Q&A 32: Curatorial Adventures with Ashley Hlebinsky
Forgotten Weapons
•
58m
The Cody Firearms Museum recently held its third annual Arsenals of History symposium, gathering professionals from firearms museums across the world to discuss issues specifically related to this particular speciality within the museum world. This year the symposium had a particular focus on social media, and so a number of folks like me were also invited. After the symposia concluded, I sat down with Ashley Hlebinsky, curator of the Cody Firearms Museum to discuss a variety of questions raised by my Patrons…
02:06 - How does one become a firearms museum curator, and how awesome is it to be one?
05:26 - How do you maintain guns in the collection, especially ones on display?
08:22 - Best ways to support gun museums
10:19 - Cotton or nitrile gloves?
14:09 - Direction and future of museum industry
16:14 - Experiences of a female curator?
20:04 - Shooting vs preservation
25:28 - Displaying replica items?
26:12 - What evolutionary process is best represented at Cody?
28:15 - Interaction between firearms museums?
30:01 - Most challenging aspects of managing a large collection?
32:57 - Archival documents
35:48 - How does Cody maintain inventory control and not lose items?
37:57 - Legal complications for firearms museums
40:01 - Scholarly firearms research in a hostile academic environment
44:13 - What old firearms concepts does Ashley want to come back?
45:30 - Private vs collection, and how does Ashley spend her time?
47:10 - What changes have been made to the Cody Firearms Museum?
51:50 - Cultural attitudes towards guns, Cody vs Smithsonian
55:07 - Has Cody turned down a gun donation, and why?
The Cody museum has just recently reopened after a complete renovation. They have even more guns on display now than before, and the layout of the museum has been improved. I would rate it the best firearms-specific museum in the United States, and I highly recommend visiting if you have to opportunity!
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
Q&A 33: It's All About Compromises
Time for another monthly Q&A!
00:18 - Guns that exceeded and fell short of my expectations?
03:14 - Why did the US keep the 1903 instead of the 1917 after WW1?
04:59 - Bren guns in .30-06
07:07 - Book on French handguns or bayonets
08:45 - My jobs before Forgotten Weapons became full-time
... -
Samuel Pauly Invents the Cartridge in...
Samuel Johannes Pauli was born outside Bern, Switzerland in 1766, and became an engineer of wide interests. Among them were bridge design, passenger-carrying balloons (he would work seriously on a 15-20 passenger balloon service between London and Paris later in life), and firearms. Only a few ye...
-
An Overview of the Pinfire Revolver S...
The pinfire system was an early cartridge type which saw widespread use in Europe, but was not widely adopted in the United States. First invented by a French designer named Pauly, it was made commercially feasible by Casimir Lefacheaux. It was Casimir's son Eugene, however, who took the pinfire ...
