635. Can a Museum Be the Conscience of a...

<p>A Trump executive order is giving retail investors more access to private markets. Is that a golden opportunity — or fool’s gold?</p><p> </p><ul><li><strong>SOURCES:</strong><ul><li><a href="https://law.duke.edu/fac/defontenay/">Elisabeth de Fontenay,</a> professor of law at D ... Show More

<p>Thoroughbred auction prices keep setting records. But tracks are closing, gambling revenues are falling, and the sport is increasingly reliant on subsidies. Is that the kind of long shot anybody wants? (Part three of a series, “<a href="https://freakonomics.com/the-horse-is-us ... Show More

<p>The world has changed a good bit since <i>Freakonomics</i> was first published. In this live anniversary episode, Stephen Dubner tells Geoff Bennett of <i>PBS NewsHour </i>everything he has learned since then. Happy birthday, <i>Freakonomics.</i></p><p> </p><ul><li><strong>SOU ... Show More

<p>Sir Hans Sloane’s legacy is a bit mixed. He is the reason there’s a British Museum, but there are a lot of problematic aspects to the way he gathered his collection.</p> <p><strong>Research:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Blair, Molly. “350 years of the Chelsea Physic Garden: A brief h ... Show More

Mary Beard argues that 21st Century disputes about what museums should own - or give back - are far from being a modern phenomenon. 'Almost as far back as you can go, there have been contests about what museums should display, and where objects of heritage properly belonged,' wri ... Show More

In 2023, Anderson Cooper reported that a large number of antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection had come to the world-class museum by way of theft. Ancient art had been looted from Cambodian temples fifty years ago and the Cambodian Government wanted them back ... Show More

Mes chers camarades, bien le bonjour !Visiter le Quai Branly pour découvrir les nombreuses œuvres d’art de nombreuses cultures, aller au Louvre pour voir des statues gréco-romaines et des sarcophages égyptiens, on ne dit jamais non ! Et pourtant, c’est souvent le résultat d’une h ... Show More

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss eighteenth century 'vase-mania'. In the second half of the century, inspired by archaeological discoveries, the Grand Tour and the founding of the British Museum, parts of the British public developed a huge enthusiasm for vases modelled on the anc ... Show More

<p>A very special encore in memory of our favorite Museologist, Ronnie Cline. In this 2018 episode, we talked about the life and work of a great dude and a good pal who passed away this morning. On the agenda of his legendary episode: Museums! Mummies! Paintings! Hot dogs! Alie s ... Show More

<p>Part two of the spring 2025 installment of Unearthed! features the potpourri category, plus drones/radar/lidar, books and letters, animals, edibles and potables, shipwrecks, swords (sort of) and cats.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Research:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Roque, Nika. &ldquo;Mar ... Show More

<p>Shortly after the US election on 5 November, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington opens The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture, a radical new perspective on the history of the discipline from 1792 to now. Ahead of its opening, Ben Luke speaks t ... Show More

<p>Irving Finkel is an expert on cuneiform — the oldest known writing system. He tells Steve the amazing story of how an ancient clay tablet unlocked the truth about Noah’s ark (and got Finkel in trouble with some Christians).</p><p> </p><ul><li><strong>SOURCES:</strong><ul><li>< ... Show More

As a child, Alan Michelson often rode the T past sculptor Cyrus Edward Dallin’s “Appeal to the Great Spirit” (1908) outside the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). He was riveted by the statue’s grand horse and the powerful yet melancholy figure wearing a striking Plains Indian wa ... Show More