Coming Soon: Occupy Wall Street, the Museum Exhibit
- Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:09pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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Jean Ashton, left, library director at the New-York Historical Society, and Matthew Murphy, the library's head of cataloging, display part of a growing collection of Occupy Wall Street items, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
NEW YORK (AP) — Occupy Wall Street may still be working to shake the notion it represents a passing outburst of rage, but some establishment institutions have already decided the movement’s artifacts are worthy of historic preservation.
More than a half-dozen major museums and organizations from the Smithsonian Institution to the New-York Historical Society have been avidly collecting materials produced by the Occupy movement.
(Related: Does This Belong in a Museum? Smithsonian is Collecting Occupy Wall Street Signs)
Staffers have been sent to occupied parks to rummage for buttons, signs, posters and documents. Websites and tweets have been archived for digital eternity. And museums have approached individual protesters directly to obtain posters and other ephemera.
The Museum of the City of New York is planning an exhibition on Occupy for next month.
“Occupy is sexy,” said Ben Alexander, who is head of special collections and archives at Queens College in New York, which has been collecting Occupy materials. “It sounds hip. A lot of people want to be associated with it.”
To keep established institutions from shaping the movement’s short history, protesters have formed their own archive group, stashing away hundreds of cardboard signs, posters, fliers, buttons, periodicals, documents and banners in temporary storage while they seek a permanent home for the materials.
“We want to make sure we collect it from our perspective so that it can be represented as best as possible,” said Amy Roberts, a library and information studies graduate student at Queens College who helped create the archives working group.
The archives group has been approached by institutions seeking to borrow or acquire Occupy materials. Roberts said they were discussing donating the entire collection to the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University. Tamiment declined to comment.
A handful of protesters began camping out in September in a lower Manhattan plaza called Zuccotti Park, outraged at Wall Street excess and income inequality; they were soon joined by others who set up tents and promised to occupy “all day, all night.” Similar camps sprouted in dozens of cities nationwide and around the world. Many were forcibly cleared.
Much of the frenzied collection by institutions began in the early weeks of the protests. In part, they were seeking to collect and preserve as insurance against the possibility history might be lost – not an unusual stance by archivists.
What appears to be different is the level of interest from mainstream institutions across a wide geographic spectrum and the new digital-only ventures that have sprung up to preserve the movement’s online history.
The lavish attention poured on the liberal-leaning movement has not gone unnoticed by conservatives.
Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, blogged sarcastically under its “Corruption Chronicles” about the choice by the Smithsonian to document Occupy.
“It looks like it’s taxpayer-funded hoarding, as opposed to rigorous historical collecting,” said Tom Fitton, president of the organization.
The Smithsonian said its American history collection also now includes materials related to the massive tea party rally against health care reform in March 2010 and materials from the American Conservative Union’s Washington, D.C., conference in February.
The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University launched OccupyArchive.org in mid-October on a hunch that it could become historically important. So far, it has about 2,500 items in its online database, including compressed files of entire Occupy websites from around the country and hundreds of images scraped from photo-sharing site Flickr.
“This kind of social movement is probably more interesting to me, to be honest about it. And also so much of it is happening digitally. On webpages. On Twitter,” said Sheila Brennan, the associate director of public projects. “I guess I didn’t see as much of that with the tea party.”
Curators and those in charge of collections at institutions said it was not too soon to think about preserving elements of the Occupy movement.
“We like to collect things as they are happening before the artifacts go away,” said Esther Brumberg, senior curator of collections for the Museum of Jewish Heritage in lower Manhattan.
Brumberg said the museum had approached “Occupy Judaism” co-organizer Daniel Sieradski about a poster he had done for a Yom Kippur prayer service for protesters at Zuccotti Park that drew hundreds of people. The poster shows the silhouetted fiddler image from the Jewish musical “Fiddler on the Roof” astride the Wall Street bull.
Sieradski said it made sense that his poster should end up in the museum’s permanent collection.
“What I think is great is that they are actually looking to build their collection around contemporary American Jewish history and maybe broaden what their offerings are to the public so that they can tell a more complete story,” he said.
While there are no immediate plans to use the poster in an exhibition, Brumberg called it “just one of a number of instances of Jewish activism” that they are interested in and are trying to collect.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History gave a similar explanation for sending staff to Zuccotti Square during the encampment, where they were spotted picking up materials. The museum said it was part of its tradition of documenting how Americans participate in a democracy. It declined to allow staff to be interviewed.
