O'Bannon, a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps who was the first to raise the US flag on foreign soil in a time of war, on April 27, 1805, during
2666-887: The Duke of Albemarle offered Sloane a position as personal physician to the West Indies fleet at Jamaica. He accepted and spent fifteen months collecting and cataloguing the native plants, animals, and artificial curiosities (e.g. cultural artifacts of native and enslaved African populations) of Jamaica. This became the basis for his two volume work, Natural History of Jamaica , published in 1707 and 1725. Sloane returned to England in 1689 with over eight hundred specimens of plants, which were live or mounted on heavy paper in an eight-volume herbarium. He also attempted to bring back live animals (e.g., snakes, an alligator, and an iguana) but they all died before reaching England. Sloane meticulously cataloged and created extensive records for most of
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2752-639: The Hradschin at Prague, was unrivalled north of the Alps; it provided solace and retreat for contemplation that also served to demonstrate his imperial magnificence and power in the symbolic arrangement of their display, ceremoniously presented to visiting diplomats and magnates. Rudolf's uncle, Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria , also had a collection, organized by his treasurer , Leopold Heyperger , which put special emphasis on paintings of people with interesting deformities, which remains largely intact as
2838-529: The L. S. Ayres department store in downtown Indianapolis. When the Tea Room closed in 1990, the Ayres family and the museum discussed recreating the Tea Room in the new museum. Building planners designed a standalone space with authentic period furnishings and recreations on the museum's second floor complete with drapery and carpets recreated from samples saved when the Ayres store closed. The Tea Room opened with
2924-537: The Museum Wormianum (1655), used the collection of artifacts as a starting point for Worm's speculations on philosophy, science, natural history, and more. Cabinets of curiosities were limited to those who could afford to create and maintain them. Many monarchs , in particular, developed large collections. A rather under-used example, stronger in art than other areas, was the Studiolo of Francesco I ,
3010-596: The Netherlands in 1521, apart from artworks he sent back to Nuremberg various animal horns, a piece of coral , some large fish fins and a wooden weapon from the East Indies . The highly characteristic range of interests represented in Frans II Francken 's painting of 1636 ( illustration, above ) shows paintings on the wall that range from landscapes, including a moonlit scene—a genre in itself—to
3096-638: The United States Air Force and became a first lieutenant. While at Indiana University, he met his wife, Judith Asmus , on a blind date . They married in 1957, and had three children. Following law school, he opened a law office in Corydon, was chairman of the board of the family newspaper publishing firm (a position he held until the time of his death), and was a member of the board of the Corydon Savings and Loan. First elected to
3182-567: The feather head-dress or crown of Montezuma now in the Museum of Ethnology, Vienna . Similar collections on a smaller scale were the complex Kunstschränke produced in the early seventeenth century by the Augsburg merchant, diplomat and collector Philipp Hainhofer . These were cabinets in the sense of pieces of furniture, made from all imaginable exotic and expensive materials and filled with contents and ornamental details intended to reflect
3268-688: The 1860s the Wunderkammer tradition of curiosities for gullible, often slow-moving throngs—Barnum's famously sly but effective method of crowd control was to post a sign, 'THIS WAY TO THE EGRESS!' at the exit door". In 1908, New York businessmen formed the Hobby Club , a dining club limited to 50 men, in order to showcase their "cabinets of wonder" and their selected collections. These included literary specimens and incunabula ; antiquities such as ancient armour; precious stones and geological items of interest. Annual formal dinners would be used to open
3354-570: The 1990s, when Indiana amassed a record $ 2 billion surplus, O'Bannon was able to cut taxes by $ 1.5 billion, hire 500 more police officers in the state and win increased funding for schools and extended health insurance for poor families. He also signed landmark legislation creating the AMBER Alert program in Indiana, as well as legislation requiring drivers to slow or change lanes for emergency vehicles stopped along Hoosier roadways. In
3440-582: The Ark collection in 1656. Ashmole, a collector in his own right, acquired the Tradescant Ark in 1659 and added it to his collection of astrological, medical, and historical manuscripts. In 1675, he donated his library and collection and the Tradescant collection to the University of Oxford , provided that a suitable building be provided to house the collection. Ashmole's donation formed the foundation of
3526-956: The British Museum. John Tradescant the Elder (circa 1570s–1638) was a gardener, naturalist, and botanist in the employ of the Duke of Buckingham. He collected plants, bulbs, flowers, vines, berries, and fruit trees from Russia, the Levant, Algiers, France, Bermuda, the Caribbean, and the East Indies. His son, John Tradescant the Younger (1608–1662) traveled to Virginia in 1637 and collected flowers, plants, shells, an Indian deerskin mantle believed to have belonged to Powhatan , father of Pocahontas . Father and son, in addition to botanical specimens, collected zoological (e.g., the dodo from Mauritius,
