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Did You #AskACurator?

by Art on November 3, 2014

What is the smallest object in the House Collection? The answer might surprise you.


Large and small, the questions came, and @USHouseHistory answered them during #AskACurator day on September 17. In what has now become an annual Twitter event, 47,546 tweets used the hashtag #AskACurator to pose questions to and elicit answers from curators at 721 museums in 43 countries. They weren’t all directed to or coming from the House, but many were, and the House Curator Farar Elliott spent an hour answering them. Here are some of the most intriguing responses.

Try matching the question to the response(s). Answers are at the bottom of the post:

1. Do you have any images of astronauts visiting the Capitol?
2. How many objects are in your collection?
3. What’s the newest thing in your collection? The oldest? The hardest to move?

A:


B:


C:


D:


E:


Answers:

1. Do you have any images of astronauts visiting the Capitol? (B: John Glenn addresses Congress)
2. How many objects are in your collection? (D: Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers rides a tank)
3. What’s the newest thing in your collection? (E: Rep. Shirley Chisholm stamps) The oldest? (C: George Washington's bling) The hardest to move? (A: Peace portrait)

It was a fast-paced hour, and of course the sign-off was Representative Adam Clayton Powell's signature phrase.


Categories: Photographs, Art, Artifacts, Announcements

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Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov