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A lioness head in storage. VEER MUDAMBI

Straight out of history out of

EcoTarium puts its past on display with 2nd Worcester Community Curation exhibit

Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

Walking through the EcoTarium, with its modern design and shiny, interactive exhibits, it’s easy to forget it's actually one of Worcester’s oldest institutions. Founded by the Worcester Natural History Society in 1825, the EcoTarium is coming up on its second centennial. h If letting an accumulated treasure trove of two centuries languish in storage seems like a waste, that’s because it is. It was clear to the staff that new exhibits are called for to cycle through the valuable cache of items in the repository. But how does one begin to choose what gets showcased and when? h Museum staff found an elegant but simple solution — if the goal was to share the collection with the community, why not let the community decide? The result was the first Worcester Community Curation exhibit in 2019. While it was meant to be an annual event, the museum’s “hibernation” during the 2020 pandemic means that the present one is the second rather than the third. The new exhibit opened on Oct. 20.

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Harp seal, picked as part of the community curation exhibit. VEER

MUDAMBI PHOTOS/WORCESTER MAGAZINE

Exhibit

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Three members of the Worcester community were given a tour of the collection and allowed to choose a piece, while a fourth was chosen by online vote. The four items were then used in an exhibit on global climate change.

“Community Curation allows us to make global connections with Worcester and the ecology of the planet,” said Katie Chappelle, director of education and exhibits. “Part of why we chose the theme of climate change is because it is so wide reaching — it touches all of us,” she went on, so any piece in a natural history museum could conceivably fit into a climate change exhibit.

This year, the four items seeing the light of day are a horseshoe crab, a set of three perching birds, a long tooth sawfish and a harp seal, all of which are directly affected by the climate crisis.

The horseshoe crab has existed for 450 million years, but rising sea levels threaten the nesting grounds and it was chosen by the interim CEO Michael Halperson. “We wanted to connect our new CEO to the community,” said Chappell. Halperson took up the position this past July.

The perching bird set consists of three species, a crow, goldfinch and scarlet tanager. Of the three, crows are the least affected due to their adaptability, but rising temperatures interfere with the nesting and migratory habits of goldfinches and tanagers. Tracy Acito, with her daughters Sophia and Ely-

Small birds seen between the cracks of the massive moving shelves of the storage room.

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Birds of prey in mid-take off gaze haughtily down from the shelves of the storage area.

Exhibit

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sia, having maintained a longtime family membership at the EcoTarium, chose this piece.

The long tooth sawfish, of which only its signature saw blade is displayed, came from a specimen which was 14 feet long — a size that it rarely reaches anymore due to climate change destroying its habitat. Michael Bobbit, executive director of the Mass Cultural Council, picked the sawfish, with input form his son who is pursuing a degree in Natural Resource Conservation.

The final item, an adorable harp seal, which faces the threat of melting sea ice that is necessary to raise the young, also caused some melting of hearts. It was picked by the Worcester community, as a whole, when the museum put up five items online and held a vote over social media. The harp seal won hands-down, a fact that Chappell finds unsurprising due to its fluffy exterior.

The EcoTarium was pleased to accept the choice, knowing that the possible sad fate of the harp seal may well inspire children, when they grow up, to make the world a better place. It is not inconceivable that a heart tugging exhibit could motivate a child to become a scientist or activist and ensure that we can still look at cute fluffy harp seals in real life, not just in a museum or a zoo.

Marty Christianson, the collections management specialist, indicated that they are always looking for people interested in ecology/climate change to be community curators. The 2019 theme for the Community Curation exhibit was climate change as well and it may well be so for the foreseeable future, given the overwhelming urgency of the crisis. The chosen items in 2019 were a sea turtle, Atlantic puffin, three toed sloth and walrus.

Referring to the EcoTarium’s long history, Christianson said, “in 200 years we’ve collected an awful lot of cool stuff but in that time, we’ve changed our mission from science and nature in the entire universe to science and nature as it applies to Worcester, Massachusetts.” Additionally, when the museum shifted to being a children’s museum, many items were put into storage as they did not lend themselves to the new hands-on approach to science.

Upon entering the storage

Birds on display, under some seasonal decoration.

Marty Christianson, collections management specialist at the Ecotarium, stands beside the perching birds specimens, one of the chosen items for this year;s Community Curation exhibit.

area, there’s an immediate feeling of being watched — hundreds of glass eyes staring from around every corner and the tops of shelves. For safety reasons, visits must be limited to 15 minutes, said Christianson. While the taxidermized lions, tigers and bears (oh, my) are no longer a threat, the formaldehyde that preserves them can be after too long without proper protective equipment. Most museums only have one to 10 percent of their collection on display at any given time. Given its history, the EcoTarium is decidedly on the low end of that range.

Representatives from across the animal kingdom can be found among the rolling shelves, with poses and expressions ranging from serenely sitting or standing to snarling mid-leap. Taxidermy is as much an art as a science, and is just as susceptible to changing trends and styles, explained Christianson. Modern taxidermy, intended for museums rather than living rooms, tends