WEBVTT - What’s the World’s Greatest Tiny Museum? 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.479 You're listening to part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:12.479 and iHeartRadio. Guess what, gab? 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:13.560 What's that mango? 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.400 So for a long time, spider silk has been considered 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:22.000 the world's strongest biological material. It is even tougher than kevlar, 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:25.320 which is used in bulletproof vests. Of course, but according 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.640 to engineers in the UK, the substance found in limpet 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.760 teeth is actually five times stronger than spider silk. In fact, 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.400 the tensile strength of the limpet's tooth material is so 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.199 great that a single strand of it could withstand the 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:42.840 same amount of pressure needed to turn carbon into diamonds. 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:43.599 Isn't that insane? 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.800 Wow? Yeah, I mean that's pretty incredible. But I think 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.760 I speak for everyone when I ask what is a limpet? 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.320 Yeah? I feel like limpits aren't the household name they 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:57.000 should be. But a limpit is a kind of mollusk. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.880 It's an aquatic snail, to be precise, and they feed 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.920 on the algae that grows along rocky shorelines, which is 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:05.240 why their teeth need to be extra tough to stand 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.199 up to all that cutting and scraping. I see. 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.600 Okay, So are all mollusc teeth that tough for our 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:12.640 limpets the exception. 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.920 Yeah, so not every kind of limpet has teeth that strong, 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:18.880 and some mollusks, like cuttlefish, don't even have teeth at all. 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.319 Wait, so cuddlefish or molluscs too, I'm just trying to keep. 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.480 Up your Yeah, the mollusc family is one of the 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.720 weirdest and most diverse in the animal kingdom. Like clams 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:32.640 are technically mollusks, and so are squids, sea snails, sea slugs. 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:36.440 Like all of those animals look so different, but because 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:40.000 they share a few unique traits, they're all categorized as mallus. 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:42.959 Hmmm, well, mango, I hope you don't mind me asking this, 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.720 but how do you know so much about mollus. 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.120 Well, for a while, my friend and I were trying 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.520 to make a show called America's Next Top Mollusc. That's 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.080 a true thing didn't take off. Felt like it would 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:56.880 be a good YouTube show, it would be really funny. 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.960 But I also did win two gold medals a year 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.800 after year at the Science Olympics in a category called 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:07.520 name that Organism, where you were giving fifty objects and 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:09.440 you had to identify them. Put down their file them 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:11.720 in class. So I weirdly do know a lot about 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:16.000 looks it, But everything else I know about Malis is 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:19.280 thanks to my visit to the world's smallest mollusc museum. 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:21.840 It's only about the size of a refrigerator, but it 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:26.160 is jam packed with eye catching displays, activities, and info 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:28.880 like everything you need to bone up on mallus in 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:30.040 just a matter of minutes. 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.639 Is this something you came across in New York? Or 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:35.239 where is this located? Exactly? So that's the thing. 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.680 There's more than one mollusc museum and you never know 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:40.880 where you might run into it. It's all part of 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.880 this ingenious program run by a New York based nonprofit 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:48.480 called micro and they build these compact, modular exhibits and 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.760 stock them with three D printed models rather than like 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:55.200 one of the kind artifacts, and the six foot kiosks 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:59.640 are installed in everyday public places like libraries, hospital waiting rooms, 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:01.960 and air So the one I actually saw was at 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.799 the Bronx Library, but they're about a dozen participating locations 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.160 all over New York and the point of the program 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:10.520 is to extend the learning experience of a museum to 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.600 people who might never visit a traditional museum on their own. 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:15.959 So in the coming years, the plan is to roll 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.960 out these mini museums to other states, and not just 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.160 the major cities, but rural areas too. 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.320 That is pretty cool, but I do have to ask 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.640 why molluscs like it just seems like such a random 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:28.799 subject to start with. 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.280 So there's actually this funny story behind it. So the 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:39.120 co founders of Micro, Charles Phillip and Amandescochet, when they 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:42.160 were first developing the idea, Charles suggested that they visit 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.960 the smallest museum in the world for inspiration, and Amanda 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:50.320 misheard him and she thought he said mollusc museum instead 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.120 of smallest And so they both like the idea of 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.440 a mollusc museum, but when they looked into it, they 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:59.320 realized no such place existed, so they decided they had 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:00.560 to make one for themselves. 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:03.120 I like that, yeah, So not only is this the 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.600 world's smallest mollusk museum, it's like the only one. 