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3612-551: The Indiana State Museum received accreditation from the American Association of Museums, now known as the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). An AAM accreditation signifies a mark of excellence to the museum community and recognizes a “museum’s commitment to and demonstration of, the professional standards for education, public service, and collections care.” This new location of the museum attracted
3698-458: The Rock , can also be interpreted as a modern day curiosity cabinet, especially in the collection and display of automatons. In Bristol, Rhode Island , Musée Patamécanique is presented as a hybrid between an automaton theater and a cabinet of curiosities and contains works representing the field of Patamechanics, an artistic practice and area of study chiefly inspired by Pataphysics . The idea of
3784-557: The State Historic Sites, care for and manage the most comprehensive collection of art from Indiana artists, ranking them among the largest state-owned art collections in the country. The museum is also in charge of the care and maintenance of the Indiana Governors' Portraits Collection, which consists of oil portraits (and one pastel portrait) of almost all of the governors of Indiana. The Indiana State Museum
3870-537: The Statehouse until 1919, when it was moved to the basement to make room for the Indiana Department of Conservation. When the collection was placed in the basement of the Statehouse, it fell into a state of decline for almost 45 years, where inadequate protection and preservation of items resulted in many specimens disappearing or becoming unusable. The neglect led to the museum completely closing once in
3956-799: The Tripoli Campaign in the First Barbary War. He attended Indiana University Bloomington , where he played one season of basketball for the Hoosiers. At Indiana University, he was president of the Zeta Chapter of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in government in 1952, and a Juris Doctor in 1957 from the Indiana University School of Law . He also spent two years in
4042-502: The West Indies from an expedition funded by Sloane. Philip Miller gave him twelve volumes of plants grown from the Chelsea Physic Garden . Sloane acquired approximately three hundred and fifty artificial curiosities from North American Indians, Inuit, South America, Lapland, Siberia, East Indies, and the West Indies, including nine items from Jamaica. "These ethnological artifacts were important because they established
4128-447: The bizarre or freakish biological specimens, whether genuine or fake, and the more exotic historical objects, could find a home in commercial freak shows and sideshows . In 1671, when visiting Thomas Browne (1605–1682), the courtier John Evelyn remarked, His whole house and garden is a paradise and Cabinet of rarities and that of the best collection, amongst Medails, books, Plants, natural things. Late in his life Browne parodied
4214-454: The building. The Indiana State Museum building opened its doors to the public on May 22, 2002 with a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by Governor Frank O’Bannon . This opening ceremony was attended by 600 school children from around the state and hundreds of other residents. With more than 40,000 square feet (4,000 m) of exhibit space, the museum's galleries cover the history of the natural world , Native Americans , cultural history, and
4300-419: The classic cabinets of curiosities emerged in the sixteenth century. The term cabinet originally described a room rather than a piece of furniture . Modern terminology would categorize the objects included as belonging to natural history (sometimes faked), geology , ethnography , archaeology , religious or historical relics , works of art (including cabinet paintings ), and antiquities . In addition to
4386-802: The company of learned men and that they cannot dwell forever in the Universities." Cabinets of Curiosities can now be found at Snowshill Manor and Wallington Hall , and the Ashmolean Museum has a display of items from its disparate Ashmole and Tradescant founding collections. Thomas Dent Mutter (1811–1859) was an early American pioneer of reconstructive plastic surgery. His specialty was repairing congenital anomalies, cleft lip and palates, and club foot. He also collected medical oddities, tumors, anatomical and pathological specimens, wet and dry preparations, wax models, plaster casts, and illustrations of medical deformities. This collection began as
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#17327764454144472-429: The cultural change from a world viewed as static to a dynamic view of endlessly transforming natural history and a historical perspective that led in the seventeenth century to the germs of a scientific view of reality. In seventeenth-century parlance, both French and English, a cabinet came to signify a collection of works of art, which might still also include an assembly of objects of virtù or curiosities, such as
