Object Captions: Carla's Wedding Ring

I made three captions. The first is about the wedding ring and marital tradition, the second is about divorce as Carla's ring is an artifact from one. The third is about the "double ring" tradition as this ring is one of a pair.

Caption 1- About Marriage

Wedding rings are a commonly understood symbol of marriage, a practice started in ancient Egypt. They are typically worn on the fourth finger as it contains an artery that leads to the heart. Although not required by law, exchanging rings can be a central part of the wedding ceremony.

Caption 2- About Divorce

Divorce is a legal process that ends a marital union. The first documented case in the colonies was in Massachusetts in 1639. Current estimates are that forty percent of U.S. marriages end in divorce. Divorcees commonly cease wearing the wedding ring on their finger to symbolize the divorce.

Caption 3- About the Double Band

Where the wedding ring was once worn only by the bride, the 1940’s and 1950’s saw an increase in the “double band”, rings worn by both the bride and groom. The “double band” concept was invented and promoted by the jewelry industry and has since become customary.

Written by John R. Pettit

Assignment 4- Exhibit Design

1-Mission Statement

The First Person Museum seeks to explore the histories and stories embedded in everyday objects. Their stated mission is "to share those objects, along with the stories behind them, both online and at a live multi-media exhibition". The FPM shows the visitor that oftentimes there can be an unexpected and rich history in the objects worth illuminating. What do a ring, stuffed bear, wedding dress, pan and shawl mean to the people who own them and more broadly what do they mean to our society at large?

2- Organize your storyline into "galieries of thought"

The FPM arrangement could use a combination of category and theme. Carla's Wedding Ring could be stand for "marriage" or more abstractly "loss". The objects in the First Person Museum all lend themselves well to the concept of observation or deduction as well. There would be be traditional labels that provide historical context. The juxtaposition of "loss" and the historical information could give the viewer a clue, but leave it to the viewer to speculate on any deeper meaning.
3- Inventory the content and pin down the most important facts

Viewers should be left to discover more information as "history detectives". Discovery of the personal meanings of the objects could be presented through headphones from the voice of the owner in a micro-oral history of sorts.

4- Find ways to motivate and engage your visitors

Step 4 asks the designer to integrate multiple viewpoints, interactivity and invitation for the viewers to contribute. An interactive element I envision would be through a mic affixed to the wall beside the object. Before listening to the "micro-oral history" from the original owner, users would be invited to contribute one of their own. Each user would have a maximum of two minutes to answer the question, "Do you have a ring? What does yours mean to you?" Their meaning would be contrasted by the museums voice on the interpretive label and the owners voice they are about to play. Each new history would record over the other so museum goers never experience the same context twice.

5- Plan the "look and feel" of your exhibit

The objects would displayed on their own rather than in shared cases or stands in a sparse, free-standing, off-white pedestals. On the wall behind the pedestal would be large decal lettering (approximately 1.5' high) with the name of the object in black. There would also be projections of media referencing the object on the wall along with vinyl wallpaper that has different archival material (articles and other pictures) that piece together some of the context or play off the ideas presented in the museum interpretive text. Films where it has played a role projected on the wall. The idea would be to draw each object out and elevate the vernacular objects to museum like status. The other text and archival material would be supplementary and hopefully not overpower the objects.

Despite being in in a common room, there would be relatively dim lighting in the room as a whole with lighting spotlighting each object. The idea would be to create distinct spaces within the shared one where museum goers could experience each separate object.

6- Produce and install- Mock-up

(wish I could convey this better)

Carla's Wedding Ring- Post 4

During the commercial break of your sitcom, a commercial comes on showing a young couple strolling in the park by an older couple. After seeing the glistening diamond on her wedding band, DeBeers Jewelers reminds you that "a diamond lasts forever". You change the channel and witness Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly attempting to solve a supposed murder. A wedding band is separated from a woman and becomes the damning evidence in Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film, Rear Window. When you turn off the television and put on the radio, you could possibly hear any one of the seventy-four recorded versions of a song named "Wedding Ring".

In contemporary American society, you'd be hard pressed to find an object imbued with as much moral heft, omnipresence and gravitas as a wedding band. Whether it be in song, theater, film, commercials, advertisements or literature, the wedding ring and its associations recur time and time again in our culture.

The ring worn on the finger has no clear origin and took on a variety of different forms and functions over centuries. It could be form of intellectual or religious rank, currency, a weapon, part of a magic or healing ritual, as a memorial and as a sign of love. Despite all of these uses over time, the engagement or wedding ring is the most popular form in our culture.

