Favorite Things
Twenty years ago, this column began chronicling the Smithsonian's treasures
By Owen Edwards
Smithsonian magazine, May 2009
Twenty years ago this month, an inventive writer and editor at this magazine, Timothy Foote, came up with a concept that has proved decidedly durable. He suggested a recurring column with the title "The Object at Hand" and proposed it to then editor in chief Don Moser. The idea flew and "Object" remains aloft today.
Foote, who had been a senior editor at both Life and Time before joining Smithsonian, says he suspected there were countless tales residing in the Smithsonian's vast collections. "Those objects contain a lot of emotion as well as history," Foote told me recently. His idea was practical as well as prescient. "The column let us use the resources of the Institution," he said, "and connected readers with the collections."
Over the years, many writers have recounted the stories behind the objects, telling tales of everything from George Washington's tent to the bones of a U.S. cavalry camel. Inevitably, given the long life of the column and the extent of the collections, certain subgenres have emerged. Frequent forays have been made into the Institution's clothes closet. Writer Victoria Dawson revealed the back stories of Minnie Pearl's straw hat and Fred Rogers' cardigan sweater. I unearthed the history behind Amelia Earhart's leather flight coat and the "puffy" shirt from a favorite episode of "Seinfeld." The column also has paid homage to such classics as Crayola crayons and such quintessential items of Americana as the Miss America tiara.
For the past seven years, the column has afforded me the opportunity to speak with big-band great Artie Shaw about his clarinet—and with musician Benny Goodman's daughter about her father's clarinet. I've had a side-splitting conversation with comedian Phyllis Diller about her file of jokes. I've interviewed such personal heroes as writer-director Mel Brooks and musician-singer Michael Feinstein. And I've gotten to know some wonderful curators.
So my fellow writers and I—and our millions of readers—owe a debt of thanks to Tim Foote, who realized years ago that "you can just take the object and go...anywhere."
Owen Edwards is author of Elegant Solutions.
Comments (6)
looking for video coverage of lockheed sr 71 blackbird. from start of planing by kelly johnson to its last flight.
Posted by gus gustafson on May 28,2010 | 10:27 PM
GREAT STUFF !!!!
Posted by Kurt on April 23,2009 | 09:41 PM
As someone who has witnessed quite a bit of history in my relatively small time on this earth, it will be very interesting to see now that we are at only the beginning of the 21st Century what objects we will covent as true treasures, marking key events in our own histories and what items we will simply disgard as less important. Carpe Diem DT Ayer Alexandria VA
Posted by Todd Ayer on April 23,2009 | 03:57 PM
I am a volunteer at the Northeast Georgia History Center in Gainesville, Georgia. We have many school tours throughout the year for which our docents prepare a table with objects from our collection. Students are asked to guess what they are and then are informed about the story of each. They are as fascinated as I am with your column.
Posted by Cleda Locey on April 23,2009 | 12:53 PM
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. My father, Albert Warren Carson, was employed as "private messenger boy" for First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She used to give lunch hour dance lessons on the rooftop of the OCD (Office of Civilian Defense) - Dupont Circle Apartment Building. I have a newsclipping with the two of them doing the Virginia Reel.
Posted by Nancy Kelly on April 23,2009 | 06:52 AM
It has always been one of my favorites in the Smithsonian. Keep up the interesting work.
Posted by Sven Borei on April 22,2009 | 01:54 AM