The Peabody Essex Museum

For many years before COVID, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem was one of our favorite local museums. We were members and visited regularly, not simply to see the permanent collections but especially for the major exhibitions that came through the museum. The exhibits were always thoughtfully put together, and our membership gave us a reason to return again and again.

The Peabody Essex Museum has a remarkable history of its own. Its roots reach back to 1799 and the East India Marine Society, founded by Salem sea captains and supercargoes who had sailed beyond the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. They brought objects home from their voyages around the world and created a collection of what they called “natural and artificial curiosities.” That early collection ultimately became part of today’s museum. PEM describes itself as the oldest continuously operating and collecting museum in the United States. 

The modern Peabody Essex Museum was created in 1992 through the consolidation of two long standing Salem institutions, the Peabody Museum of Salem and the Essex Institute. Their combined collections brought together international art and culture, maritime history, decorative arts, architecture, and the history of Salem and Essex County.

This photograph brings me back to one particular visit. The enormous banner covering the museum’s glass façade advertised Georgia O’Keeffe: Art, Image, Style, which was at PEM from December 16, 2017, through April 8, 2018. It was not simply an exhibition of O’Keeffe’s paintings. It explored the relationship between her art and the distinctive public image she created over more than 70 years. Her paintings were displayed alongside photographs of O’Keeffe and clothing she had selected and, in some cases, made herself. It was the first exhibition devoted to examining her art, image, and personal style together, revealing how deliberately she shaped both her work and the way she presented herself to the world. 

That exhibition is a good example of what we enjoyed about the Peabody Essex. As members, we would make a point of visiting most of the museum’s major exhibitions. We did not have to wait for something we already knew would interest us. Membership encouraged us to go, explore, and often discover something we had not expected.

That habit changed with COVID. When the museum reopened, the protocols for visiting were extremely rigid, even at times when there were very few other people in the museum. After so many years of enjoying the freedom to wander through the galleries, linger over an exhibit, and experience the museum at our own pace, it simply did not feel the same.

We decided that we would rather hold onto our positive memories of the Peabody Essex Museum than allow them to become overshadowed by the restrictions surrounding a visit during that period. So we stepped away. What had once been a regular part of our lives gradually became something we remembered rather than something we continued to do.

Looking at this photograph now brings me back to the years before COVID, when our membership meant regularly heading to Salem to see what new exhibition had arrived. The Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit was one of many we experienced. What I remember most is the pleasure of walking through those doors with no particular expectations, knowing that the museum had once again thoughtfully assembled something that would give us a new story to explore.