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Smallpox scab from 1876.
Hair from James Madison's braid, 1836.
First bullet to kill a Confederate officer, 1861.
Slovenly Peter, title character of this 1853 book, looks like pal of film's Edward Scissorhands.
'Lee on Traveller' is a work of art--on fungi. True story. |
BY EDIE GROSS
Elijah Johnson was very, very lucky.
The soldier in the 15th Virginia Cavalry was carrying a small diary and a Bible in his left coat pocket when a skirmish broke out near Culpeper Courthouse on Sept. 13, 1863.
The bullet that might have killed him passed clean through his journal but lodged neatly in his Bible.
Capt. John Quincy Marr of the Virginia militia was not quite so fortunate.
On June 1, 1861, he became the first Confederate officer to die in the Civil War after being shot at Fairfax Courthouse.
The bullet that killed Marr and the journal and Bible that saved Johnson are part of a unique exhibit at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, titled "Bizarre Bits: Oddities From the Collection."
It's a fairly random assortment: everything from crude surgery tools and Victorian hair art to witchcraft trial records and at least one smallpox scab.
Essentially, staff members at the historical society were asked to name the oddest item they'd come across while examining the organization's vast holdings, which include 8 million manuscripts, 200,000 photos and more than 1,500 paintings, 5,000 maps and 32,000 objects.
The resulting list was whittled to about 40 items, which are on display through March 27. The weirdness factor is the only true link among them.
"We've been collecting for over 175 years," said William Rasmussen, lead curator at the historical society. "It's inevitable when you have a collection as large as ours for there to be some odd items. There are undoubtedly more where these came from."
The sheer randomness of the pieces is a big part of what makes the exhibit so much fun. You never quite know what you're going to encounter next.
One minute, you're staring at a tiny smallpox scab, removed from a baby in 1876 and mailed to a family in Charlottesville to be used for inoculation purposes.
The next, you're looking at a Swiss medical book from the 1500s with entire paragraphs blotted out by acids and hot irons, thanks to the Inquisition.
In one corner hang two silhouettes created in the early 1800s by artist Martha Ann Honeywell, who cut them out with her mouth since she was born with no hands or lower arms.
In another stands a piece of "tramp art," a bureau of pine, oak and poplar covered in hand-carved wooden spikes and crafted between 1880 and 1920.
"Some of them are weird because they're weird all by themselves, some because of the story that goes with them. Some are weird because we're not used to seeing them today, but they weren't weird at the time," said Jennifer Guild, spokeswoman for the Virginia Historical Society. "And some are just different."
Highlights of the collection include:
A Victorian-era hair wreath made by a woman from Martinsburg, which is now in West Virginia. She collected 125 locks from friends and family for the piece, which resembles a fuzzy bouquet.
A German picture book for kids called "Slovenly Peter Reforms," all about a boy whose wild behavior and unkempt appearance undergo a transformation. The cautionary tale from 1853 features color drawings, including one of Slovenly Peter's mother cutting his long fingernails with a saw.
An early map of Virginia that depicts the China Sea (the Pacific Ocean) just on the other side of the Appalachian Mountains. The map, created by John Farrer of the Virginia Company of London and reprinted in 1651 by his daughter, looks like something out of "The Lord of the Rings," with hand-written notes and fanciful creatures on it.
An account of the 1706 witchcraft trial of Grace Sherwood of Virginia Beach, who was accused of causing a woman to miscarry, bewitching a neighbor's pig, slipping in and out of another neighbor's house through the door's keyhole and--perhaps the most damning charge--suckling demons.
That item is Rasmussen's favorite because the charges against Sherwood are so far-fetched and because it's a little-known piece of Virginia's history, he said.
"New England has gotten all the credit for having witches," he said.
Most of the Bizarre Bits were stored in the historical society's basement and had never been on display before now. Some, like the maps and books, are fragile and can be exposed to light for only short periods to prevent damage.
That's why the exhibit is temporary, said Rasmussen. However, the society's holdings likely include far more oddities than those featured in this exhibit, he said, so there's a chance the museum will revisit the concept.
"It's fun for the public. It's a chance for them to see some things that are deep down in storage," he said. "This is a clever way of almost randomly delving into the collection."
Edie Gross: 540/374-5428
Email: egross@freelancestar.com
The facility includes 14 gallery spaces, eight permanent exhibitions and a 5,200-square-foot reading room where visitors can do historical and genealogical research. You can search the historical society's holdings on
In addition to "Bizarre Bits: Oddities From the Collection," current exhibits include:
"The Story of Virginia, an American Experience," which covers 16,000 years of history--the good and the bad, from prehistoric times to present--with family-friendly displays, interactive features, question-and-answer games and neat items like
"Virginians at Work," which shows how Virginians earned a living as the economy changed over the last 400 years
"The Virginia Manufactory of Arms" and "Arming the Confederacy," which showcase muskets, pistols, swords and rifles produced in Virginia in the 1800s
Starting Friday, "An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia" examines how the men, women and children of Virginia experienced the war, which marks its sesquicentennial this year. This exhibit, which features more than 200 artifacts, will stay at the Virginia Historical Society until Dec. 30. Then it begins four years of travel to other museums across the state, including The National Museum of the Marine Corps, where it will stay for the first six months of 2014.
