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Object Lessons in History

Five years ago, the BBC and the British Museum collaborated on a hugely successful radio series and book called “A History of the World in 100 Objects.” Last week, the Smithsonian followed up with its “History of the World in 1,000 Objects.”

It’s not that 900 more transformational artifacts suddenly materialized since 2009. Instead, think of the two histories as 3.2-pound bookends flanking a welter of similar collections that showcase the mesmerizing and metamorphic power of artifacts, from a 230,000-year-old female figurine to a jar of dust collected in Lower Manhattan after 9/11.

Thanks in part to a recent proliferation of best-selling biographies of major political and military figures, history is hot. And objects seem to be emerging as history’s lingua franca. The “100 Objects” book has been reprinted in 10 languages. Downloads of its companion 15-minute podcasts have topped 35 million. This summer, when the Smithsonian polled the public on the “most iconic” object in its collection, more than 90,000 people weighed in.

Read entire article at NYT