No more than two Scarlett Cosmopolitans or else you will be Gone with the Wind...

Karen Cox  the author of the up coming book, Dreaming of Dixie: How the South Was Created in American Popular Culture, came to Temple University today to give a talk on how the south was perceived in media, (radio, movies and music) through out the early 20^th century.  The time period that perceived the south was the 19^th century—mostly the civil war era, nice white houses, and plantations. A really good example she talked about was Gone with the Wind and how the civil war era was romanized. Gone with the wind was such a success that there is a drink called the Scarlett cosmopolitan.  She also explained how these notions of the south showed signs of racism and other types of discrimination.     

            The talked related to our class discussions about museums because the power that the media prevails over it audience. People of the north believed that how the south lived and acted when in reality the south was just like the north. People views did not start to change until the late 50’s and early 60’s because of the civil rights movement. That the discrimination of the south shifted from African Americans and other immigrants to lower class white people.

            I thought that the talk was very informative and interesting. My favorite thing that she said was how the Jewish people were writing these songs that were on the radio and yet most of the writers never have been down south before. I love how people can just make these preconceive notions about the south and not have ever been there. It was interesting to find out that the voice of Aunt Jemima in the radio show a white Italian. The actress loved playing that part and did not want anyone else to have it. I though that was strange, but in those days racism was practiced amongst most Americans in the United States so in that time period it was not weird. Karen’s talk was extremely interesting and I would highly advice people to read her book

The Wagner Institute ..The Cabinet of Opportunities

Walking in the Wagner Institute is like walking in a time capsule. It illustrates the idea of how museum were like cabinets. Cabinets being define as a collection of artifacts in one single place.  The way the cabinets are displayed shows the ideals of Joseph Leidy.  Joseph Liedy provided the institute with most of their artifacts besides the founder William Wagner.  The left side of the collection starts off with the smallest of creatures, which is insects and it ends with human skeleton. And the right side of the collection is more geological; it has fossils and different types geomorphic structures.  The idea of classification is portrayed, with in the classification humans are last and this can be interpret as humans are the “superior” animal compare to all the other creature displayed.  At that time and still today humans view themselves as being the superior being.

The Wagner opened up in 1855, which at that time only Caucasian men were the only class that had the opportunities to gain an education. The Wagner institute was the first in its kind to open up science classes available to everyone. They still have classes today that are at night for people to expand their horizons. Today they have more programs for elementary students, Geo Kids being one of them.  The Wagner institute has not changed much in the 153 years it has been opened and that is why it is one of a kind museum. Many museums change with cultural patterns and new technologies.    It’s known for both its historical and scientific value to the community.