The Ladies’ Monthly Museum
Ah, the Magazines section of a bookstore is a beautiful, wonderful place. Beautiful in the sense that you can read about wolves in National Geographic, then hop over to HOW Magazine for a tutorial in current typographical trends. There are pretty clothes, muscle cars, floral arrangements, and heated political debate all in one place.
In a perfect world, I would be the proud possessor of a gagillion magazine subscriptions. I would have my own bookstore Magazine section in the comfort of my home. But, this is not a perfect world. I am on a very tight budget and have a fear of being featured on that depressing Hoarders show on A&E, so only a handful of subscriptions is feasible.
Today, as I was debating which publications to subscribe to, I came across a delightful intersection of magazines and museums. Bearing the lengthy, but ambitious, title of The Ladies’ Monthly Museum, Or, Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction, I had to know more.
Turns out, The Ladies’ Monthly Museum was a leading women’s periodical published between 1798 and 1832. During its tenure, the New York Stock Exchange was founded, the Reign of Terror started and ended, the Louisiana Purchase was purchased, the slave trade was abolished in Britain, and Napoleon rose and fell from power. In other words, it was a busy time and an important time in world history.
While I don’t know if The Ladies’ Monthly Museum dove into these domestic and international events with any depth, I do know that they were making history in their own small way. The Monthly Museum was the first women’s periodical to feature colored engravings, which appeared in their “Cabinet of Fashion” section (the name was drawn from the term “Cabinet of Curiosities” that was the popular phrase for museum collections of the age). In addition to fashion, the magazine also published short stories and poems by female authors, profiled celebrated British women of the day, featured articles on such topics like the founding of the Bluestocking Society, and provided entertaining and educational tidbits to turn avid readers into exceptional conversationalists.
Unfortunately, in spite of over three decades of successful publication, The Ladies’ Monthly Museum underwent a series of mergers with other periodicals before eventually disappearing altogether. Nevertheless, 178 years after its final issue, the magazine still resonates in the fields of publishing and women’s studies. It even has connections to the museum world, I mean, at the end of the day what museum is not a Repository for Amusement and Instruction?
Gift Guide Continued
This edition of the Gift Guide will be a bit all over the place, but a little variety never hurt anyone. So, here goes…
More Things Like This by the editors of McSweeney’s. Found thanks to the excellent Curatedmag.com and available through Chronicle Books, this visual and literary mishmash proves to be the perfect recipe of one part high-brow, a little low-brow, a dash of humor, and whole lot of interesting.
Field Notes from Coudal Partners. These handy-dandy notebooks – or, in the words of Coudal, “An honest memo book worth fillin’ up with good information” – are an excellent and inexpensive gift for a budding-archaeologist, angsty teenage poet, people that need-lined-paper-to-avoid-writing-in-a-slant, doodlers, the chronically forgetful, notebook-lovers, and so many more.
Like Field Notes? The you might like these Moleskin Museum Sketchbooks too. Come in 6 different colors. Moleskine Museum Sketchbook – 6 pack: Assorted Colors (1 of each color) 6 total
Things for both guys and girls at CultureLabel.com. For a vintage-loving ladyfriend, how about a one-of-a-kind bag from Lisa Tilly. Still not sure what to get your boyfriend? They have a helpful Gifts for the Boyfriend feature to help you out.
The Handbook of Practical Spying from the International Spy Museum. This gift would be a great gift for someone interested in spies and espionage. However, do you know someone who is nosy that could use some help being more discreet? This book may help deliver the hint. International Spy Museum’s Handbook of Practical Spying
Fifty Dresses That Changed the World from the Design Museum. Anyone interested in fashion or design will find something to like about this compilation, even if it is only debating which dresses should have made the cut. Fifty Dresses That Changed the World
Trying to get your wife or girlfriend more interested in tools? Try this William Morris-inspired tool set from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Pretty and functional, the perfect gift.
Holiday Gift Guide Part II
This holiday season, consider giving the gift of adoption. We’re not talking puppies or babies here, but rather artifacts. Adopting a museum artifact is kind of like naming a star for someone or purchasing a portion of the rainforest for your eco-conscious sister, only better. I mean, how often will they get to see their star or actually visit that plot of vegetation?
Here are some museums offering Adopt-An-Artifact Programs…
The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum
Friends of the Queen Anne’s Revenge
And for next year: The Galt Museum (their annual Adopt-an-Artifact fundraiser ended on November 30th)
1st Annual Holiday Gift Guide
Well, the holidays are upon us. If my local grocery store and mall had their way, the holiday season would start somewhere around early October, but I think December 1st is a much more reasonable starting point. That being said, I would like to announce the first annual Museumist Holiday Gift Guide. Over the next 25 days, we will be posting some gift ideas for the museum-lover among your family or friends.
To kick things off, today’s theme is…
Art Crime
Heist films, capers real and fake, organized crime, and detectives well-versed in Vermeer or Malevich. If these sound like the interests of someone on your list, check out the gift ideas below.
Art and Crime: Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World
The Art Thief: A Novel
Museum of the Missing: The High Stakes of Art Crime
The Irish Game: A True Story of Crime and Art
The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft
The Thomas Crown Affair
Topkapi
How to Steal a Million
The Hot Rock
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