from Medieval Academy News

Hidden in Plain Sight: The Higgins Armory Museum
by Tara Young

How did a world-class collection of arms and armor ended up in Worcester, a mid-size city and former manufacturing center in central Massachusetts? The answer can be found in John Woodman Higgins' vision of two very different aspects of metalwork: industry and collecting.

Born to a prominent Worcester family in 1874, Higgins's interest in engineering and invention led him to a fascination with armor while he was still a child, but his father introduced him to the industrial side of steel. When he graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, he went to work at his father's Plunger Elevator Company, and in 1905, Higgins and his father started Worcester Pressed Steel, in the industrial Greendale section of Worcester. The company would go on to become a profitable and well-respected steel pro-cessing plant, particularly known for its contributions to war efforts during both World Wars, producing objects like helmets and propeller domes.

In the meantime, though, Higgins' interest in arms and armor grew. He purchased his first documented suit of armor soon after his marriage in 1906 and continued to add to his collection. He purchased entire collections like that of Clar-ence Mackay, who sold his assets during the Depression. By 1927, Higgins decided to open a museum on site at the factory, both to house the company's corporate offices and to display his private collection.

The two activities, production and collection, were for him part of the same vision. He believed that the collection of arms and armor-metal objects of the highest craftsmanship-would inspire the employees at the factory to do their best work. He conveyed his vision to architect Joseph Leland, who designed a four-story state-of-the-art building that opened in 1931. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Museum, built entirely of steel and glass, the first building of its type in the United States, is a registered historic landmark.

Higgins' vision for the construction of the building mirrored his dual interests in modern factory production and in the Gothic revival architectural style of the first part of the twentieth century: while the exterior was considered strikingly modern in its use of steel-and-glass technology, the main gallery space of the Museum suggests a medieval Great Hall, with soaring arches, a rose window, and even faux stone walls. The museum sits on a hillside and gleams like a huge white castle on sunny days.

Numbering over 5,000 objects, the collection is staggering in its size and rarity. It is strongest in Renaissance arms and armor from the sixteenth and seventeenth century but has significant holdings in the medieval period as well. Though most people think of the Higgins as a "medieval museum," the collection actually reaches from the days of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs to the modern era, with strong holdings in classical Greek and Roman arms and armor (including an extremely rare Roman gladiator's helmet), as well as arms and armor from Japan, the Middle East, and Africa. The collection features a large number of complete suits of full plate armor; combat armor, jousting armor, and ceremonial armor are all well represented.

Several years after Higgins' death in 1961, the Museum, by then governed by a board of directors and a professional staff, deaccessioned the "modern" collection, using the funds to enhance the arms and armor collection that was the real strength of the Museum. It is now considered one of most important such collections in the world, rivaled in this country only by the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and on par with international museums like Royal Armouries in Britain and the Musée de l'Armée in Paris.

The mission of the Museum is to interpret the history of arms and armor in a broad cultural context. This approach is appropriate, given the Higgins' unique position among such collections, most of which are either housed within large encyclopedic art museums (like the Metropolitan), or located in large tourist-destination cities (like London or Paris). At the Higgins, we are a highly specialized museum, yet we are also one of the major cultural institutions of the city. On any given day we are just as likely to welcome a neighborhood family as we are an international scholar of arms and armor. The challenge for the staff, particularly in the Education and Curatorial Departments, is how to provide both of these audience segments with the kind of programming and educational experiences they expect.

On most Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year, we feature a changing roster of demonstrations given by staff and volunteers. Families can meet a Roman Legionary or Viking Warrior or watch one of the historical combat reenactments presented by the Higgins Armory Sword Guild, a volunteer group that translates and studies historical combat manuals and recreates the techniques for public presentations. The Higgins is also a popular place for children's birthday parties and Cub Scout "Over-Knight" sleepovers.

Each program features presentations about the history of arms and armor (including the opportunity for audience volunteers to try some on) as well as a uniquely Higgins touch, like cutting the cake with the "birthday sword" or being "knighted" after an overnight program at "Castle Higgins." Our calendar features a Higgins Faire Festival; Knightmare at the Higgins Halloween Celebration; and Founder's Day, when we offer free admission to all visitors in honor of John Higgins's legacy.

About 15,000 school children and chaperones visit the Museum annually. While most school groups visit the Museum after learning about the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the breadth of our collection means that we can assist teachers with many curriculum areas, whether they are studying ancient Rome or Shakespeare's plays. Our standard field trip includes an introductory arms and armor presentation and a tour of the collection. Schools can opt to add art workshops, role-playing with scripts from primary sources, or specialized auditorium shows. If students cannot come to us, we go to them (to schools, community centers, and libraries) and bring historically accurate reproduction arms and armor with us.

The Museum is known worldwide by arms and armor specialists, many of whom sit on our International Collections Committee at Large. We have hosted scholarly conferences, such as the Metals Conservation Summer Institute, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. This twelve-day program has run annually for the past three years, providing an opportunity for metals conservators from around the world to study at the Higgins and at Worcester Polytechnic Institute with an international faculty. The Higgins has also teamed with Clark University to create the Medieval and Early Modern Forum, a collaboration of faculty from several of the colleges and universities in Worcester that convene for lectures and special events like the New England Medieval Conference.

Recent exhibitions have ranged from one on arms and armor from India to a show that drew parallels between mounted knights and Harley-Davidson riders. In 2005, we opened an exhibition of work by contemporary artist Helen Meyrowitz, whose lyrical drawings of helmets and armor highlight the irony that such beautiful objects were made for the brutality of war.

In the fall of 2006, we featured an exhibition of combat manuals from the permanent collection. In addition to our in-house exhibitions, the Higgins currently has a nationally traveling exhibition called The Age of Armor that will visit sixteen art museums, history museums, and even a museum of fashion, underscoring the different ways in which our collection can be contextualized. The Higgins exhibition Now Thrive The Armorers: The Arms and Armor of Shakespeare will travel in 2008 to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.

The Museum's unequaled position as both a family museum and a scholarly institution became visible for me one Saturday last fall. The lobby of the Museum was decorated with spider webs, bats, and even an animatronic zombie for our annual kids' Halloween event, at the same time that renowned medieval and early modern scholars were delivering a series of papers in the auditorium. The Higgins is truly unique, an institution that can be thought of simultaneously as a hidden treasure by our Worcester neighbors and at the same time a world-renowned institution in the field of arms and armor.

Editor's note. Tara Young is the Director of Education and Public Programs at the Higgins.