4558-705: The displayed curiosity. Because of this, many displays simply included a concise description of the phenomena and avoided any mention of explanation for the phenomena. Quentin Skinner describes the early Royal Society as "something much more like a gentleman's club, " an idea supported by John Evelyn , who depicts the Royal Society as "an Assembly of many honorable Gentlemen, who meete inoffensively together under his Majesty's Royal Cognizance; and to entertaine themselves ingenously, whilst their other domestique avocations or publique business deprives them of being always in
4644-566: The distinguishing of the polite from the supposed common or more vulgar members of society. Exhibitions of curiosities (as they were typically odd and foreign marvels) attracted a wide, more general audience, which "[rendered] them more suitable subjects of polite discourse at the Society." A subject was considered less suitable for polite discourse if the curiosity being displayed was accompanied by too much other material evidence, as it allowed for less conjecture and exploration of ideas regarding
4730-423: The division of Indiana's story would evolve as visitors traveled upward through the museums three floors. Thus, the ground floor would host the ancient prehistory and natural history story, the second floor would tell the story of the material culture, industrial and cultural history, of the things made in Indiana and who made them, and the third floor would host the art galleries featuring Indiana's art and artists on
4816-617: The entire cosmos on a miniature scale. The best preserved example is the one given by the city of Augsburg to King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1632, which is kept in the Museum Gustavianum in Uppsala . The curio cabinet , as a modern single piece of furniture, is a version of the grander historical examples. The juxtaposition of such disparate objects, according to Horst Bredekamp 's analysis (Bredekamp 1995), encouraged comparisons, finding analogies and parallels and favoured
4902-521: The exotic shells (including some tropical ones and a shark's tooth): portrait miniatures , gem-stones mounted with pearls in a curious quatrefoil box, a set of sepia chiaroscuro woodcuts or drawings, and a small still-life painting leaning against a flower-piece, coins and medals—presumably Greek and Roman—and Roman terracotta oil-lamps, a Chinese-style brass lock, curious flasks, and a blue-and-white Ming porcelain bowl. The Kunstkammer of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (ruled 1576–1612), housed in
4988-408: The family plot at Cedar Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Corydon, Indiana . O'Bannon was succeeded in office by Lieutenant Governor Joe E. Kernan of South Bend, who was sworn into office just hours after O'Bannon's death. O'Bannon is the subject of the 2006 biography Legacy of a Governor: The Life of Indiana's Frank O'Bannon . In February 2006, a memorial bust of O'Bannon was placed outside
5074-660: The first Medici Grand-Duke of Tuscany. Frederick III of Denmark , who added Worm's collection to his own after Worm's death, was another such monarch. A third example is the Kunstkamera founded by Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg in 1714. Many items were bought in Amsterdam from Albertus Seba and Frederik Ruysch . The fabulous Habsburg Imperial collection included important Aztec artifacts, including
5160-514: The future of Indiana. The museum largely devotes its space and energy equally between its three functions as a museum of art, culture, and science. During the thematic development and design of the building in 1998, Ralph Appelbaum Associates were brought in to develop the three level concept of exhibit space. Ralph Appelbaum Associates and museum staff came to the consensus that the museum's three distinct missions, art, culture, and science, must be represented dynamically. Appelbaum's core concept for
5246-495: The history of an important person, place, or event in Indiana's history. Cabinet of curiosities Cabinets of curiosities ( German : Kunstkammer and Kunstkabinett ), also known as wonder-rooms ( German : Wunderkammer ), were encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. Although more rudimentary collections had preceded them,
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#17327764454145332-516: The late 1920s and again in the early 1960s. During the administration of Governor Harold W. Handley (1957–1961), the legislature authorized a Museum Study Commission to examine the State Museum, its collections, and its programs, and then propose recommendations for the future of the museum. The commission recommended that the State invest in the construction of a new facility as the Statehouse
5418-430: The left, the room is fitted out like a studiolo with a range of built-in cabinets whose fronts can be unlocked and let down to reveal intricately fitted nests of pigeonholes forming architectural units, filled with small mineral specimens. Above them, stuffed birds stand against panels inlaid with square polished stone samples, doubtless marbles and jaspers or fitted with pigeonhole compartments for specimens. Below them,
5504-564: The modern museum in the 18th century." Historic cabinets Modern "cabinets" Frank O%27Bannon Frank Lewis O'Bannon (January 30, 1930 – September 13, 2003) was an American politician who served as the 47th governor of Indiana from 1997 until his death in 2003. He is the most recent U.S. Governor to have died in office. O'Bannon was a native of Corydon, Indiana . He graduated from Corydon High School (now Corydon Central High School) in 1948 and then Indiana University Bloomington , where he met his wife Judy. In Corydon, he served as