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.440 Yeah. But it's worth noting that since launching its first 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:14.000 museum in twenty seventeen, Micro has added two other offerings 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.360 to its Tiny Museum series. There is the Perpetual Motion Museum, 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.400 which is all about the Earth's energy system, and the 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.599 Museum of Care, which explores the history and impact of 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:27.839 frontline health workers. So if soft bodied marine animals aren't 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:31.800 your thing, you do have options. Well, it is. 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:35.279 Probably good that they aren't restricting themselves solely to mollusks, 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.520 But I do like that single subject approach, like to 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.359 museum learning. We're so used to carving out a whole 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:44.320 day to visit a museum, and even then you still 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.000 have to choose which exhibits to hit because there's just 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:49.400 no way to see them all. But if you shrink 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:52.520 the space and like limit your scope to a single subject, 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.080 all of a sudden, visiting a museum becomes a lot 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:56.000 more manageable. 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.960 Yeah. Now, of course normal sized museums are great, but 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.200 there's something really special about touring a small museum and 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.080 feeling like you got to see everything it has to offer. 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.080 So with that in mind, we thought it'd be fun 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.960 to explore some of the smallest, most niche museums that 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:12.479 have been cropping up all over the world in recent years. 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.000 They may not have the square footage of the met 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.279 or the prestige of the Smithsonian, but their tiny collections 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:42.160 still have tons to offer, so let's dive in. Hey, 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.680 their podcast listeners, welcome to part time Genius. I'm monga 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:48.719 Shigether and Will is traveling today, So instead I've roped 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:52.679 in my friend and our researcher here, Gave Lucier, and 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:56.840 on the other side of that soundproof glass organizing his 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.400 own mini museum right there on his desk, that is 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:02.839 our friend and producer Dylan Fagan. 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.240 All right, so I know I'm the guest, and I 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.560 probably shouldn't say this, but that is a pretty sorry 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:12.360 looking collection so far. He's got a coffee sleeve, the 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:16.160 wire fastener from a champagne cork, and some of those 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.240 stringy bits you find when you peel a banana. Yeah, 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.080 I mean, did you even ask him the name of 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.680 his museum. It's called the Museum of Mundane Objects with 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.640 whimsical sounding names. So if you look at the little 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.720 placards he's posting out there, that paper coffee sleeve is 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.800 known as a zarf, the wire cage that holds the 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.560 cork in is called a muslet, and the gross strings 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:41.080 inside banana are called floham bundles. Oh okay, well, I 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.159 guess I stand correct to then so here you go, Dylan. 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.360 Just to show no hard feelings, I'd like to donate 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.000 one of my shoelaces to add to your collection. The 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.080 plastic tubes at the ends are called agltz, so they 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:53.120 should fit right in there. 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:55.520 I like that you're taking off just one lace here. 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.680 But I'm sure like everyone on staff here, I love 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.840 cork museums. I know you do. I'm sure Mary does 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:06.000 and will as well. But a few years ago for Christmas, 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.919 my sister in law Laura bought me the most wonderful gift. 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:10.920 It's a mini museum that just sits on your desk. 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:13.920 Have you seen these No, It's like tiny, tiny fragments 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.280 of things, and they're all sort of like lined up, 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.280 and it's everything from like a piece of Steve Jobs's 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:22.840 turtleneck to a slot cloth to like a megalodon too. 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.480 It's all in this tiny acrylic display. It is so 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:28.000 nerdy and I absolutely love it. 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:32.840 Yeah, way to go, Laura. That actually dovetails really nicely 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.760 with my first fact here. So obviously, humans have a 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.600 long record of collecting and preserving artifacts in small spaces, 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.040 and one of the earliest examples of that comes from 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:45.840 ancient Alexandria, where the royal family of the Ptolemys founded 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.120 the first temple to the Muses. The Greeks called this 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:53.000 temple the Mushion, which means seed of the muses, and 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.280 of course that's where the word museum comes from. 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:56.000 Now. 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.640 The muscion was mostly a place for scholars to engage 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.320 in intellectual pursuits, scholarly type stuff and kind of like 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.680 an ancient research institute, but it was also a storehouse 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:10.000 for sculptures and other artistic works that were deemed culturally 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:14.240 or religiously important, and from there the tradition of displaying 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:18.200 these precious objects was carried forward to royal treasure houses, 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.920 where kings would show off the spoils of war and 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:23.360 all the fancy swag they received from other rulers. 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:25.600 So I mean, it sounds like there was a brief 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.720 period where those kinds of treasures and works of art 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.560 were really accessible to the public, like a modern museum, 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:33.800 but then most of it got moved to these exclusive 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:37.120 places like royal palaces or mansions or. 