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Essentials in
History
What is a crummy old suitcase doing in the museum?
What about that crummy old suitcase?
Updated: 9/30/2002 10:06:00 AM
by Ruth Blazina-Joyce, Former Curator/Archivist, Heritage Hall Museum of Barbershop Harmony
The museum’s collections management policy states: “The museum exists to collect, preserve, and exhibit the heritage of the SPEBSQSA and to enhance the appreciation and understanding of its past, present, and future.” Museums have lots of “stuff.” They collect it, they take care of it, they put it on exhibit so you can see it, and then they tell you all about it. It’s one of the things that makes museums different. It’s part of what makes museums, well, museums.
Every year, boxes and packages and envelopes arrive at the Heritage Hall Museum. Each contains more stuff—photographs, documents, artifacts, recordings, memorabilia.
Why does the museum want this stuff? It takes space and time and effort to take care of it all. It all has to be assessed to see what should be kept and what should not. It has to be inventoried and recorded. It has to be researched and documented for the collections files. Some of it needs to be stabilized or repaired, and all of it has to be properly stored.
So, why does the museum want it? Because each piece in our collection is a piece of history, a link to our barbershopping heritage.
Take that battered suitcase in our collection. Its sides are plastered with old airline stickers. It once belonged to Jiggs Ward, bari of the 1948 champion quartet, the Pittsburghers. It is one of a set of four presented to the new champs by their home chapter, and it was used on every trip the quartet took during its championship year.
But there is more that lies behind the suitcase. In 61 weeks, the Pittsburghers made more than 200 appearances, in 18 states and provinces, traveling by plane, train, and automobile.
So what thoughts does this suitcase inspire? What of the stamina and dedication of this quartet? Of the support and understanding of their families? How different is a quartet at the end of its championship year? What effect have changes in transportation and communication had on quartet appearances? Have these changes made it easier for more people to attend conventions? How does increasing convention attendance affect the choice of convention locales?
An artifact opens a window to the past, giving us a glimpse of what we were. And in thinking about that, we think of what we are, and what we can be. And that’s why a battered suitcase rests on a shelf in the museum.
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