We live in a world filled with mass-produced materials, but these everyday objects reveal how we make them one-of-a-kind with our own personal meaning.
Meaning in Mass-Produced
Water Bottle
2018
Personal Collection of Nikki Gross
Purchased from Amazon in September of 2018, this Pacific blue Hydroflask covered in dents, chipped paint, and both vibrant and worn stickers, is a mass-produced object that people all over campus use. While seemingly mundane, it is an artifact indicative of the everyday life of an Arkansas student.
Co-Curator Nikki Gross: While thousands of water bottles are used across campus, some tell unique stories of the owner’s journey at the University of Arkansas. This bottle documents my own journey in dents and stickers. I have carried this bottle with me over all but the first month of my college experience and it represents several of my likes and experiences from freshman year to nearly graduation.
Dice
21st Century
Personal Collection of Alison Fong
Dice come in all sizes, colors, and materials. Some are made of metal, wood, gemstones, and even sugar, but the most affordable dice are made of acrylic plastic. Almost every tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), no matter the system, uses dice to determine a character’s actions. Whether it’s Warhammer 40k or Dungeons and Dragons (DND), they are important tools to players that often represent the outcome of life and death situations in-game.
Co-Curator Alison Fong: Dice collectors like myself are commonly known as “Dice Goblins”. We tend to be very superstitious about our dice and absolutely hate it when other players use our dice during the game without our permission. Although when we’re showing them off, you can touch them all you want – just don’t roll the luck away, please.
Although these dice are mass-produced, they represent all the things that I enjoy about TTRPG – the friendships that I have made through DND, the personalities that I get to portray in fantastical worlds, and the thrill of never knowing what the dice might entail for the future.
Cymbal and Chip
21st Century
Personal Collection of Carly Lidzy
A Zildjian cymbal was owned by Bryant High School until it was cracked and chipped during the 2016 fall semester. All that remains is this chip. The Zildjian brand was founded in Istanbul, 1623, but the headquarters are now based in Norwell, Massachusetts.
Co-Curator Carly Lidzy: I immediately knew that I wanted to showcase this cymbal chip in the exhibit due to it’s personal meaning to me. While it may be seen as a random, beat up cymbal, it holds a significant memory to me. During my sophomore year of high school, my now-boyfriend accidentally hit me in the face and chipped my tooth with this cymbal, and at the end of the semester his parting gift to me was a part of the cymbal he had broken off, in lieu of my chipped tooth.
Regina Fold-Top Music Box
C. 1897
U of A Museum Collections
The Regina fold-top music box was bought c. 1897 and donated to the museum in 2006. The Regina Music Box company was founded in Rahway, Jew Jersey, 1892, as one of the two founding music box companies at the turn of the century. The fold-top box hosts a side handle to wind the box, twists of engraving along the bottom, and a key-hole to close the top.
Co-Curator Carly Lidzy: After looking through the collections, I knew I wanted to showcase the music box based on its family history. This specific Regina music box was owned by a family who listened to it together nightly. While it was one of approx. 100,000 between 1892 and 1920, it holds a deep connection to a specific family history. The ties between histories is what drew me to showcase this artifact.