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:41.120 Yeah, no exactly, and that private approach to collecting became 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.120 the norm in Europe for centuries after that, with most 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.840 of the good stuff being hoarded by royals and religious 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.120 institutions like the Catholic Church. It really wasn't until the 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:53.600 sixteenth century or so that the general public was finally 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.400 able to get their hands on true objects of interest. 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.560 So what really caused the change then, well, the put 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:04.560 in blood colonialism. Merchant sailors started bringing back unusual objects 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.880 from the far away places they visited, and this influx 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:11.840 of exotic works of art and natural specimens threw European 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:16.719 elites into a collecting frenzy. The merchants, aristocrats, and scholars. 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:18.840 They were all competing with each other to build the 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:22.160 strangest assortment of objects they could find, and as their 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.520 collections grew, they began to develop new ways of organizing 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:30.199 and displaying their prized possessions. The pastime proved especially popular 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.319 among the growing merchant class in Germany, where they coined 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:37.480 the term wounder commer or room of wonder to describe 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:39.000 these expansive collections. 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.640 So these people were just like dedicating an entire room 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:44.679 in their houses for these collections. 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:48.160 Yeah, I mean the wealthiest collectors did. The majority of them, 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.080 though they limited their displays to a smaller kind of 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.800 wounder commer it's what we often call a cabinet of curiosities. 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.080 And this was a specially designed piece of furniture with 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.920 lots of little built in shelves and secret compartments. And 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.640 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was common for 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.920 European hosts to entertain their guests by giving them a 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.160 guided tour of their cabinet's contents. 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.640 Yeah, that's so funny. Like, I've heard about a cabinet 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:15.760 of curiosities, but I always thought it was just like wordplay. 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:17.320 I didn't realize it was a real thing. So, like, 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.960 how good were these tours? Like most people weren't historians 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.000 or scientists, right, so like what did they actually know 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:23.600 about this stuff? 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.280 Yeah, I mean this was like post dinner entertainment, So 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.240 I'm guessing most people on the tour were like a 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.080 little tipsy by that point. They were probably a little 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:33.360 more open to being told about all this weird stuff. 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.240 But filling up a cabinet was more of a hobby 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:39.320 than a scientific pursuit. Yeah, And in fact, the items 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:44.080 weren't even arranged in any particular order, like geographically or chronologically. 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.880 The owners mostly went by esthetic appeal, grouping objects in 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:52.000 ways that highlighted their different forms, textures, and colors, and 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:54.959 in that way, a cabinet really revealed more about its 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.319 owner than it did the objects on display. 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:01.400 That's really interesting. So every cab and it had like 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:03.920 its own particular set of curiosities. 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:07.000 Yeah, for the most part. But the objects did tend 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.360 to fall into two main categories. The first was called 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:13.520 naturalia and it was made up of you know, objects 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.920 from the natural world, so stuff like preserved animals, plant specimens, 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:23.720 rock samples, you know, Fijian mermaids. And the second category artificialita. 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:26.800 It consisted of all your man made objects, so works 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:31.200 of art, cultural artifacts, and scientific instruments. The best cabinets 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.960 out there included a balanced mix of items from both categories, 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:36.880 and that was meant to reflect, you know, the well 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:38.640 rounded intellects of the owners. 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:40.600 I kind of love that this is almost like a 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:45.520 precursor to like showing families, slide shows on the carousel 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.520 or something. Right, that's like a way to entertain someone 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.280 with like what you've done or what your personality is like. 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.000 And these really do feel like many museums, right, Like 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.880 it's almost like a personal essay a museum and a 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.840 status symbol kind of all rolled into one piece of furniture. 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.360 Yeah, we right, one giant piece of furniture. Yeah, And 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.440 I mean but to be fair, building a cabinet it 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.040 like did have a deeper appeal than just showing off 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:11.960 to dinner guests. The real goal was to recreate the 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.920 world in miniature as a way to make its true 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:19.440 size feel less overwhelming. So the objects on display were 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.440 meant to reflect the complexity and the diversity of the world, 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.199 all the strange new things that were coming to light 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:29.199 during the Age of Discovery. So gathering and categorizing these 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.280 unusual objects it allowed the owners to feel a sense 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.920 of control, like they still had a grip on things. 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.200 And it's interesting because you can kind of see a 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.679 mindset there where it's not enough to just encounter or 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.640 study the exotic you also have to own it and 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:46.400 like make it a reflection of yourself. 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:47.600 Anyway. 