Only the Smithsonian has such a broad collection, and it's spread out to so many different buildings and departments that it would be very hard for them to put together an exhibition like this. In a way it's a step back to the past, when early American museums, including the Western Museum, were odd amalgams of serious science and bizarre novelty. The Western Museum, founded in 1818, was the forerunner of Cincinnati Museum Center. See the black executioner's hood worn by one of the killers in the famed Pearl Bryan case. See a mortician's makeup kit from the 1930s and a Tibetan trumpet made from a human femur.
Serious science can be just as fascinating.
It's a significant scientific object, but it's also just beautiful to look at. Fascinating evidence Scientific research requires evidence, and these objects are evidence, usually waiting in storage for the scientists and scholars who need to examine them. But they have a fascination that makes them worth sharing with the public. Visitors to the exhibition will see a section of seats from Crosley Field, for instance, displayed with the architects' drawings for the ball park in 1909 when it was called Redland Field. A film of the 1919 World Series, the scandalous series between the Reds and the White Sox, can be watched as well.