Helen,
Are you sure you didn’t mean to post this to craigslist? The whole situation is too bizarre! After reviewing the newsletter you posted, the docents seem mildly obsessed with
death. Or was that because it was the October (Halloween) edition?
Then again, if the Carlyle family was superstitious in general you do have to ask if this is a teachable opportunity. An expensive one, no doubt but is it worth the investment
and the news stories that will follow? Will you see a surge in attendance? Heck yes! I’d go to a museum where there’s a desiccated cat in the wall. But if I were still only 10 yrs old that would be all I’d remember from the experience. So are you truly reaching
your audience or simply distracting them with Ripley’s techniques?
Instead, maybe you could appeal to animal lovers everywhere by burying the cat, having a nice ceremony and maybe coordinate with a local shelter to host a pet adoption fair.
After all, I think we all suspect the mason who holed it up in the chimney did so while it was still alive. The cat deserves that doesn’t it?
-Karen
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Karen Kroslowitz
Director of Collections
(Out of the office on Fridays)
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, CA 94043
v: 650-810-1022
f: 650-810-1055
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From: Helen Wirka [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2014 1:59 PM
Subject: Mummified Cats
Hello,
Has anyone had experience with mummified animals being unearthed in an historic building? Our museum has a cat buried in the wall dating back to 1751-53. It was discovered in the 1970s during restoration, removed from it's original location,
photographed and then deposited in a new location in our building--but still inside a wall.
Please see the linked article, page 2: http://www.nvrpa.org/uploads/Files/published_articles/Oct05.pdf
We are considering opening up the wall cavity where the cat is now located and putting in plexiglass so that visitors can see the mummified animal. But we have a couple of questions.
1.) Might there be a possibility that the mummified cat has disintegrated since the 1970s when it was put back into the wall?
2.) Would opening the wall cavity now possibly threaten the integrity of the mummified cat?
If anyone has experience with this or can direct me to a good resource on mummified animals, I would really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Helen
Helen Wirka
Historic Site Specialist / Curator
Carlyle House Historic Park
A Property of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority
121 N. Fairfax Street
Alexandria VA 22314
Phone: 703-549-2997
Fax: 703-549-5738
www,novaparks.com
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