Registrars to the Rescue

The Declaration’s Journey, presented by Griffin Catalyst, features more than 120 objects and documents on loan from institutions around the globe. But how in the world did they get here?  

Collections Manager and Registrar Keith Minsinger and Assistant Registrar Matthew Van Nostrand both supported the Museum with their expertise in various capacities before stepping into their current positions in 2024. In these roles as “specialists in the details,” as Van Nostrand described it, they led the charge on coordinating and negotiating loan agreements, delivery and installation schedules, and accompanying couriers as the loans were installed in the exhibition. It’s a role that keeps them on their toes and requires flexibility. 

“You don't really know coming in what the day's going to be like,” said Van Nostrand, who began his eight-year career at the Museum as an educator before transitioning into his current role. 

For this exhibition in particular, any given day could include waiting for a shipment to come in, adhering to prescribed security or lighting parameters outlined in loan agreements, setting up the correct mount, and more. They keep detailed documentation for each object, noting the timeframe for which the object will be on display, its dimensions, shipment costs, and more details you might not consider, like whether it will be framed and if so, in what kind of frame. 

“This is the hardest I have ever worked at any job ever. ... There were so many balls to keep up in the air and multiple projects going at the same time,” said Minsinger, a self-professed “material culture nerd” who previously worked at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library and may be familiar as the onion seller to visitors who have attended past Occupied Philadelphia events. 

While it took a lot of coordination and communication between their team and the lenders, the international scope of the exhibition provided a meaningful experience.  

“It was very fun to be involved in this show,” said Van Nostrand, whose favorite object on view is the charkha, or portable spinning wheel, on loan from Ila Jasani Good that was given to the lender’s family by Mohandas Gandhi. “We did installation over the span of a month ... and as things are starting to go in, you're seeing that this is becoming a reality. People have been talking about it for five-plus years, and now, it's finally coming together. It was very exciting to be a part of.” 

“There's something really gratifying about seeing what you spend a lot of time looking at in blueprint form and elevation form and plan form come together physically in front of you,” added Minsinger, who pointed to the printing press on loan from Biblioteca Nacional de Chile as his favorite object on display, as well as one of the most challenging to install due to its size. “Finally getting Thomas Jefferson’s chair [on loan from American Philosophical Society] and the bench installed from Martin Luther King [on loan from Birmingham Civil Rights Institute], and seeing people's reaction to that, I was like, ‘All right, all the blood, sweat, and tears – it's worth it.’” 

As we prepare to mark the 250th anniversary of the document central to the exhibition, Van Nostrand and Minsinger hope visitors can gain a deeper understanding of its global impact and understand their role in its legacy.  

“I would hope that everybody coming into the show would see themselves in the promise of the Declaration,” Van Nostrand said, “and that they can take that idea that this is an unfinished project, unfinished work, and that it can be inspiring to them.” 

To Minsinger, the exhibition is also a chance for visitors to understand that the American Revolution extends beyond 1776 and the end of the Revolutionary War itself. 

“There's a whole other afterlife story of the Declaration of Independence that people may not be familiar with,” he said. “I hope people get a chance to understand how the Declaration of Independence had reverberations around the globe and is still having them now.”