Students Curate Exhibit on 'Little Strangers' in
Maryland
1820s engraving by J.P. Maygrier,
published in 'Midwifery Illustrated,' 1833.
Photo courtesy of Welch Medical
Library, JHU.
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By Heather Egan Stalfort Johns Hopkins University
Museums
Welcome Little Stranger: Pregnancy, Childbirth and
Family in Early Maryland is a
student-curated show devoted to customs surrounding
childbirth at the turn of the 19th
century. Opening at Homewood
Museum on Thursday, Jan. 17, and on view through
Sunday, March 30, the exhibition examines practices,
traditions and politics concerning
childbirth and childrearing in Maryland, especially
Baltimore.
The show is the culmination of an undergraduate
seminar, Introduction to Material
Culture: Pregnancy, Childbirth and Family in Early America,
taught at Johns Hopkins
during the fall semester by Homewood curator Catherine
Rogers Arthur.
The title of the exhibition comes from a common saying
of the Federal period,
"Welcome, little stranger," used to refer to an unborn or
newborn baby. This coy message
is found on layette pincushions — customary presents
for a new mother at the time — and
also was used by Declaration of Independence signer Charles
Carroll of Carrollton in
letters to his son. Charles Carroll Jr., who built Homewood
as his country house in 1801,
and his wife, Harriett Chew Carroll, had seven children,
five of whom survived to
adulthood.
Drawing on correspondence, newspaper ads, journals and
a rich array of visual
source materials of the Federal period, Welcome Little
Stranger explores early practices
associated with pregnancy, childbirth and family in
relation to the Carroll family of
Homewood. Themes include family planning and birth control;
midwifery and the
development of obstetrics; infant care, clothing and
nutrition; and children's educational
and recreational activities.
Objects on view will include images of midwives,
re-created children's clothing,
feeding equipment including sterling silver baby bottle
nipples, obstetrics manuals,
forceps, cradles, diary entries, family portraits, locally
published children's literature and
toys. Period rooms will be set to depict what Homewood
would have looked like in the
months before and after childbirth, and quotes from Carroll
family writings will help to
bring the experience to life.
"We're making an effort to illustrate the similarities
and differences between the
time of the Carroll family and present day," said Chelsea
Gonzales, a freshman in the
Whiting School of Engineering and one of the class's eight
students, who met weekly in
Homewood's wine cellar to discuss their research and
findings and plan the exhibition.
The material culture seminar is part of the Krieger
School of Arts and Sciences'
Museums and Society Program, an interdisciplinary minor
that helps undergraduates
establish meaningful connections with local and regional
museums.
Funding for the exhibition was provided by the late
Anne Merrick Pinkard, whose
contribution to Homewood also makes it possible for the
seminar to be repeated in
successive years, with different topics contributing to an
ongoing understanding of early
19th-century life at Homewood.
The exhibition is on view to visitors during regular
guided tours of the museum,
offered every half hour from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday
through Friday, and noon to 4
p.m., Saturday and Sunday (the last tour departs at 3:30
p.m.). Museum admission is free
for members and Johns Hopkins faculty, staff and students
with ID; $6 general
admission; $5 seniors; $3 students, children over 5 and JHU
alumni and retirees.
Related Programs
Reservations are required for all programs; call
410-516-5589. Visit
www.museums.jhu.edu for up-to-date information.
Family Days
Saturdays, Jan. 16 and Jan. 26, and Friday, March 21, at
12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Classic children's stories, traditional games, hand-cut
silhouette portraits, and tea and cookies. For children
ages 5 to 13 and their parents or grandparents. Free with
museum admission.
Speaker Series
Wednesdays at 4 p.m.
Exhibition open prior to each lecture. Cream tea served
from 3 to 4 p.m. $6. Free for members and students.
Feb. 27: "Midwifery and Reproduction in Early
America," Mary E. Fissell, professor of the
history of medicine at Johns Hopkins
March 5: "Three Generations of Carroll Family
Women," Sally D. Mason, assistant to the
director of the Omohundro Institute of Early American
History and Culture and editor of
the Carroll family papers
March 12: "Women, Gender and Sexuality in Early
America," speaker TBA
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2008
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