Things New and Strange
A Southerner’s Journey through the Smithsonian Collections
Title Details
Pages: 264
Illustrations: 83 color and b&w images
Trim size: 7.000in x 9.000in
Formats
Hardcover
Pub Date: 05/01/2019
ISBN: 9-780-8203-5523-8
List Price: $36.95
Subsidies and Partnerships
Published in association with Smithsonian Institution
Related Subjects
HISTORY / United States / State & Local / South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
Things New and Strange
A Southerner’s Journey through the Smithsonian Collections
A tapestry of southern history woven through an exploration of the Smithsonian collections
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- Description
- Reviews
- Awards
Things New and Strange chronicles a research quest undertaken by G. Wayne Clough, the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution born in the South. Soon after retiring from the Smithsonian, Clough decided to see what the Smithsonian collections could tell him about South Georgia, where he had spent most of his childhood in the 1940s and 1950s. The investigations that followed, which began as something of a quixotic scavenger hunt, expanded as Clough discovered that the collections had many more objects and documents from South Georgia than he had imagined. These objects illustrate important aspects of southern culture and history and also inspire reflections about how South Georgia has changed over time.
Clough’s discoveries—animal, plant, fossil, and rock specimens, along with cultural artifacts and works of art—not only serve as a springboard for reflections about the region and its history, they also bring Clough’s own memories of his boyhood in Douglas, Georgia, back to life. Clough interweaves memories of his own experiences, such as hair-raising escapes from poisonous snakes and selling boiled peanuts for a nickel a bag at the annual auction of the tobacco crop, with anecdotes from family lore, which launches an exploration of his forebears and their place in South Georgia history. In following his engaging and personal narrative, we learn how nonspecialists can use museum archives and how family, community, and natural history are intertwined.
—Ann E. McCleary, author of Food, Family, and Community: A Collection of Georgia Memories
—Richard Kurin, Distinguished Scholar & Ambassador at Large, Smithsonian Institution and author of The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects
—Frankie Snow, learning services coordinator in the Division of Natural Sciences, Physical Education, and Mathematics at South Georgia State College and winner of the Crabtree Award from the Society of American Archaeology
—Scott Miller, Under Secretary for Collections and Interdisciplinary Support at the Smithsonian Institute
—Janisse Ray, author of Drifting through Darien
—Smithsonian Magazine
Winner
25 Books All Georgians Should Read, Georgia Center for the Book
Winner
Excellence for Research Using the Holdings of Archives, Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council
Winner
Author of the Year, Georgia Association of College Stores