5590-505: The most famous and best documented cabinets of rulers and aristocrats, members of the merchant class and early practitioners of science in Europe formed collections that were precursors to museums . Cabinets of curiosities served not only as collections to reflect the particular interests of their curators but also as social devices to establish and uphold rank in society. There are said to be two main types of cabinets. As R. J. W. Evans notes, there could be "the princely cabinet, serving
5676-496: The most famously described seventeenth-century cabinets were those of Ole Worm , known as Olaus Wormius (1588–1654) ( illustration, above right ), and Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680). These seventeenth-century cabinets were filled with preserved animals, horns, tusks, skeletons, minerals, as well as other interesting man-made objects: sculptures wondrously old, wondrously fine or wondrously small; clockwork automata ; ethnographic specimens from exotic locations. Often they would contain
5762-511: The museum acquired one hundred human skulls from Austrian anatomist and phrenologist, Joseph Hyrtl (1810–1894); a nineteenth-century corpse, dubbed the "soap lady"; the conjoined liver and death cast of Chang and Eng Bunker , the Siamese twins; and in 1893, Grover Cleveland 's jaw tumor. The Mütter Museum is an excellent example of a nineteenth-century grotesque cabinet of medical curiosities. P. T. Barnum established Barnum's American Museum on five floors in New York, "perpetuating into
5848-424: The proceedings of the Royal Society , whose early meetings were often a sort of open floor to any Fellow to exhibit the findings his curiosities led him to. However purely educational or investigative these exhibitions may sound, the Fellows in this period supported the idea of "learned entertainment," or the alignment of learning with entertainment. This was not unusual, as the Royal Society had an earlier history of
5934-403: The race and became the running mate of Evan Bayh . The Bayh/O'Bannon ticket was successful, and O'Bannon served in the role of lieutenant governor for eight years. In this position, he served as President of the State Senate and directed the state's agriculture and commerce programs. With Bayh ineligible to seek a third consecutive term as governor in 1996, O'Bannon ran for governor that year. He
6020-592: The recently vacated Indianapolis City Hall as a possible site for the museum. The old City Hall was originally designed in 1910 by Rubush and Hunter and some refurbishments would be needed make it home to a museum. In 1963, the state leased the old City Hall building and began renovations, officials dedicated and formally opened the new museum site in 1967. The museum displayed exhibits concerning Indiana’s cultural and natural history through collections of Indiana art, political memorabilia, natural history specimens, geological materials, and Native American artifacts. In 1976,
6106-543: The rest of the new building in May 2002, and attracts thousands of visitors a year. The museum's collection consists of items relating to Indiana's history , arts, and natural sciences. The collection of more than 500,000 objects contains six focus areas, which the museum refers to as "Centers of Excellence." These areas are Ice Age paleontology , Abraham Lincoln , Indiana art and artists, quilts and textiles, Indiana industry, technology, and agriculture , and Indiana archaeology . The Indiana State Museum, in conjunction with
6192-415: The right), in which many volumes are stored lying down and stacked, in the medieval fashion, or with their spines upward, to protect the pages from dust. Some of the volumes doubtless represent his herbarium . Every surface of the vaulted ceiling is occupied with preserved fishes, stuffed mammals and curious shells, with a stuffed crocodile suspended in the centre. Examples of corals stand on the bookcases. At
6278-653: The rising trend of collecting curiosities in his tract Musaeum Clausum , an inventory of dubious, rumoured and non-existent books, pictures and objects. Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753) an English physician, member of the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians , and the founder of the British Museum in London, began sporadically collecting plants in England and France while studying medicine. In 1687,
6364-659: The specimens and objects in his collection. He also began to acquire other collections by gift or purchase. Herman Boerhaave gave him four volumes of plants from Boerhaave's gardens at Leiden. William Charleton, in a bequest in 1702, gave Sloane numerous books of birds, fish, flowers, and shells and his miscellaneous museum consisting of curiosities, miniatures, insects, medals, animals, minerals, precious stones and curiosities in amber. Sloane purchased Leonard Plukenet 's collection in 1710. It consisted of twenty-three volumes with over 8,000 plants from Africa, India, Japan and China. Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort (1630–1715) , left him
