No doubt one of the largest job responsibilities a curator has is artifact acquisition. In the TV series, American Pickers on the History Channel, Mike and Frank have just the opposite problem. As curators of their own to resale shops/Museums/Exhibits, they have access to far more artifacts than they could ever buy. Unlike museums who acquire for permanent collections, the American Pickers purchase for profit, but along the way they have shopped for and supplied museums, exhibits and collectors, as well as bought from private collections, all helping to bring the private artifact to the public sphere.
These two are not just in it for profit; they are also in it for passion. They cherish the past and the meanings behind every object. Much like the curator, they speak of the narrative or the story of the piece and its significance to society. For their part they are extremely knowledgeable in many areas of history and experts in others. They call their business Antique Archaeology, which is appropriate for what they do. But their truly unique form of historical exhibition is in the merging of the traveling picking business and of the television show.
This combination allows for a type of rotating exhibit of America’s past, with every item they uncover and discuss, displayed digitally, on the TV screen for millions viewers. This is the type of exposure that museums only dream of. The American Pickers are more than entertainment, they do two things that keep audiences coming back for more, things that museums and exhibits have been beginning to do. First they deal in family and community traditions and artifacts that speak to individuals, revealing their heritage and culture, later giving context to a larger state or national narrative. Secondly, they teach and inform in personal ways and in dialogue, avoiding politics and history that is impersonal to the audience. This creates an eager and excited audience, millions strong, who are seeing themselves in culture and in the past and it is informing their future.
This show is helping people learn to like History again or for the first time. As humans we have an innate fascination with the past as we know that is what makes us who we are today. For all the reasons that people hated history class they thought that was how History was to be practiced in the real world. They thought that it would focus on individuals and events that were mostly beyond personal experience and in dates that had significance to… well, someone. What they find in American Pickers is fun and a sense of exploring, which is what History can be like when made personal and tangible. The entire discipline of History and Historic Preservation should take heed of what this show has accomplished, when people have a vested INTEREST in what historians have to offer.
American Pickers on The History Channel: http://www.history.com/shows/american-pickers
Images:
American Pickers: Mike, Danielle and Frank: Image courtesy of Starcasms.net. http://starcasm.net/archives/227318
Old Indian Motorcycle Image courtesy of MotorcycleUSA.com. http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2128/Motorcycle-Photo-Gallery/American-Pickers–Of-Mice—Motorcycles.aspx
History Links Image courtesy of Permanentculturenow.com. http://www.permanentculturenow.com/good-history-articles/
Down to Earth History for Everyone 