PHILADELPHIA (Dec. 8, 2011) – Each year, hundreds of on- and off-site researchers make use of the Rosenbach Museum & Library’s collections. The exhibition Inquiring Minds: Rosenbach Researchers Report Back explores a cross-section of researchers’ projects from concept to completion. Open now through March 25, 2012, the exhibition uncovers the work of a variety of researchers with sometimes surprising interests – not only scholars and professors, but musicians, fashion designers and even a cheesemonger.

Through fifteen featured projects, visitors will see how studies of commonplace books, portrait miniatures, Maurice Sendak drawings, colonial maps, oil portraits and tri-corner hats have turned into such varied endeavors as scholarly books, blogs, documentary videos, novels, fashion designs, artwork, databases and musical compositions. Throughout, the Rosenbach invites visitors to learn how they too can work with the museum’s collections for their own explorations.

Inquiring Minds salutes the curiosity and dedication of researchers, revealingthe ways in which people with varying interests and purpose used the museum’s collections for creative and scholarly pursuits. Each project display includes a statement from the researcher about his or her work, the objects examined and the work that resulted from these labors.

The Rosenbach Museum & Library is located at 2008-2010 Delancey Place and is open Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for students and free for children under 5. For museum information, please call (215) 732-1600 or visit www.rosenbach.org.

Researchers included in Inquiring Minds speak about their work:

• “As a cheesemonger and purveyor of fine, cured meats, I have long been fascinated by traditional methods of curing and preserving,” says Ezekial Ferguson, assistant general manager and cheese specialist at DiBruno Brothers in Philadelphia. When Ferguson visited the 2010 exhibition A Taste of History at the Rosenbach, he saw a late 18th- to early 19th-century recipe for curing bacon and knew that he wanted to try this for himself. “This led to me curating a selection of artisan bacons at the shop where I work, and studying up on the historical, culinary and even social aspects of this simple and satisfying dish, cured pork belly. When I saw ‘Mr. Allen’s Method of Curing Bacon’ in the food exhibition here months ago, I knew I had to attempt making it, so I could literally taste something out of history. Recreating something that pre-dates modern preservation and refrigeration methods gives you a sense of humility and an appreciation for what our forbearers did to make it through the year.”
    
• “My research of writings on the Civil War fuels my current residency as a composer with knowledge that brings significant ideas to mind,” says Dave Burrell, composer in residence at the Rosenbach Museum & Library. Burrell has a particular interest in the museum’s significant Civil War holdings and is composing a jazz piece based on his research, titled Civilians During War Time, that will premier at the Rosenbach January 18 and 21, 2012. Burrell’s draft of the composition Code Name: Cheap Shot is on display in the exhibition, along with video of a recent performance. “The process of choosing the appropriate data is increasingly stimulating as I delve deeper into the Civil War’s heart and soul. My first draft of musical sentences is shared with my colleagues at the museum. Their reaction to the developing motifs, coupled with my own sensibility drives my passion to further create. Once thematic material is established, I continue my work with more rhythmic and melodic characteristics of the composition profile.”
    
• “While researching at the Rosenbach last fall, I began with the influence of music on [Maurice] Sendak’s creative process, and ended with a much deeper understanding of his methods and theories of expressing fantasy. In a way I found my artistic mentor,” says Cari Brezina, 2011 graduate of the Fashion Design program at Moore College of Art & Design. Brezina’s sketches and fashions are shown together in the exhibition with the watercolor that inspired her design. She has always been interested in the idea of fantasy for children. “In much of his work, particularly Outside Over There, Sendak weaves music into his imagery and text, carefully noting the classical symphony he associated with each page of the book. He turns his imagery into an entire symphony of sound, able to express Ida’s story as honestly as possible. And so while I first imagined my research would be expressed traditionally in my Art History thesis, I quickly realized my ideas would find a better home in something I could give a musical voice to: my final fashion collection. I knew the dynamic of the story called for Ida’s clothing to become more exaggerated and fantastic, building up to the point of her transformation into her mother’s raincoat.”

The Rosenbach welcomes all visitors to use its library and fine and decorative arts collections.While approximately half of the museum’s researchers are “traditional scholars” – academic faculty and graduate students – the museum also opens its doors to younger students and their teachers, as well as artists, writers and other creative professionals, librarians, collectors, curators, dealers and anyone with an inquiring mind. The staff also fields inquiries from off-site researchers and offers collection guides and catalog records online. To schedule a research appointment, learn about reading room hours and policies, or send a letter of inquiry to the Library staff, visit www.rosenbach.org/learn/researchfor additional information.

Additional researchers featured in Inquiring Minds include:

• Kenneth Brown, Professor, Department of French, Italian, and Spanish, University of Calgary
• Sonja Drimmer, Adjunct Lecturer, University of Nottingham
• Lois Gilmore, Professor, Language & Literature, and Writing Coordinator, Bucks County Community College
• Robert Hicks, Director, Mütter Museum/Historical Medical Library, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
• Jack Lynch, Professor, Department of English, Rutgers University, Newark
• Linne Mooney, Director, Centre of Medieval English Palaeography and Professor in Medieval English Palaeography, University of York
• Claudia Nahson, Curator, The Jewish Museum, New York
• Elyse Poinsett, Marketing and Special Events Associate at the Rosenbach Museum & Library
• Susan Sklaroff, Docent at Rosenbach Museum & Library and current Docent Council President
• Dacre Stoker, Co-author, with Ian Holt, of Dracula the Un-Dead