Founding Fossils
Opens May 9, 2024
In 1801, Charles Willson Peale and his son Rembrandt embarked on the inaugural scientific expedition in U.S. history, unearthing mammoth bones discovered on an upstate New York farm. These bones, upon analysis, were identified as remnants of the prehistoric mastodon, inhabitants of North America during the late Pleistocene era, approximately 10,000 to 125,000 years ago.
The examination of these fossils, alongside others by influential figures like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, marked a significant juncture in western science, introducing the concept of species extinction to public consciousness for the first time. The reconstructed mastodon skeletons became central exhibits in the Peales’ Baltimore and Philadelphia museums during the early 19th century, shaping the narrative of natural history and scientific exploration in America.
Fast forward to 2024. Conceived of by Dr. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch, a Baltimore-based archaeologist and accessibility consultant, this multisensory exhibit will include 3D-printed versions of the fossils originally collected by the Peales and early American leaders. The replicas can be touched and experienced by sighted and blind visitors alike. Dr. Fogle-Hatch has been working with Dr. Bernard Means, an archaeologist with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Virtual Curator Laboratory, who has scanned all of these fossils, now in the collections at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. The exhibition will interweave replicas of the mastodon fossils with selected panels from a student-created graphic novel series.
In 2021, Dr. Means and artist Maggie Colangelo published Founding Monsters, an innovative comic book about the surprising role that archaeology played in the politics and understanding of species extinction at the dawn of the United States. It was quickly followed by a second comic, Founding Monster Tales, to expand on the stories and themes that had attracted the most interest in the first book, including that of Moses Williams, the silhouette artist and exhibit preparator who was born enslaved to Charles Willson Peale as the American Revolution began.
To bring the graphic novel to life, VCU student and artist Anna Carter is sculpting various elements associated with the Founding Monsters comics, making the 2D drawings into a 3D tactile experience. The sculptures are 3D scanned and 3D printed to enhance the tactile aspects of the exhibit. These include busts of Charles Willson Peale and the Comte de Buffon, a French naturalist whose theories Peale’s excavation of mastodon skeletons disproved, as well as various elements in Peale’s paintings, including his Exhumation of the Mastodon, the seminal work of American art that is in the collection of the Maryland Center for History and Culture. Carter has also sculpted Ice Age animals known to the founding fathers, including a “Jefferson” ground sloth, first studied by Thomas Jefferson.
This project is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council (msac.org) and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Details
Date: May 9, 2024-December 22, 2024
When: Open during regular hours, plus after-hours special events
Location: The Peale, 225 Holliday Street, Baltimore
Collaborators
Curators and Collaborators: Dr. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch, Dr. Bernard Means, and students including:
Link Alexiou, Anna Carter (Sculptor), Gabby Carter, Maggie Colangelo (Comic artist), Ethan Ek, Abby Hogan, Jazmin Marshall,
Maddie Martin (Virtual Curation Lab Manager), Claire Peiffer, Ashli Coronado Rodrigo, Sabine Segaloff, Aden Smith, Kieran Snavely, Madi Spicer, Martie Surasky, Taty Thompson
Donations
Cost: Free | Donations Welcome
Programs at The Peale are often free. Please help us keep programs free for all.
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