Our Navy's Long History

In 1832, Alexander Parris designed this granite block building that now houses the museum for the U.S. Frigate Constitution anchored nearby in the Charlestown Navy Yard. I would hazard a guess that this was built with Quincy granite but I haven't been able to document that.   Parris was an innovator of naval architecture and much of his naval architectural work can be viewed here.

Sunday, Sunday

There are worse things you could do than sit on the back steps of Pasadena's Central Library on a Sunday. (Not all branches are open today, but this one's open from 1-5.)

You could go north, where the Friends of the Altadena Library conclude this year's book sale from 1-4pm.

You could catch five free museums at Museums of the Arroyo Day (MOTA). 

And it's open house weekend at the Jet Propulsion Lab, when our normally modest rocket scientists get to show off.

No matter your plans, keep in mind that the Pasadena Marathon is also today, so check the map for street closures before you head out if you want to find the runners--or if you don't.

Still Here

I saw remnants of bleachers piled near Pasadena City College on Tuesday. The crews are cleaning up. But these bleachers remained intact yesterday. They're the biggies, the ones you see on TV, right across the street from the Norton Simon Museum.

I think this is Pasadena's equivalent of not being ready to take the Christmas tree down yet.

Beautiful Science 2

I have to show you one more book from the Beautiful Science exhibit at the Huntington.

I took other pictures. The light bulb shot didn't turn out so well (sorry, d53, I guess you'll have to go see them in person). And the red room - well, it's red. It's not orange. I know, excuses. But the book pics are fine, plus I love this one. Isn't it - what's the word - quaint?

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Dan Lewis, the Huntington's Dibner Senior Curator for the History of Science and Technology, put together this exhibit called Beautiful Science. John and I went to the curator's tour the other night. Mr. Lewis is the guy who wrote the cards perched next to the various books and items in the exhibit, so he's the guy who wrote this:

"The first illustrated medical text ever printed, this collection of treatises covers a broad spectrum of medieval European knowledge and practice. This scene shows anatomist Mondino dei Liuzzi giving a lesson while a cadaver is dissected. The legality of dissection in medieval Europe varied from time to time and place to place. When this work was written, dissection was still illegal in much of Europe, so illustrations showing anatomical structure were especially valuable to the many medical practitioners who could not study it firsthand."

I managed to cut off the top of the card so I don't know if this book is Andreas Vesalius’ treatise on human anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica (1543), described on the Huntington's website. But it could be, and if not, okay, well that's in the exhibit, too.

Beautiful Science

John and I splurged on an evening out the other night. We planned ahead, made reservations and bought tickets for a special event: the curator tour of a new permanent exhibit at the Huntington Library. It's called Beautiful Science: Ideas that Changed the World.

Dan Lewis, the Huntington's Dibner Senior Curator for the History of Science and Technology, somehow got this wacky idea that science is beautiful. He went about putting together an exhibit of books and objects significant to the history of science as well as beautiful in and of themselves. Lewis gave an introductory talk to the 20 of us who were lucky enough to have made reservations early. Then he let us loose.

The Huntington Library already owned a vast collection of books relating to the history of science when, in 2006, it received the donation of the 67,000-volume Burndy Library from the Dibner family of Connecticut. This new exhibit features some of the most significant books and manuscripts of the now-combined collection (think Edwin Hubble's copy of Copernicus’ De revolutionibus), augmented by other fun stuff - like a prism experiment, antique medical models and the coolest collection of light bulbs I've ever seen.

Not that I've seen a lot of light bulb collections. But!

I love books, especially rare and ancient ones. I marvelled at 13th century astronomy books. I gaped at the sight of at least a hundred volumes of Charles Darwin's The Origin of the Species in different languages and editions, lined up in a special case in a red room. I liked the optics room with its twinkly lights and I think kids will especially love it. But my favorite was the section on medicine and childbirth, with its gruesomely beautiful texts and drawings from the days when medicine was first breaking taboos to learn the workings of the human body.

The 16th century astronomy book above has colorful moving dials for measuring the heavens. Behind it is a mural created specifically for the exhibit, depicting the view you'd see if no wall separated you from a San Gabriel Valley night without light pollution - something like what Hale and Einstein might have seen over 75 years ago.

More pics tomorrow.

Storm Clouds Over the Pacific Asia Museum

The Pacific Asia Museum was closed today, as were the LA County Museum of Art and other area art institutions. The New York Times said these museums (major ones) were raided by Federal agents looking for Southeast Asian antiquities thought to have been obtained illegally (i.e., looted) and smuggled into the U.S. in an alleged donation scheme that involved defrauding the IRS.

It was noon when I got to the museum. A few agents stood shivering outside. They were friendly, but didn't say much except the museum was closed for the investigation.

"Western" looting of "eastern" artifacts isn't new. Think of LA's Getty Musem and New York's Metropolitan Museum, both of which have recently been caught with the goods and forced to return them. Hell, think of the Elgin Marbles (which won't likely be returning to Greece any time soon). What's new is the crackdown.

A looted item loses its historical and archaeological context. For months now, I've been following a discussion about the importance of of provenance in Archaeology Magazine, which puts it in layman's terms I can appreciate.