“Historians like to take the long view and see how things play out,” said spokeswoman Valeska Hilbig in an email, adding that staff wouldn’t feel “comfortable” discussing the protests until some time had passed.
Staff at the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University set up a system to download and archive tweets about Occupy. So far, they have harvested more than 5 million tweets from more than 600,000 unique Twitter users. Ultimately the database will be made available to scholars, said Stewart Varner, the digital scholarship coordinator at the library.
The New York Public Library has added Occupy periodicals to its collection and is considering obtaining some protest ephemera.
And the Internet Archive, a massive online library of free digital books, audio and texts, has opened a mostly user-generated collection about the movement. As of Friday, the Occupy collection included more than 2,000 items, while its “Tea Party Movement” collection had fewer than 50.
Unlike other institutions focused only on collecting, the Museum of the City of New York is planning a photography exhibition on Occupy at its South Street Seaport Museum offshoot when it reopens in January.
Chief curator Sarah Henry said the museum will also include materials on the movement in a new gallery opening in the spring that focuses on social activism in New York City.
The New-York Historical Society has collected between 300 and 400 items from the movement, said Jean Ashton, the library director. Ashton recognized the contradiction inherent in an establishment institution collecting Occupy materials.
“There are probably people in Occupy Wall Street who the last thing they want is to have their materials in a library or museum somewhere,” she said.
Roberts, the OWS member who is on the archives working group, said it was good that such institutions want to document the movement. However, she said they would prefer the institutions collaborate with the participants. “We know more about the movement and the stories behind the materials that have been collected,” she said.
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Comments (76)
abbygirl1994
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:55pmCenturies from now someone will dig up this mueseum and will be shocked that anyone would waste their money on displaying old couches.. and tents, and porto potties.. pictures of the filth and excrement… if I were them I would just fill up tha hole and plant a vegetable garden.. We have all the pictures we need to remind us of the idiocy of the OWS, I would never spend a crying dime to go see it.. God help us.. a museum on liberalism.. whoopee!!!!!!!!
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 1:01amand there is this gem:
said Sheila Brennan, the associate director of public projects. “I guess I didn’t see as much of that with the tea party.
Sheila did not bother looking.
Report Post »bhohater
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 9:03amI must have missed something, the only “occupiers” I saw and heard on TV were just a bunch of dumb, lazy and dirty wing-nuts so far out in space they would have qualified for foreign aid. The only reason I can think of for the dems kissing up to that rabble is there was lots of potential fraudulent voters there.
Report Post »tifosa
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 9:41amProbably says a lot about what TV you’re watching, BHO. Merry Christmas.
Report Post »Zpro
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 5:21pmI would gladly submit my opinion to the collection. Watch THE 99 PERCENT http://goanimate.com/movie/09ctUSJB8p_U?utm_source=linkshare&uid=0GVVTfOjymE4
Report Post »Secret Squirrel
Posted on December 26, 2011 at 10:33am.
Report Post »Don’t step in the pile of poop in the corner,
it’s art.
ares338
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:36pmBarf……
Report Post »DesdemonasCrew
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 11:31pmMy exact feelings after reading this!! I got to the comment section and there it was…all of my feelings in four letters!!
Report Post »Access Denied
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 1:49am“Occupy is sexy,” said Ben Alexander, who is head of special collections and archives at Queens College in New York, which has been collecting Occupy materials. “It sounds hip.~~~~~~~~~
Report Post »Me thinks someone needs to get laid REAL bad.
TheCoffinMaker
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:33pmWhat nonsense!
To pick up rubbish and call it worthy of a museum attraction?
Liberalism, I mean insanity, on display.
Report Post »mbriz
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 9:20pmPut a psycho, lying ***** on the internet, and call it GBTV.
Report Post »70S_KIDS_FIGHTING_SOCIALISM
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 9:48pmAt mbwizonself
Report Post »They are the 99% of heroin and drug addicts who a re a disgrace two themselves their families, freedom and to the human race.
TEA PARTY UNTOUCHABLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DesdemonasCrew
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 11:38pmMBRIZ
Report Post »Where do you trolls reside when the sun is shining? You and all of your ilk are obvious plants, no sincerity in your point of view…Yes! Mein Commissar, I will post dumb A$$ comments at your command. I will try to overwhelm reasonable websites with our propaganda, regardless how stupid it makes us look. Domo Origato, Mr. Roboto!
