Podcasts
I hadn’t visited MuseumPods for some time, so I was delighted today to rediscover their extensive catalog of museum podcasts. Go check it out!
Podcast User Magazine offers tips to both those who produce and those who listen to podcasts. Issues are free PDF downloads. (via Past Thinking)
Also, The Museum Detective now has podcasts. You can either listen to them on the blog itself or subscribe to the series in iTunes. Good listening!
History
I recently revisited NPR’s very strong Hidden Treasures series. Have you listened to any of the episodes? They provide a good model for museum pocasts about material culture.
I just discovered the extremely well done Sacramento History Online, a project of California State Library’s California History Room, the California State Railroad Museum Library, the Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center, and the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room. The site has a ton of fabulous images, and I hope in the future the site expands to cover more than agriculture and transportation. Here’s a sampling:
Southern Pacific Railroad Sacramento Shops complex: celebration to mark arrival of SP steam locomotive No. 5000. California State Railroad Museum Library, CSRM Negative 28153.
Fruit packing shed. California State Library, California History Room, Negative 5073.
Just as impressive–and greater in subject scope–is the Powerhouse Museum’s Powerhouse Museum Collection 2.0 database. I could play around conduct research in these databases for hours at a time.
Miscellany
Tom Scheinfeldt of Found History ponders exactly what makes a museum. His reflections are in response to the NPR segment inspired by Coudal Partners’ wonderful Museum of Online Museums.
Have you heard of Zotero, the Firefox extension previously known as Scholar for Firefox? Dan Cohen of Digital History Hacks showcases how to use this tool for collaborative work.
Mister Jalopy celebrates some unusually themed dinnerware. An excerpt:
I was not prepared for The Hippopotamus Service as it changed the way that I view the world. On the best days, you see something that you are absolutely positive you will remember for the rest of your life.I believe in objects – worn, proletariat, celebrated, tiny, grand, sitting on dusty shelves in suburban garages, rusty, forgotten, reviled, behind glass in museums, praised, mechanical, pristine, decorative, functional, authentic, playful, historic, perfect, personal and profound.
