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Dragonfly Spring - Summer 2002 -- Volume 33, Number 2

Frankenstein Is Coming to the Pacific Northwest

Five libraries in the Pacific Northwest have been selected to host the touring exhibit, Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature. The libraries are: Missoula Public Library, Missoula, MT; Multnomah County Public Library, Portland, OR; Salem Public Library, Salem, OR; Tacoma Public Library, Tacoma, WA and the University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, WA.

A partnership between the National Library Medicine (NLM), the American Library Association's (ALA) Public Programs Office, and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), who provided grant funding, made the tour possible. Public, academic and medical libraries throughout the country could apply for grant funding to host the Frankenstein exhibit. The forty recipients were announced on March 30th, 2002.

The traveling exhibition, and its related materials, are based on a larger one originally developed at NLM's History of Medicine Division. The exhibit is intended to encourage audiences not merely to look at Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the monster myth popularized by Hollywood, but also to explore "broader questions about the public's fear of science and its powers" 1 and "their own views about personal and societal responsibility as it relates to science and other areas of life." 2

The six main sections of the exhibition focus on:

1. Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein; its metaphorical aspects; and the literary, scientific and political environment that influenced Mary Shelley as she created the scientist and his monster; the complexities of Shelley's monster - his sensitivity and yearning for acceptance into the human community.

2. The focus of scientific development in the late 18th and early 19th centuries on reanimation and resuscitation of the dead; and the belief that the world's problems could be solved through science.

3. Passages from the novel and how they illuminate the dilemmas raised by Dr. Frankenstein's ability to create life and his failure to take responsibility for what he has created.

4. The interpretations and distortions of the Frankenstein story in the 19th and 20th centuries in various media, such as theatre, political cartoons, and film; and the uses of the Frankenstein metaphor in the political and scientific spheres.

5. Popular scientific developments in the 1930s when the Frankenstein films attracted a large following, including the glass heart co-developed by Charles Lindebergh and cardiac pace makers.

6. Contrasts between science as conducted in Mary Shelley's novel and science as it is pursued in the 21st century, and the ways citizens and experts negotiate the moral and social boundaries of acceptable society, especially in controversial areas such as cloning.3

The exhibit will be touring the country from October 2002 through December 2005.

1. "Frankenstein Invades NIH!" NIH UPDATE. Press Release on October 27, 1997. National Institutes of Health Web Site [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Institutes of Health ; [cited 2002 April 24] Available from: http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/oct97/nlm-27.htm

2." Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature." American Library Association Public Programs Office Web site [Internet]. Chicago (IL): American Library Association; [cited 2002 Apr 24] Available from: http://www.ala.org/publicprograms/frankenstein/

3. "Frankenstein Exhibit Outline & Dimensions.". American Library Association Public Programs Office Web site [Internet]. Chicago (IL): American Library Association; [cited 2002 Apr 24] Available from: http://www.ala.org/publicprograms/frankenstein/exhibit.html

Dragonfly, Spring - Summer 2002 -- Volume 33, Number 2
(posted on PNRNews April 24, 2002)

This publication is funded in whole with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. N01-LM-1-3516.

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URL: http://nnlm.gov/pnr/news/200204/frankenstein.html