Dumbwhiteguy
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:28pmWe are being gutted through the UN, our own government sanctions in the form of regulations that have sent all of our business overseas, the newest form of progressive government sanctions is finishing off the rest of the businesses by design.
Report Post »The ows just adds expense and creates the chaos needed to continue to overwhelm the system, With Agenda 21 the force is going to divide us and enforce the next wave ot sanctions against our Constitution, it’s just a matter of time.
Censored_by_the_Illuminati
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:23pmI certainly hope they include the freak taking a dump on the cop car.
Report Post »tifosa
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 9:07pmHow do you know he was an Occupyer?
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 10:38pmBecause he didn’t wipe his tifosa.
Report Post »sempek1
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:19pmScavenger for Occupy relics? Who are these morons?
Report Post »Dumbwhiteguy
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:51pmThese people are being community organized. Social media and the college systems are being used against us and people are willing to be swayed into thinking they are being ripped off and the system needs changed. I‘m pretty much a dummy but people don’t understand that the new system is already in place and chances are good it won’t end well.
Report Post »We have already been taken over, for most of you who don’t realize it. Now its just a matter of how it going to effect each person next.
Stoic one
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 1:05amSEMPEK1
Report Post ». . . . . . . . . .Government employees
ZengaPA65
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:18pmStupid.
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:02pmI know the whole OWS thing got old fast. Apparently now it’s ancient.
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:55pmThat’s exactly where these idiots belong,it‘s great let’s stuff all of them and label the exhibit human excrement losers.
Report Post »netmail
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:56pmYeah, lets celebrate America 2011, land of losers.
Report Post »ldaopines
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:42pmThat’s our media: Ignore Tea Parties which changed Washington via actual votes in 2010 and Shore Up OWS, a group of hooligans who publically poop, destroy property and attempt to collapse our system.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:55pmBingo !
Report Post »eshaw380
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:39pmIs it in the same wing as the TEA Party exhibit??????? Oh wait….nevermind.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:37pmSaid Amy Roberts “ the OWS member who is on the archives working group” would prefer “ that the institutions collaborate with the participants because ”We want to make sure we collect it from our perspective so that it can be represented as best as possible..” TRANSLATION : we want to make sure that the rapes, drugs, beatings, taunting of policemen , and defecating on police cars will NOT be shown. INSTEAD: We OWS people want us to look like a group of Mother Theresa’ Sisters of Charity who were trying to help the good poor people while the nasty Tea Party, and the 1% “ rich ” capitalist bigots persecuted us. BOTTOM LINE : This will be The Usual Big Lie Lefty Political Spin to control the recording of history – AS OWS WANTS IT TO BE RECORDED. Just more of the Lefty Propaganda Machine probably being funded by the same tax- paying suckers that the public unions gouge ! SPIN..and LIES..through Media control..
Report Post »YoungBloodNews
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:37pmHistory re-writing and whitewashing before our very eyes. No doubt these exhibits will praise the occupiers and tell of their sufferings and struggles. It will be left up to us to tell those after us about their rampant rape, drug use, violence, and public defecation – to show how it REALLY was…
The Tea Party won’t even be a footnote in their version of history (unless its negative).
Report Post »tifosa
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:30pmMaybe they’ll put a pond of green tea in the front yard.
Report Post »sndrman
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:26pmwonder if our media stopped giving them time or attention then they would go away but each story The Blaze prints brings them back to our forefront. the socialist media will always run stories on the owies kids but do we need to?
Report Post »Dumpa
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:41pmGreat point! I wish the media would just stop mentioning them, every mention adds fuel and redirects our collective attention away from useful information.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 9:04pmOur local media not only reports on it .. they tell them where the next Occupy will be .. the time and date .. we could barely get them to cover 1,000 + TEA Party people gathering .. and they will cover 10 Occupy!
MSM is DISGUSTING.
Report Post »TSUNAMI-22
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:15pmTake any land fill and place a OWS marquee in front of it. Viola, a OWS museum.
Report Post »possom
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:09pmWill they have a couple of hippie’s stuffed and put into a museum? I’d go to see that!
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:07pmAlso their ” medical marijuana ? ” etc. ?
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 10:49pm“Death of a Hippie”, Paul Thek, (Scupture), 1967.
