QUEST FOR MEANING
by Aubrey Cole Odhner|

 THE ACADEMY MUSEUM
by Robert W. Gladish
(Write-up in ANC Journal)

        Over the past year, the fourth floor of the Library has suddenly come alive, and the valuable and fascinating collections housed in the Academy Museum have once again begun to receive the attention they merit.

        It is most unfortunate that probably more than a generation of students have gone through the Academy scarcely aware of the existence of the Museum and of the importance of what it contains. Since the death of Reginald Brown in the 1930's, the Museum has suffered from the lack of a guiding hand to work on the collections and to display them effectively.

        College students who were at the Academy when Benade Hall burned will recall taking chapel and classes in the Museum, the Egyptian and Oriental artifacts pushed to the back and sides of the room so that chairs could be set up. Those display cases necessarily received some sort of inspection then, but the re-opening'of Benade Hall returned the Museum to dust and silence, a condition interrupted only by the labors of a scholarship student sweeping the floors and by an occasional hardy visitor.

        As a result of interest generated by Mrs. Aubrey C. Odhner's paper on correspondences (delivered to the Academy faculty last Fall and printed in the Life for Feb. 1972) attention has Just recently been focused once again on the Museum. The uniqueness of the Museum lies not only in the value and antiquity of some of the artifacts but also in the principles that guided the gathering of the collections. The older collections can tell us something of the state of the knowledge about correspondences in ancient civilizations, and the later ones broadly reflect the views that the other representatives of the five churches have taken of the Lord, showing the ways in which He has been worshipped.

        In less than a year, a committee headed by Mrs. Odhner and made up of the Rev. Robert Junge, Prof. Margaret Wilde, Mr. Prescott Rogers, Miss Mary Alice Carswell, and Mr. Carey Smith has worked heroically to renovate the Museum and bring some order out of the disarray and neglect that had formerly reigned.

        The fruit of their efforts was on display at a faculty tea given in the Museum by the Committee on October 18. After browsing among the collections and noting the newly painted walls and ceiling, the additional lighting, and the effective arrangement and labeling of the displays, the faculty heard the committee members and Archivist Eldric Klein give brief talks on certain items in the various collections. While these remarks could only suggest the quality and scope of the various displays, the affection and interest of the committee members were clearly contagious. Everyone came away from the tea enthusiastic about the restoration of the Museum and highly impressed with the work which the Committee had done.

        That work has been aided markedly by funds made available by the Glencairn Foundation. Books have been bought which deal with the periods represented by the major collections, the room itself has been renovated, and Mrs. Viola Ridgway has been hired to act as a custodian and to set up regular hours during whlch the Museum can welcome visitors.

        The Academy extends a cordial invitation to visitors to inspect these collections, whlch are particularly rich in Egyptian, Babylonian, Oriental, Medieval, and New Church artifacts. Perhaps this notice can alert participants at the Assembly this summer to set aside time to make a trip up to the fourth floor of the Library. We are sure they will be gratified and impressed.


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