The National Library of Medicine just opened a new exhibition, "Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine."
"Harry Potter's World" explores the plants, animals, and magic featured in the Harry Potter book series and their roots in Renaissance traditions that played an important role in the development of Western science. The exhibition incorporates the works of several 15- and 16th-century thinkers mentioned in Harry Potter and looks at topics such as alchemy, astrology, and natural philosophy, as well as the ethical issues faced by both the fictitious characters from the novels and the historical figures that influenced them.
The exhibition runs through the end of this year, and seems to consist mainly of historical books in the NLM collection. Also, on October 24, Mark J. Waddell will give a seminar on "Viper's Flesh and Unicorn's Horn: The Quest for a Magical Panacea."
Last year, NLM featured "Magic and Medicine in Harry Potter," which is archived online and seems to have a bit more detail than the current exhibition.
For a look at contemporary science and its relevance to Harry Potter, check out this series of posts by Anne-Marie at Pondering Pikaia on genetics, fossil dragons, conservation biology, botany, and kin selection.
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Hi!
I'm the curator of both "Harry Potter's World" and "Magic and Medicine in Harry Potter." Essentially, "Harry Potter's World" is a curatorial expansion of "Magic and Medicine in Harry Potter," which was a small, two-case exhibition put together quickly last year to celebate the publication of the final Harry Potter book. "Harry Potter's World" is a 6 banner exhibition (with two special cases on display here at NLM) that will travel starting in Spring 2009. The website is still being built, but will include all of the content from the "Harry Potter's World" exhibition and additional resources, including lessons plans and multimedia. I hope that you and your readers will check back in a couple of months to see its updates and will hopefully make it to the NLM for one of the events and to check out the exhibition!
Thanks!
Elizabeth Bland
blande@mail.nlm.nih.gov
Thanks for stopping by, Elizabeth - I look forward to seeing the completed website! And i'll definitely try to get over there to see it in person as well.
I was just at the NIH "exhibition". I realised it was probably a mistake when I mentioned why we were there at the main entrance and the guy there said, "What?".
We navigated our way to the library only to discover that the exhibition consisted of six free-standing posters 6' by 2' featuring an occasional quote from HP and a brief commentary on what vague connection this may have with Medieval times with a picture here and there. If you've been to the web site, you've been to "exhibit", essentially.
That appeared to be it, because there was no indication of any other parts to this "exhibition". If there were books anywhere, we didn't see them, and it didn't seem appropriate to take small children into the reading rooms in search of them.
My kids enjoyed the nearby AIDS exhibit much more, but from an HP perspective, the entire trip was a waste of time. It's entirely inappropriate for young children.
Ian,
I'm sorry to hear that you were disappointed in your trip to the exhibition. We note on the website (and in the above comment) that it is a banner traveling exhibition, which is why it is compact and designed without the display of 15th/16th-century rare books. Just to clarify--the content is not meant to be "vague"--it actually discusses the historical lore, thinkers, and practices from the Renaissance specifically mentioned in the books and some of ethical issues explored in the "Harry Potter" series that played a part in earlier scientific traditions. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the display we were only able to discuss and elaborate so much. There is a display of the actual books in the HMD reading room and, again, I'm sorry to hear that you were unable to view them. We are keeping the books in the cases for a few extra weeks for any that are interested. Please feel free to come into the reading room to ask questions--we are a public library and that's what we're here for.
I'm glad that the Global Health exhibition was of interest to you and your family--it's our main exhibition and also has an accompanying website (www.nlm.nih.gov/againsttheodds) if you would like to find out more.
Regards,
Elizabeth Bland
Exhibition Coordinator
National Library of Medicine
blande@mail.nlm.nih.gov