6450-996: The state senate in 1969-70 to a seat occupied by his father, Robert P. O'Bannon, from 1950 to 1970, Frank O'Bannon was the primary sponsor of legislation reintroducing the death penalty. He rose to the rank of Senate Minority Leader among Democrats during his tenure in the legislative body. He served one two-year stint as chair of the Senate Finance Committee following a short-lived Democratic majority. On January 13, 1987, O'Bannon announced he would run for governor in 1988 . He formally launched his campaign in May 1987 from Corydon, Indiana, touting his legislative experience. O'Bannon initially faced off against then-Secretary of State Evan Bayh and Kokomo Mayor Steve Daily. O'Bannon abandoned his own bid for governor in January 1988 and ran for Lieutenant Governor with Bayh. The ticket
6536-484: The state's landmark Education Roundtable ensured that Indiana was one of only five states whose schools immediately qualified as meeting all standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind act upon enactment. In regards to education, O’Bannon placed emphasis on enhancing the state's public schools. He was able to pass increased funding for education . However, the state legislature did not pass O'Bannon's proposal for full-day kindergarten. O'Bannon attempted to install
6622-525: The theme of Keeping Indiana Moving in the Right Direction. Furthermore, he was seen as a tough candidate to beat owing to his own personal affability. His opponent in the election, 2nd District Congressman David McIntosh said: "Everywhere I'd go, people would say that to me: 'How are you going to run against someone who is everyone's grandfather?'" His campaign featured memorable advertisements with O'Bannon reprising his basketball past by shooting
6708-742: The upper jaw of a walrus, and armadillos), artificial curiosities (e.g., wampum belts, portraits, lathe turned ivory, weapons, costumes, Oriental footwear and carved alabaster panels) and rarities (e.g., a mermaid's hand, a dragon's egg, two feathers of a phoenix's tail, a piece of the True Cross, and a vial of blood that rained in the Isle of Wight). By the 1630s, the Tradescants displayed their eclectic collection at their residence in South Lambeth. Tradescant's Ark, as it came to be known,
6794-620: The various collections up to inspection for the other members of the club. By the early decades of the eighteenth century, curiosities and wondrous specimens began to lose their influence among European natural philosophers. As Enlightenment thinkers placed growing emphasis on patterns and systems within nature, anomalies and rarities came to be regarded as potentially misleading objects of study. Curiosities, previously interpreted as divine messages and expressions of nature's variety, were increasingly seen as vulgar exceptions to nature's overall uniformity. The Houston Museum of Natural Science houses
6880-556: The years of 1998 and 1999 O'Bannon served as the Chairman of Midwestern Governors Association . In 1999, O'Bannon created the Public Access Counselor Office by executive order after a statewide collaboration of seven newspapers found great obstacles in obtaining government information in Indiana. In 1999, the Indiana General Assembly established it by statute. In 2000 he won an easy re-election bid under
6966-579: Was appreciated throughout Europe and was visited by the highest nobility, including the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph II , the Russian grand duke Paul and Pope Pius VI , as well as by famous naturalists, such as Francesco Griselini [ it ] and Franz Benedikt Hermann [ de ] . It included a number of minerals, including specimens of mercury from the Idrija mine,
7052-403: Was hired on a two-year term and assigned the task of surveying, organizing, and labeling the collection. Over the years, the collection grew mostly unchecked as the natural history collection increased and miscellaneous cultural items, many relating to the recent Civil War, were added forming an entirely new category of collections. The museum’s collection remained on display on the third floor of
7138-401: Was initially considered a heavy underdog but emerged a narrow victor over Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith . He was re-elected in 2000, defeating Congressman David M. McIntosh . As governor, O'Bannon was known for advocating for education-related issues and helping to create the state's AMBER Alert System. He presided over a period of economic prosperity for the state in the 1990s and served
7224-434: Was no longer an adequate or appropriate location for the museum. The Museum would require relocation if it wished to continue its purpose of educating visitors about the history and culture of Indiana. Planning for the new location of the museum occurred largely during the administration of Governor Matthew E. Welsh (1961–1965), whom with the help of Donald E. Foltz, director of the Indiana Department of Conservation, vetted
7310-464: Was the earliest major cabinet of curiosity in England and open to the public for a small entrance fee. Elias Ashmole (1617–1692) was a lawyer, chemist, antiquarian, Freemason , and a member of the Royal Society with a keen interest in astrology , alchemy , and botany. Ashmole was also a neighbor of the Tradescants in Lambeth. He financed the publication of Musaeum Tradescantianum , a catalogue of
7396-571: Was victorious in November, and O'Bannon was elected as the 46th Lieutenant Governor of Indiana . His candidacy for lieutenant governor matched that of his grandfather, Lew M. O'Bannon, who was the 1924 Democratic nominee for the state's second-highest office. As lieutenant governor, he presided as President of the State Senate, served as the state's Director of Commerce and Commissioner of Agriculture. In 1996 , with Evan Bayh ineligible to seek
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