David Cole will enter his sixth year as executive director of the Hagley Museum and Library with a feat not accomplished by any American history museum: an exhibit in the People’s Republic of China.
“Spirit of Invention: Nineteenth-Century U.S. Patent Models from the Hagley Museum and Library” will open in April 2018 in what museum officials call a “path-breaking” exhibition in partnership with Tsinghua University in Beijing and the China Association for Science and Technology.
For Cole, the opportunity and broader implications are monumental.
“This not like anything we’ve ever dealt with before,” said Cole, who was lecturing at the Smithsonian about the museum’s collection of 5,000 American patent models from the 19th century when he was approached about taking the exhibit to China.
A meeting with the Chinese Ministry of Culture to the U.S. was followed by additional meetings with the provost from Tsinghua University, the country’s MIT equivalent, according to Cole.
“The next thing I know we have an agreement to take 60 of the patent models we have on a four-city tour of China beginning in Bejing,” said Cole.
Patent models were created by expert craftspeople with the goal of impressing Patent Office examiners, according to Hagley officials. “These custom-crafted, one-of-a-kind patent models represented solutions to practical problems and were viewed as compelling works of art by the public in the 19th century,” said Cole.
For an American history museum to be invited to exhibit in China something other than master paintings simply hasn’t happened. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has taken more shows to China than any other, and those do exhibit art, according to Cole.
But for a country that views intellectual property much differently than the U.S., Cole said that their interest in showcasing innovation has caught the attention of both governments.
In August, President Trump authorized an inquiry into China’s alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property. But Cole is hopeful about the opportunity to celebrate innovation.
“To have a cultural exhibition that allows us to have a dialogue between both countries is a great thing,” said Cole. “We are trying to create a new innovation-based economy and to have the opportunity to make a new set of friends in China around innovation is a great thing.”
One of the backers of the exhibit is IDG Capital, the largest Chinese Venture Capitalist firm that already has a presence in the U.S. According to Cole, a representative from the firm recently came to Wilmington.
The exhibit will open on April 26, Intellectual Property Day in China. The 10,000-square-foot exhibition will include 60 patent models from Hagley, and an exhibit of Chinese inventions largely focused on augmented reality, from China.
“Each patent model tells a story of ingenuity, invention and the entrepreneurial spirit,” according to Cole.
According to Cole, selecting which patents would be part of the exhibit was the first exercise in international “back and forth.”
“They wanted to see mainly big industrial machines, things that helped create the American economy,” said Cole, who initially thought he’s select a broad cross-section of objects that ranged from toys to household items.
Instead, patent models in brick-making, steam engines and military technology will be featured.
The exhibition will be designed by students and faculty of Tsinghua University and is expected to engage an audience of more than 1 million visitors.
“Bringing an exhibition of these national treasures to China will bring Hagley, and the Brandywine valley, to the attention of millions of Chinese people,” said Cole. “We expect that it will encourage Chinese tourists to visit Delaware and explore Hagley and our neighboring cultural institutions. We also expect that this exhibition is the beginning of a long-term partnership between Hagley, Tsinghua University and China’s Ministry of Culture.”
“This is an exciting opportunity for Hagley Museum to display these patent models, these works of art to a much broader audience, and it’s a valuable opportunity for our country to share with China an important part of our history,” said Sen. Chris Coons.
“We’re still a nation of tinkerers, but of course technology has changed and in many ways has become more complex, and much research is now done in teams and I’m pleased to see data from our Patent and Trademark Office showing that there has been a growth of such collaboration and mutual understanding between U.S. and Chinese scientists and engineers,” Coons said.
