Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #museum
Most recents (4)
I am not sure we will ever be able to process the loss of Brazil's #MuseuNacional. It's not only a loss of specimens, documents, artifacts; it's the loss of future discovery and knowledge, not only by scholars examining the collection but by visitors sating their curiosity. /1
Many people consider #museums "attics"--the @smithsonian, for example, is the US's "national attic." When a museum sells a "beloved" artifact there's always a hue and cry about it. Think, for example, of Eakins' "The Gross Clinic" and the recent case of the Berkshire Museum. /2
"Attic" assumes dust, neglect, nostalgia, even an amnesia to be restored through discovery. #museums /3
CIA communication pre-Twitter?
Lamson Corp installed a pneumatic-tube mail-delivery system in Original Headquarters Building (OHB) during construction. System had more than 30 miles of 4‑inch-diameter steel tubing. At the time, this system was one of the world’s largest.
Lamson Corp installed a pneumatic-tube mail-delivery system in Original Headquarters Building (OHB) during construction. System had more than 30 miles of 4‑inch-diameter steel tubing. At the time, this system was one of the world’s largest.
The original system had about 150 receiving/dispatching stations throughout OHB. Shown here is one of the many vacuum-driven carriers that sped along the system, moving mail from one station to another. The system operated from 1962 until 1989.
1.usa.gov/1kxhfPX
1.usa.gov/1kxhfPX
CIA #Museum Artifact of the Week: #Minox B Camera
In 1936, Walter Zapp, a Latvian engineer, developed a portable #camera that would fit easily into the palm of the hand & yet take high-quality, spontaneous pictures.
bit.ly/2mpoxCE
In 1936, Walter Zapp, a Latvian engineer, developed a portable #camera that would fit easily into the palm of the hand & yet take high-quality, spontaneous pictures.
bit.ly/2mpoxCE
The Minox camera, in its various models, was the world’s most widely used spy camera. The camera was a marvel of technology, using film 1/4 the size of standard film, with 50 frames in a cassette. Ultra-light aluminum-shell Minox B was produced 1958-1972.
Because of its small size, Minox subminiature cameras were easy to conceal. It could also take excellent photographs of documents at close range & was a natural for secret photography. Its inventor, Walter Zapp, passed away on July 17, 2003.
CIA #Museum AotW: Flag that Flew Above the Glomar Explorer
This flag would have witnessed the stand-off of 3 Soviet vessels encircling the Glomar Explorer as they tried to discern why the American ship was anchored in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
1.usa.gov/XPudp7
This flag would have witnessed the stand-off of 3 Soviet vessels encircling the Glomar Explorer as they tried to discern why the American ship was anchored in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
1.usa.gov/XPudp7
March 1968: Soviet sub K-129, armed with nuclear ballistic missiles, sinks.
May 1968: US located sub about 1,500 miles NW of Hawaii.
Recognizing the value of the intel on Soviet strategic capabilities that would be gained if the sub were recovered, CIA agreed to lead recovery.
May 1968: US located sub about 1,500 miles NW of Hawaii.
Recognizing the value of the intel on Soviet strategic capabilities that would be gained if the sub were recovered, CIA agreed to lead recovery.
CIA’s mission: recover the 1,750-ton, 132-foot-long wrecked sub from more than 3 miles below the ocean surface… in total secrecy.
1970: CIA engineers & contractors concluded the only solution was to use a large mechanical claw to grab the sub & lift it.
1970: CIA engineers & contractors concluded the only solution was to use a large mechanical claw to grab the sub & lift it.