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:50.400 Once cabinets and curiosities fell out of fashion in the 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:54.800 nineteenth century, European monarchs and other powerful nobles began gifting 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:58.520 theirs to the public, and these once private collections became 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.800 the starting points for institutions like the British Museum and 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:05.840 the Prato, and when it came time to expand those collections, 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:10.400 the museums unfortunately continued to purchase and loot precious artifacts 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.160 from colonized countries, just like the cabinet owners before them. 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:16.600 Yeah, I mean, that's definitely the ugly side of the 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.960 museum model, though obviously institutions have started to reckon with 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.280 it and have been changing their practices going forward. Now, 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:25.560 I want to talk about one museum that does not 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.080 have any of these issues. It is a tiny museum, 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:30.240 one of the smallest museums I read about. It is 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:34.679 the Warley Museum in Warleytown, England. It is housed inside 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.400 a decommissioned phone booth, one of those red iconic phone 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.680 booths that I sure you know of, and all of 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:44.720 the items on display there were donated by local residents. 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:46.400 So like, what kind of stuff are they bringing? 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:50.160 Yeah, it's really sweet. Like the museum's focus is local history, 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.440 so there is a permanent exhibit about the town's founding 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.640 and some of the notable people who've lived there over 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:59.160 the years, but there's also a rotating display of personal items, 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:03.800 including things like books, photographs, toy soldiers, antique jewelry. Even 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.400 like the items are grouped into themed collections, and they're 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:10.400 displayed inside locked cases that can be viewed from both 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.720 inside and outside the booth. And you know, the displays 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.000 are switched out every few months to keep things fresh. 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:18.880 I gotta say that's a pretty genius idea to have 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:23.440 like a dual sided display wall, because it's like, I'm 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:27.280 guessing they only let one person in at a time, right, you. 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.480 Know what's strange is that you actually let yourself in, 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:33.000 Like the museum is only unlocked on certain days, but 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:35.600 if you happen to be by at the right time, 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:37.640 you can just kind of like open the door and 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.960 check it out for free. As for how many people 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.680 can fit inside at once, I am not sure there's 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.440 an official rule about it, but viewing the museum one 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:48.040 at a time is probably the way to go. 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.160 Are you sure about that? Because I think the phone 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:54.640 booth stuffing record is still like twenty five people. 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:59.640 So I love those photos of like when that was 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:01.600 a fat did you see like just like legs and 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:02.840 arms taking out of a phone. 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.640 It's like fifty years later and that record still stands. 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:07.080 I think it's South Africa. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.480 But yeah, well, don't try to try to break in 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.000 Warley Town, because I'm not sure they'd appreciate it, But 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:15.960 I do love how the phone with itself kind of 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.360 feels like a throwback to you know something you said 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:21.200 about the Cabinet of Curiosity, which is how they're kind 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.520 of expressions of the people who made them, almost like 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:27.240 a personal essay written with physical objects, except in this case, 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:30.320 it's an entire town that's being chronicled along with all 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:32.920 the people who've made it what it is. Yeah, I like. 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.760 That, and you know, the chance to tell more individual 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.280 stories is probably one of the greatest strengths of a 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:41.200 small museum. I think part of what's so attractive about 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.560 them is, you know, how they blur the line between 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:47.560 traditional museums and private collections. Like I was flipping through 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.760 a book this week called Cultures of Collecting by Roger Cardinal, 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.760 and the main distinction he drew between a museum and 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.720 a collection is personal passion. So as he put it, quote, 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.360 while the museum is associated prime with the public and 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.880 the state and with a condition of permanence, collecting is 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:09.360 usually understood as a private and impassioned pursuit. The museum 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:13.160 expresses a detached mastery over the objects and fields of 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:16.960 knowledge that constitute its strengths. But the collector who may 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.480 become the museum's donor as a personal preoccupation. 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.720 That's so funny. I never really thought about museums as 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.440 detached from that sort of like you know, feeling of 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.280 possession or whatever versus like, you know, collectors are obviously 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.440 like obsessed with pet dispensers or toasters or whatever, right, 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:33.520 Like it's a preoccupation. 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:34.680 Yeah, they're way into it. 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:37.360 Well, I know we've got lots more to cover, but 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:55.080 before we do, let's take a quick break. You're listening 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:56.880 to Part Time Genius and we're talking about the big 0:16:56.920 --> 0:17:00.640 ideas behind the world's smallest museums. All right, lead the way. 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:02.760 What's the next stop on our tour? 