Curio: History, Museums, and the Things We Put in Them

A special guest host and a physical manifestation of an acid trip, we cover the famous roadside attraction The House on the Rock, this time on Curio! Shan loves the place - and it turns out, so does famed museum consultant Beverly Serrell! There's a lot to learn from this mish mash of objects, architecture, and art, and things get pretty... theoretical. Oh, also, American Gods references, obviously. Neil Gaiman has a heck of a take.

How many poisons are there lurking in museums? A lot. But mostly it's arsenic. From taxidermy to cosmetics, arsenic is everywhere! But the most striking examples are the beautiful pigments and dyes made from arsenic. This week on Curio, Shan informs Jaybee of the deadly dresses, sinister wallpapers, and killer books that hide in museum collections. And the Milkshake Murder. And William Morris! Be careful when handling old green stuff: turns out a lot of it can kill you.

Pteridomania: an excessive love of ferns.

This week Shan walks Jaybee through the crazy chain of events, from a guy named Ward just trying to watch a moth emerge from a pupa, through the breaking of monopolies, the first female photographer, the near-extinction and creation of species of fern, definition of the aesthetic of an era, which led to our modern biodiverse botanical gardens! Because botanical gardens are museums, too. Expect adventure, romance, crime, and ferns. So, so many ferns.

It's a heist!!! Shan talks about her favourite museum heist (so far): the "theft" of the bust of Nefertiti from the Neues Museum, Berlin. From the unearthing of the bust in the early 20th century to its theft via Kinect camera in 2016, it's a strange and winding road.

A lot of museum stuff is old. Including the displays. They hide... secrets. Shan regales Jaybee with four tales of human remains showing up in exhibits where they should not have been.

Warning: this episode deals with death and desecration of human remains and some pretty awful racism so... take care of yourselves. Do what you gotta do.

Be nice to each other.