In "Rings For the Finger", George Frederick Kunz places the use of rings as part of a wedding ceremony or to signify love in a tradition closest to our contemporary usage in England around the time of the Reformation. Over time there has been a lot a variance in which finger or customs surrounded the ring according to region, time period and religion. It's now exchanged at a wedding ceremony and worn on the base of what's come to be known as the "ring finger" on right hand. Where it once was worn primary by females, the 1920's through 1940's gave rise to the double ring ceremonies for males and females. It was spurred in a large part by marketing of jewelers. It's covered ectensively by Vicki Howard in "A 'Real Man's Ring': Gender and the Invention of the Tradition" and is the practice Carla's ring is a product of.

Some people have come to choose not to wear it for utilitarian or ideological reasons whereas some share in Grace Kelly's characters stance that "the only way anybody could get that ring would be to chop off my finger." The meanings and customs of the ring and more specifically wedding rings are not at any sort of endpoint and part of a continuum, sure to evolve over time. As I typed, a friend posted this link to Facebook indicating a future where a ring may do so much more.

"Carla's Wedding Band"- Object History

Although the original provenance of Carla's wedding band is unknown, according to Carla it was purchased in "a popular jewelry store" in the Cherry Hill Mall in the summer of 2005. As of September of 2010, there were seventeen businesses classified by the "Jewelry" category on the Cherry Hill Mall's website. It was part of a pair where one went to Carla and the other to her husband.

The function and meaning of the object evolved over time paralleling the failed marriage that it signified. Originally it was purchased as a sign of commitment--a common use for the band. Carla added that part of its function was "to prove to herself that she was serious about the marriage". As their engagement progressed, Carla became hesitant about the marriage and tried to return the band but was told it was too late by the jeweler. She decided to go on with the marriage and the band was part of the contract she had entered into. It went through the process many bands went through when it "became blessed, exchanged, and placed on the appropriate fingers", a somewhat rote characterization of the tradition by Carla. After three years, Carla's reservations about the marriage became fully realized with Carla moving into a new house during the dissolution of the marriage. Along with the move to a new house, she described removing the band as "the final symbol of the failing marriage".

Having been in a friends wedding about two months ago, the disparity in meaning between the band I held at that wedding and the one I held at the Art Sanctuary was striking. The wedding band I held in the wedding in Lancaster was an object with a future ahead of it. The traditional symbolic value of commitment between two people and function as a centerpiece of the marital ceremony were ascribed to it. The only exceptions I've been around otherwise have memorialized a significant other or relative who is deceased. Carla's wedding band was the first ring I've been around where it's been presented to me in this particular context with Carla describing the box it's in as a "coffin".

Where she once tried to sell it to at least recoup its monetary value before the marriage, she hasn't sold it after. Although any guess I'd have as to what it could mean now would be purely speculative, it clearly has some value to Carla outside of the ways that I've traditionally encountered. The band itself is simple without any ornamentation, but it clearly carries complex meaning to Carla.

Object Description- "Carla's Wedding Band"

The object that I have is "Carla's Wedding Band." So far I have only seen a picture of it from one angle so am reduced to making inferences from the photo and comparing them to generalizations offered by other sources. Wedding bands (also known as rings) are circular pieces of metal varying widely in size, make, production and price worn to celebrate or identify the marriage of the wearer. They are produced to fit around the base of the ring finger of a human hand and sold in a variety of sizes that correspond to the circumference of the ring. National jewelry retailer Zales sells rings from 3 to 13.5 in size, which are equal to 14 to 22.6mm in circumference. Without a to scale photo, it is impossible to tell what the size is of this particular ring.

Wedding bands can be made from a variety of metals that partially determine the range in prices they are sold for. A survey of bands available on online auctioneer eBay includes bands made of gold, platinum, tungsten, stainless steel and titanium. Carla's band appears to be gold or gold plated.

Wedding bands are often produced or sold as matching sets. Carla indicated that this ring was one of a pair she characterized as "inexpensive and generic," meaning it may have been mass produced--as opposed to handcrafted--and may be identical to at least one other ring.

A variety of stones can be affixed to wedding rings. They can also be engraved with patterns or names. From the angle and small description provided by the owner, there doesn't appear to be any stone or engraving on this particular band. From the side photograph it appears uniform and absent of any ornamentation or stones, although a view from another angle could reveal otherwise.

The ring sits in a hinged container Carla calls its "coffin." It would appear to be somewhere between two to four inches in its height, width and depth and made of plastic or cardboard. The ring is nested in what appears to be velvet or a black fabric similar in appearance. There is a gold accent on the container.

