Peabody Museum Exhibit Debuts

The first new exhibit in more than 50 years opened yesterday at the Peabody Museum of Archeaology and Anthropology with the unveiling of the temporary show, "Soft Gold: Captain Cook Discovers the Northwest."

In the past, the four-floored museum had housed solely permanent collections, but this exhibit, which features over 200 artifacts, drawings, and paintings from the Peabody's collection of the Northwest Indian, changes the Peabody's traditional look.

But this first rotating exhibit is only the second phase of the renovation of the 115 year-old building, according to Victoria Swerdlow '81, collections manager of the Peabody Museum. The first phase was the $3.6 million renovation of the museum's antiquated storage areas for the over 2 million pieces in the Peabody collection, she added.

Carl C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, the director of the museum, said the exhibit could not have taken place without completion of the first phase. "For the first time in years the museum knows what it has and where it has it," he added.

Added to this priority was Lamberg-Karlovsky interest in building up a tramed professional staff, said Administrator of Exhibits Lea S. McChesney. This "fundamental difference" has given the exhibit a "more professional approach," said Lamberg-Karlovsky.

While "making the resources of the museum more visible," the opening of this exhibit marks "the first step toward the major renovation of the museum," Lamberg-Karlovsky said. The museum is being refurbished floor by floor. The remaining galleries will be permanent, while the one presently housing the Soft Gold exhibit will be changed about once a year, McChesney said. Renovations should be complete within the next five years, added Lamberg-Karlovsky.

Drawing on quotes from Captain James Cook's diary, the current exhibit details the history of the "changing trade relations" in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries between the Indians and the white men, according to museum officials.

"The collections show how new items became incorporated into the culture as [Cook] introduced them," said McChesney. "You see the material market changing with the development of tourism," she added