A NEW PEABODY MUSEUM for SALEM MASSACHUSETTS by Donald H

A NEW PEABODY MUSEUM FOR SALEM MASSACHUSETTS by Donald H. Panushka SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE ON AUGUST 29, 1951 Author Dean, School of Architecture and City Planning ABSTRACT A NEW PEABODY MUSEUM FOR SALEM MASSACHUSETTS by Donald H. Panushka Submitted for the degree of Master of Architecture in the Department of Architecture on August 29, 1951. The Peabody Museum of Salem, at present, is the oldest museum in existance in this country. It's collections are divided into three different categories: Maritime History, Ethnology, and Natural History of Essex County. Preliminary study for this thesis consisted of a study of the Museum's Historical background and an analysis of it's present site, buildings, and exhibition technique. As a result of this study and analysis certain basic requirements were evolved in addition to the program proper. These were: to retain the Salem East India Marine Society Hall, integration with the Salem harbor and the moving to a new site. The last requirement of course necessitated moving the East India Hall, which proved to be economically sound. A site adjoining the National Maritime Historic site was chosen as the location of the new museum. This site is also close to the House of the Seven Gables and is in a thickly settled residential neighborhood. An attempt was made to recapture the maritime character which the museum possessed externally in the early nineteenth century and to coordinate the museum with the Maritime Historic site and the House of the Seven Gables, to form a unified whole. At the same time it was neces- sary to retain the visual contrast between narrow crowded streets and the open harbor that the neighborhood has at present. In the design of the buildings an improved exhibition technique was developed which has lighting, acoustic and installation tech- niques coordinated within a four foot square module. The Salem East India Marine Hall was separated from the new building because of the necessity for including the building itself as part of the maritime exhibition and other visual requirements. ii August 29, 1951 Cambridge, Mass. Dean Pietro Belluschi School of Architecture and Planning Mass. Inst. of Technology Cambridge 39, Massachusetts Dear Sir: As partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Master of Architecture, I would like to submit my thesis entitled, "A New Peabody Museum for Salem, Massachusetts". Respectfully submitted, Donald II Pandshkh DHP:khr iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work has been made possible through the cooperation and help of: Laurence B. Anderson, M..I.T. Herbert L. Beckwith, M.I.T. Gyorgy Kepes, M.I.T. William Hoskins Brown, M.I.T. Kevin A. Lynch, M.I.T. Ernest Stanley Dodge, Peabody Museum of Salem Charles H. P. Copeland, Peabody Museum of Salem Edwin Small, National Park Service iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Title Page ..... Abstract . iv . iii Letter of Submittal .. Acknowledgements iv . Table of Contents . Introduction .. .. 1 . Historical Background 2 Salem Commerce 2 Museum, General 3 Maritime History Collections 5 .0 Ethnology Collections . 7 Natural History Collections 9 Analysis of Present Conditions 11 Site ........... 11 Buildings ......... 12 Exhibition Technique .. 15 Conclusions ........ 16 Program ............ 17 Site Selection ........ 25 Development and Conclusion . 27 Bibliography ......... 32 v 1. INTRODUCTION When this thesis study was begun it was my original inten- tion to place the emphasis on the visual problems involved in an exhibition of the Museum's Maritime History collections. This exhibit would have been housed in a theoretical space. This type of approach was chosen because of my interest in the visual aspects of Architecture and City Planning and the belief that the study of the basic premises of visual fundamentals could more easily be achieved with the above limi- tation. Upon analysis and further study it became evident that if the thesis was to be limited as stated above, that only one of the museum's many problems would be solved, which would not be a completely realistic approach. The problem of this thesis than, has progressed from the study of one problem to the analysis and study of the museum as a whole. The history of the Peabody Museum contains a wealth of extremely interesting maritime history. This fact is of major importance whenever the museum is concerned and full cognizance should be given to it in the study of all three factors: site, buildings, and exhibition technique. The following report and drawings which comprise my thesis attempt to do this as well as to provide a visual and architectonic solution to the problem. 