Museum-Made Monsters

An uncommon prop vase from 1932's The Mummy was directly inspired by one found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

There’s no mystery to who masterminded NHM’s monstrous collection. Per our own History Collections Manager Beth Werling, the classic monster-movie artifacts that were on display in the Natural History of Horror exhibition are the result of one man’s uncanny foresight: Honorary Curator Earl Theisen.

When Theisen floated the idea to the History Department in 1930, it was still rare for museums to collect film artifacts, perhaps even more so to go after contemporaneous ones. At the time, costumes and props were reused, periodically purged, or maybe taken as souvenirs. Theisen’s ability to recognize the historical value of objects on set must have impressed: He was taken up on the offer and made Honorary Curator under the Mechanical Sciences Section of the History Department.

Portrait of Honorary Curator Earl Theisen

THE MAN BEHIND THE MASKS

From 1930 to 1942, Theisen proved himself to be gifted at acquisition. We have him to thank for the metal shackles that restrained Frankenstein’s monster in the 1931 classic, the cloth wrappings actor Boris Karloff wore in The Mummy, as well as a prop vase from that 1932 flick that was probably inspired by one from Egyptian King Tutankhamun’s tomb.

“What made Earl Theisen outstanding as a curator is that he was able to determine what was important to collect in the movie industry from a contemporary standpoint,” says Werling. “Based on his collecting record, there is not a single item that isn’t even more historically important today than when he collected it.”

Much like Dr. Frankenstein, Theisen didn’t have monsters on the brain when he undertook his project. It just so happened to coincide with the advent of the American horror film genre and, luckily for us, a donation from Universal, the studio responsible for bringing the iconic monsters that were featured in Natural History of Horror to the silver screen.

Without Theisen’s sixth sense for the future importance of the items he collected, NHM’s treasured Hollywood movie artifacts might never have seen the light.