A world in miniature : Charles Willson Peale\u27s Philadelphia Museum and its audience, 1786-1827

Because Charles Willson Peale was unable to secure public funding for the Philadelphia Museum of art and natural history that he founded in 1786, his efforts to build an audience were crucial to the survival of his museum. Through paintings, descriptions of the museum\u27s displays, and advertisements placed in Philadelphia\u27s newspapers, Peale addressed publicly his audience. Among the strategies employed for constructing his base of supporters, Peale emphasized the moral and practical lessons to be gained from the displays, directed promotional campaigns at particular social groups, and used ambiguity to allow different visitors to shape distinct understandings of the exhibits which served their own needs. From various sources--souvenir silhouette portraits inscribed with sitters\u27 names, subscription lists for annual tickets of admission, and records of donors of human artifacts and natural history specimens--thousands of individual audience members are identifiable, from which their gender, class, and race composition may be determined. Peale\u27s audience was remarkably varied, yet these records indicate that fewer women than men attended and that people at the low end of the socio-economic scale and African Americans were virtually absent from the audience. Contemporary written accounts and records of non-verbal responses suggest the range of economic, social, political, religious, intellectual, and moral interests that Peale\u27s audience expressed through their participation in the museum. In addition to responding to Peale\u27s vision for the museum, the audience contributed significantly to its growth and form. Indeed, the museum was the collective creation of Peale\u27s audience as much as it was the product of his own hard work, creativity, and intellect