009 - Arsenic and Old Paint

07/27/18 • 53 min

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

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.

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008 - Fern Fever

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.

Next Episode

010 - The Skylight Caper

Another heist episode babyyyy! On Labour Day Weekend 1972, three thieves made off with 2 million dollars worth of art and jewelry from the Montreal Museum of Fine Art in Canada's largest art heist - and it's never been solved. Shan walks Jaybee through the case, digging into the research of Catherine Schofield Sezgin to lay out the known facts of The Skylight Caper! True crime in museums? Dreamy.

Learn more on Ms. Sezgin's blog here http://unsolved-1972-theft-montreal.blogspot.ca/

Or in her article for the Journal of Art Crime, Fall 2010 issue, here (pdf):

http://www.artcrimeresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/JAC-Fall-2010-eVersion-Final.pdf