2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND History of Salem Commerce The Maritime History collection of the Peabody Museum dates chiefly from the Revolutionary War. The reason for this is that very little is known about Salem trade before the Revolution. It is known, however, that a fair amount of trade was carried on with the West Indies and countries bordering on the Mediterranean. Exports were mainly fish and lumber; imports were salt, sugar, wine and rum. The vessels used for this trade were small and little is known about them. The Revolutionary War brought about a sudden change in Salem trade. Many of the old established merchants were loyal to Britian and were forced out of the country. Their place was taken by younger men who took over the vessels and turned to privateering with great success. At the conclusion of the war they set themselves up as merchants; however, by 1785 trade was in a period of depression due to the cost of the war and British and French laws which excluded American vessels from West Indian islands. It became imperative to find new markets and new sources of raw materials. This resulted in Mr. Elias Hasket Derby fitting out his ship, "Grand Turk" for a voyage to parts unknown. As a result of this voyage a lively trade sprang up between Salem and China that lasted until well into the nineteenth century. This brief history is a condensation of the "Handbook to the Collections of the Peabody Museum of Salem", by E. S. Dodge and C. H. P. Copeland. Anthoensen Press, Portland. 3. Post-Revolutionary trade was also conducted with other countries; such as the pepper trade with Sumatra and ivory and gum copal from Zanzibar. Salem trade therefore rose quickly after the war and disap- peared entirely in the middle of the nineteenth century. The main reason for this was the smallness and shallowness of the harbor which could not accomodate the larger vessels that were built as the clipper ship era approached. Even the smallest clipper ship was too large to enter the Salem harbor when fully loaded. History of Museum The Peabody Museum of Salem had its beginning in September 1799 when Captain Jonathan Carnes presented the first gift to the newly instituted Museum of the Salem East India Marine Society. This Museum was begun for the expressed purpose of housing the"natural and artificial curiosities" that the Society members had been collecting. In 1824 the Society erected a new building, which is known as "The East India Marine Hall". The Hall proper which was used for meet- ings of the Society and for exhibition of their "curiosities" was on the second floor while the first floor housed the Salem Post Office, Asiatic Bank and Oriental Insurance Office. The collections of the East India Marine Society remained in their care until 1867, when with a gift from George Peabody, The Peabody Acadamy of Science was established. At this time the Trustees of the Peabody Acadamy purchased and refitted the India Marine Hall and te- ceived the Museum of the East India Marine Society and the Natural History collections of the Essex Institute (begun in 1824) as permanent deposits. 4. To these two collections have been added many valuable collections in the Marine and Ethnology departments and as complete a series of Natural History specimens from Essex County as can be found for any similar area in the United States. Two large additions to the original East India Marine Hall have been built and gone through numerous conversions. The first addition originally housed the old Acadamy Hall on the first floor and exhibition space on the second floor. The second addition was erected through the generosity of Mr. Charles Weld and at the present time houses the Japanese Ethnological collections on the second floor and the Museum offices on the first. By 1904 the Marine History collections had in- creased to such an extent that the offices and stores on the north end of the ground floor were remodeled to form the present Marine Room. At the same time the present entrance corridor was built and is likewise used for exhibition purposes. In 1930 the south end of the ground floor which had originally housed the Post Office was also converted to house additional exhibition space for the Maritime collections. At this time a corridor was built from Essex Street to the now defunct Acadamy Hall and this too was used to house the Marine collection. In 1942 a tre- mendous house-cleaning took place. Up to this time the very large and weary Natural History collection had been housed in the original East India Hall. At this time the collection was restricted to Essex County with the exception of a few fine specimens from other sections. East India Hall was restored to its original state and the Natural History collections were moved to the space which Acadamy Hall had occupied pre- viously. From an architectural point of view the important observation 5. to be made from this short history is that numerous additions and al- terations have resulted in poor circulation in and to the various exhibition areas.

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