Web Review: Railroads and the Making of Modern America

Railroads and the Making of Modern America
http://railroads.unl.edu/
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Reviewed November 21-22, 2009

Railroads and the Making of Modern America is a site dedicated to exploring the railroad system and it's effects on a variety of facets of American society between 1850-1900. The project is directed by William G. Thomas, III, Professor in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where the project is based. It is intended to be a research tool for academic courses on 19th-century American History.

Content is presented a number of different ways on the front page. An 'Index of Topics' breaks into nine themes tackling railroads and their role in slavery, the Civil War, William Jennings Bryan's 1896 Presidential Campaign, migration and immigration and tourism. Depictions of railroads by artists, construction of the railroad system and the 1877 Railroad Strike are also among the themes covered.

Themes often have small written summaries supported by primary source material and augmented accompanying media of some variety. Each topic has a Geographic Information System (GIS) map, podcast, animated graph or movie to build on the scholarship provided. The site is at it's most dynamic in use of the media. There are animated maps of railroad expansion where visitors can watch the railroad lines snake accross the northeast and midwest of the country over decades in condensed time and podcasts featuring scholars discussing a given subject.

The 'Views' tab provides visitors with the option of browsing the subject matter by media type rather than topically. 'Documents' provides a database where the user can select the type of source material used they would like to access (ex. Annual Reports, Speeches, Pamphlets, etc.) It can be narrowed by topic, full-text search or date. The three other tabs provided on the front page relate to further exploration of the topics ouitside of the site itself. Resources provides a somewhat modest list of the technological or intellectual material drawn on for the project. There is also a link to a few graduate student web projects that cover some aspect of the social history of the railroad and a teaching materials tab for history teachers to integrate the site into lessons at the college, secondary and even elementary levels.

Although the consistency in formatting of themes leads to ease of use, it at times feels a little too much like a template that information was plugged into. The overall aesthetics of the site are simple but at times feel a little too bland. Even though the site is only a few years old (2006) for these reasons it feels like a bit of a relic. The maps created for the project certainly could be more dynamic and interactive.

It seems as though there was a lot of thought and work put into generating topics for presentation along with production of original charts and maps to great ends. They were also succesful in gathering material from a wide range of sources (National Archives and Records Administration, the Library of Congress, the Newberry Library, the University of Nebraksa, the Nebraska State Historical Society, the Library of Virginia, Yale University, and other institutions and personal private collections) to create an original work. Unfortunately the site only sometimes takes advantage of some of the dynamic multi-media capacities of the web to make the subject matter truly come alive.

11/23 Readings

'Haunted Mouses' is about the din of noise that inhabits the internet. Forgotten sites, the paranormal and the horrific. It was brief and seemed primarily a vehicle to showcase a few of the sites listed at the end, but was fun in it's characterization of the web and its electronic visual phenomena.

'Hyperlinking Reality'- The concept of a QR seemed to have a lot of potential. Although it was something I was previously unaware of, it seems to have a lot of implications for the field of public history. The ability for people to disseminate and consume stories linked to a specific place definitely seems like a viable way to bridge the gap between the web and the physical world. Although they can be done well, it sometimes seems as though web-based history projects can be too detached from the places or people they are trying to represent with this article providing a great counter-example.

'What is Digital History? A Look at Some Exemplar Projects' tackles the definition of Digital History in a broad, general level offering up a few positive examples. The projects listed were ambitious, varied and well-executed. There seems to be a large gap between institutions tackling content in this way, and those concentrating on just digitizing content and presenting it in a neutral fashion as part as a digital collection. I think this is often this is due in a large part to staffing issues. My immediate thoughts of course turned to work being done in Temple's Library. Right now the impetus is to simply get content up in our catalog, although we've just started pursuing grants to present material interactively in a more curated fashion. My hope is that soon we will be embarking on a project similar to the examples given in the article.

'The Digital Durham Project: Creating Community through History, Technology and Service Learning' is the anatomy of a digital project at Duke. What was unique about the project was the integration of both students at Duke and at local middle schools. Students at Duke use the site along with primary source material as the foundation for papers for a seminar class. Duke students then engage in a service learning project where they then mentor middle school students in conducting research. This type of direct engagement of the audience is a positive model for digital history, particularly when based on a college campus with available students.

Another model of students, archivists, librarians and historians is covered in the article 'Creating Community with the History Engine Connecting Teachers, Librarians, Students and Scholars.' Students create entries in a Wikipedia type forum with assistance by teachers and information professionals to help provide well vetted entries. The interface breaks down entries by region and decade. Where scholars shun Wikipedia entirely, this stands as a good example of how the model can be adopted but tweaked to compensate for its shortcomings.