Frank to speak on 'Travel and the Museum of Memory'

Marietta Frank, director of Hanley Library, will present a program on “Travel and Museum of Memory” on Tuesday, April 18.

The program will take place at 7 p.m. in the Rice Auditorium, 107 Fisher Hall. Friends of Hanley Library are sponsoring the event, which is free and open to the public.

“Museums are collections of objects thought important enough to collect. They serve as a memory of societies, cultures, events, peoples from the recent or distant past,” Frank says.

“Over time, how we interpret the objects can change. Some object overlooked in the past might suddenly take on an importance unsuspected before. As museums acquire new objects, their focus might change. Museums are not static. They touch and are touched. They challenge and are challenged.

“As humans, within in each of us, exists a museum - a museum made of memories. Moreover, when we travel, we collect moments to add to this museum. We curate these moments, conserve the moments, interpret the moments, store the moments. They become an important part of who we are and have the power for dramatic change.”

This multi-media presentation will look at the idea of travel and the idea of memory as a type of museum. It will draw upon Frank's travel in Turkey along with Orhan Pamuk's book, “The Museum of Innocence,” and his museum by that name.