Report Post »Sorry excuse for art but there you go.
Zurich
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:09pmAre they also planning to collect the poop that those idiots left behind on the streets to be displayed at the museum? These useful idiots are so arrogant that they now want to glorify all the **** they produced. They were never the 99%, they represent only 0.000099 % of the Nation, God bless!
Report Post »shagstar
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:58pmmy dogs are willing to donate several pieces of ow’s artifacts they leave in my yard twice a day!! fresh,no less (steam optional)
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:06pmLol – good one.
Report Post »Noonien_Soong
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:50pmThe only thing worth remembering is that OWS was an exercise in the theater of the absurd with over reaction towards revisionist history.
Report Post »armymp
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:47pmI love how they’re giving credibility to these lawless, do nothing leeches on society. This will empower them even more to start up again in full force once the weather gets better.
Report Post »tifosa
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:28pmThere’s a legitimacy to the Occupy movement that those immersed only in the rw media slop will never even see, much less understand.
Report Post »Lord_Frostwind
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:37pmAnd of course Ms. TIFOSA, that is certainly more credit than you will ever give the TEA Party or other groups in the United States that you disagree with. Truth of the matter is, to people like yourself and those who believe like you, there cannot be any legitimacy to something that disagrees with your preconceived notions, that is why you always talk about the Koch Brothers and other strawmen.
That is why you and yours shall never receive anything more than contempt me and others like me. And that is why I will never trust you.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:53pmTIF: Yes. I will NEVER understand the efficacy of this useless “Movement ” to protest ” greed.” No, there is nothing legitimate about a group which largely does not follow any concept of the Ten Commandments or public decency and feels entitled to 99% of the public space they invaded ; No, I am not “immersed in the tv media slop.” The only slop I saw was the selfish, spoiled, irresponsible, uncouth behavior of the Occupiers as they wasted my tax dollars, disrupted businesses, made intolerable noise, trashed our streets, and in general just made public nuisances of themselves. Putting lipstick on this OWS Pig is just a waste of make-up and a BIG LIE. They had no right to “occupy” public space and prevent others from enjoying the same access. The very word OCCUPY is a a red flag of uncivil disobedience .
Report Post »tifosa
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 9:00pmPlease, I give the teaparty credit, credit for voting in the most rigidly ideological, pledge-tied, middle-class hating, intransigents ever to enter our government, credit for handing our country a credit rating downgrade. Oh yeah, and they kept the malls clean….(but would like to deregulate our way to polluted waters/skies.) :^)
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 11:07pmtifosa…..Your myopic view is shared by the crew that never sleeps. That is, the ones who work endlessly for themselves with no effect and unaware or disdainful of their own helplessness.
Report Post »tifosa
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 9:44amRayblue, you mean the far rightwingers of course. Merry Christmas.
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 1:22pmDid your teeth fall out when you said “Christmas”?
Report Post »Or were they already gone like so many other hillbillies ?
tifosa
Posted on December 26, 2011 at 7:00pmRAY, you must be watching the MisinformationStation, Fox. Happy Kwanzaa. :^)
Report Post »MartyTr
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:42pmThat 99% thing is a lie, they don’t represent me. Or the Tea Pary can say they represent everyone.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:54pmI agree .. I am so sick of these anachists trying to tie me into their disgusting theater … now this ..well charge a BIG admission .. and send it to all the bankrupt cities that these Occupiers are costing millions of dollars!
Report Post »seeker9
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:25pm99% is a fabrication to make them appear much larger than they really are. Politicians do it all the time. I cringe at the thought of this group representing me. Feel as though I have been hijacked.
Report Post »MartyTr
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:41pmBet they leave out the communist stuff, rapes, violence, garbage, thefts, etc…How disturbing.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:56pmThey should include the smell .. I understand it was something like an outhouse in August and a open sewer.
Report Post »Dumpa
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:23pmWe have these Bravo Deltas in Tampa too. They started day one with around 600 ppl. Day two 100 day three 30 and moving forward there have been fewer and fewer. The “movement” is pathetic. The cause is a sellout and hypocriticy of the highest caliber. Useful idiots, they did exactly what they were purchased to do. The fun will really start next year when the RNC is going on 5 blocks from where I work now.
Report Post »mrmikejohnson
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:40pmI wonder if they’re going to put the police car poop in a case.
Report Post »randy
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:27pmHow pathetic
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