Published: October 29, 2009 10:25 am      

‘A Cabinet of Curiosities’ on display

Dating from the 16th century, the earliest name in English for what is now regarded as a museum was “cabinet of curiosities.” The term refers to a room in a wealthy person’s home that displayed the owner’s collection of exotic, or “curious,” items.

The exhibit “A Cabinet of Curiosities” is on display in the Goshen College Good Library Gallery (lower level) through Dec. 11. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

The exhibit emphasizes the miscellaneous rather than the exotic nature of the collection of artifacts maintained by the Mennonite Historical Library at Goshen College. The unifying connection between the items displayed in the exhibit is that they haven’t appeared before in any of the 27 exhibits sponsored by the college’s Mennonite-Amish Museum Committee.

“Some items are very new, but may not find their way into a themed exhibit for a very long time,” said Ervin Beck, researcher for the exhibit. “Some items have been in the collection for many years and, finally, can be shown to the public. And some items may never again be displayed — usually because they are ‘mistakes’ or ‘fakes.’”

New items include former Goshen College President Shirley Showalter’s ceremonial dress, a pictorial quilt by Robert Fisher of Goshen and an elaborate musical marble race game made by Eldo Buller from Illinois. Items that are finally on display for the public after being in the collection for awhile include an Elkhart Institute poster of the Coming Men of America Debating Club from 1901; a commemorative Mennonite Central Committee relief sale quilt from 1983; and a box that is one of the few items that survive from this history of the Wadsworth Institute in Ohio, the first school of higher education sponsored by U.S. Mennonites. And among the items that may be considered “fakes” are several that have been altered to seem antique rather than new.

The Library Gallery, located on the lower level of the Harold and Wilma Good Library on the campus of Goshen College, is open from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 11 p.m. Sunday.