New Oregon Coast Exhibit is of Seldom Seen Oddities

Published 06/07/2014

(Newport, Oregon) – Where can you find the head of an angry wolf eel, shipwrecks, wax that generates music, a shell in a bottle, mysterious copper hardware and a multitude of other oddities? These strange, unfamiliar, and seldom seen objects are now on exhibit at the Lincoln County Historical Society’s Burrows House Museum, in Newport, beginning this month.

Stylistically, this exhibit is in the traditional style of the curiosity cabinet of old. But there's little that's the usual in its content.

As early as the 15th Century, curiosity cabinets, displays of rare objects and oddities, became fashionable. Some curiosity cabinet collections grew to become museums, perhaps the most famous being the British Museum, which began with Sir Hans Sloan’s “Wonder Room” collections.

Lincoln County Historical Society Curator, Sachiko Otsuki, selected artifacts from the collections that seemed curious for different reasons:

Objects once commonplace that are now, unless you are of a certain age, unidentifiable curiosities.

Natural oddities, many of which of were found on Newport's local beaches.

Then there's the weird. Just plain weird. “What else can we say?,” said museum publicist Laura Rose.

These odd objects are more than just curiosities, they also shed some light on the history of the Central Oregon Coast, the evolution of technology, as well as human nature our fascination for the out-of-the ordinary.

This slightly offbeat, fun for the whole family exhibit started this week at the Burrows House Museum and remain through the end of the year. Located at 545 SW Ninth Street in Newport, admission to the Burrows House is by donation. For more information, call 541-265-7509. If this isn’t enough to satisfy your curiosity, a companion exhibit can be seen at the North Lincoln County Historical Museum in Lincoln City.

Burrows House Museum, 545 SW Ninth Street in Newport, and the Pacific Maritime & Heritage Center, 333 SE Bay Blvd. in Newport. Burrows House admission is by donation. Pacific Maritime & Heritage Center is $5 for adults, $3 for children 3 through 12. Members admitted free with tickets. Both museums are open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

Photo above: Mr. and Mrs. Rare Button, a postcard reproduction from Wecoma, Oregon, which is now part of Lincoln City.

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