Virtual Exhibitions

As many of you know the tornado last year did structural damage to the museum, and because of this it is necessary to do some serious repair work to the walls and ceiling of the third floor.  Before that can happen, however,all the artifacts on the third floor must be cleared out of the way for their own safety.  As of last Friday morning only three artifacts remained on the third floor: our Mummy and two carriages.  The mummy, who is alternately known as both Pa-Ib and Rose, for reasons which can be found here: http://www.barnummuseumexhibitions.org/apps/photos/?ss=9628755, has been undergoing a slow and careful packing process for a few weeks now.  She is going off site for storage until the museum is in better shape, but she has to be carefully crated in boxes lined precisely for the purpose of holding her and her sarcophagus.  On Friday morning both Pa-Ib and the lid of her sarcophagus were crated and waiting in a smaller room on the third floor.  That morning, however, we were turning our attention to the carriages.

The museum owns two carriages, onefull sized and one smaller one that was made for Tom Thumb.  The larger carriage was up on a platform about two or three feet high, and our first concern was getting it down from there.  Using pieces of wood that had been brought into the museum to make stop-gap protection for the museum right after the tornado, we constructed a ramp. A soft resting place for the top part of the carriage was also built, so that we could remove it before moving the wheels, without having to worry aboutit being damaged.  This part of the carriage, where people once sat, was surprisingly easy to remove.  Just four screws held it to the base on which the wheels were attached.  After carefully carrying the top part of the carriage to its resting place, and wheeling the base down our ramp, it was decided that the carriage needed to go all the way downstairs.

The carriage specialist who was in for the day, was worried that the heat and humidity of the third floor would damage the carriage, so our next task was to figure out precisely how to get it downstairs.  The carriage was far too large to get through the elevator door, even in pieces, and the closest entrance to the stair well was only one door wide.  We would have to take the carriage around and through the small side room in which Pa-Ib was waiting.  In order to do that, however, Pa-Ib and the box holding her sarcophagus lid would have to be moved safely out of the way. 

Pa-Ib, in the safety of her crate,was carried to the elevator where I was asked to hold the door open for her.  This was a rather bizarre occurrence when one stops to think about it, and something I intend to tell people about out of context for the rest of my life.  Anyway, after Pa-Ib and her lid were removed, the base of the carriage was carried down the stair well after some initial concern over whether or not it would fit through the double doors.  It took some doing to get the wheeled-base past Baby Bridgeport, the taxidermed elephant that resides in the lobby, but by lifting it over some stair rails we were able to bring it safely to the air-conditioned portion of the first floor.

            Then it was back upstairs for the top of the carriage which was much easier to bring downstairs.  When it arrived we attached it once again to its base and it stands there now looking just as it did on third floor.  The only thing left was Tom Thumb’s carriage which, because it was smaller, I imagined would be easier to bring down stairs.  I was wrong.

            Tom Thumb’s carriage was built quite differently from the larger one.  Aside from being smaller and carved to look like a walnut, it was attached to its base in a much more complicated way and with a great deal more screws.  Although we were able to remove the very top of the walnut, which opened up to allow Tom Thumb to enter, what we were left with was still quite long and quiteheavy.  With six of us holding on we approached the stairs and began our descent. We stopped on every landing to rest our arms and think about the water and air-conditioning that awaited us on the first floor.

            On the second to last landing we remembered Baby Bridgeport.  It would be impossible to lift the carriage over the railing as we had with the pieces of the larger carriage.  After the question “How are we going to get this past the elephant?” had been bandied about a number of times, it was decided that we would bring the carriage down towards the windows, place it downand the pick it up again.  We would have to lift the carriage up and carry it over the base that Baby Bridgeport stands on, we would have to fit it between the stairs and the elephant, and at certain times only four us would be holding it at once. We made it through without the carriage or our backs suffering any damage and at last Tom Thumb’s carriage was once again besides its larger friend. 

            The two carriages now wait on the first floor for the repairs to take place that will allow them to return home.