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:05.680 So this next one is a little tough to pin 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.400 down because it's actually a traveling museum, and it also 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:11.520 has a much longer name than you'd expect from such 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:15.280 a small museum. It's called the World's Largest Collection of 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:24.200 World's smallest versions of World's largest things, or you know, WLCOWSVOWLT. 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:30.480 For sure, I feel like that abbreviation might actually take 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.480 longer to say, or even like more effort to say 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:37.719 So is this like a museum of miniatures or what 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:38.320 is it exactly? 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.120 Well, yeah, it's basically a love letter to all those 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.240 kitchy roadside attractions we have in the US, you know, 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.400 like the world's largest ball of twine or the world's 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:51.600 largest frying pan. The museum gives visitors the chance to 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:54.880 see all of those things in one place, just at 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:56.840 a much smaller scale. 0:17:58.280 --> 0:17:59.960 I mean, it's still a crazy name, but I guess 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:01.199 I'm starting to get a sense of what. 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:04.119 Yeah, well, I mean it is a pretty meta idea, 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:06.119 so it does take a minute to wrap your head around. 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.640 But the woman behind it is an artist named Erica Nelson, 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.040 and back in the early two thousands, she was road 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.680 tripping around the country and felt herself drawn to all 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:17.360 the small towns with an object that they build, as 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.360 you know, the world's largest and like any good collector, 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:24.000 she wanted a souvenir from each attraction, but since most 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:26.680 of the stops didn't offer any, she started to make 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.919 her own handcrafted replicas, and as Nelson's collection grew, she 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:34.000 started sharing it with others and eventually established a kind 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:38.720 of home base at the Roadside Sideshow Expo in Lucas, Kansas. 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.960 A little over two hundred miniatures can be seen there 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.080 on weekends from April through October, but the bulk of 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:47.159 her collection is actually out on the road as a 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:51.120 traveling exhibition. You can find its current whereabouts on Nelson's 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:53.520 Facebook page, or you can keep an eye out for 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:57.040 her rig in the wild. It currently includes three red 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.200 trailers made up to look like circus wagons. You know, 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:01.639 you'll definitely know it when you see it. 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.320 I love this idea. It is so ridiculous, and I 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.000 also just love the thought of stumbling across it while 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:10.880 like cruising down I seventy or whatever. You know, I'm 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.479 not sure i'd stop for the world's largest as salt shaker, 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:18.159 But like I feel like with this many small, large 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.640 things in one place, yeah, is definitely a mussy right, It's. 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:24.640 More bang for your buck, And I think the randomness 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:27.199 is what really makes this work. Like I read this 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:30.359 interview Nelson did with road Trippers and she pointed this 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.680 out herself. She said, quote, people going to a museum 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:37.000 expect to see something and may have already decided what 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:39.400 that's going to feel like. But when you happen upon 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:42.880 something in a parking lot. It's an unexpected little spark 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:43.840 to somebody's day. 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.160 Yeah, I love that. It's almost like those like little libraries. 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.240 When you find them, they're so joyous, you know, especially 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:53.119 when they're filled with books you like. But you know, 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.000 one of the things I love about small museums that 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.360 same feeling. Right, you don't know when you're gonna come 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.560 across an interesting one, and when you do, checking it out, 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:03.560 like I feel like it doesn't eat up your entire day. 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:04.760 That's part of the beauty of them. 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:11.479 Yeah, and one thing I really like about WLCOWSVOWLT in 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.639 particular is that I have you member or are you 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:18.159 looking at I had to look very carefully to make 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:21.720 sure I didn't leave all a letter. But anyway, the 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:24.359 thing I like about you know that one is that 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:27.320 despite the small scale of the objects, it still has 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.639 a massive scope, Like there are hundreds and hundreds of 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.359 these replicas. So once again, it's kind of like a 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.200 throwback to a cabinet of curiosity, where you had this 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.199 whole little microcosm packed into a small space. 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:43.119 Yeah, I dig it. So the next mini museum I 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:45.720 want to recommend has a much narrow theme. It is 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:49.000 called the gifts from the c Seashell Museum, and it 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:51.800 is located in a small village of Cherokee Sound in 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:55.280 the Bahamas. Now, there are actually quite a few seashell 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.919 museums out there, but this one is considered the world's smallest. 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.720 It is also inside a nineteen fifties telegraph office that 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:07.040 was completely renovated and redecorated in twenty seventeen as part 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.840 of a community project, and the ribbon cutting was actually 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:13.120 overseen by the original telegraph operator who had worked there 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:16.640 until the late nineteen eighties. Wow. Now it was given 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.919 a noon lease on life. This tiny building now boasts 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:24.399