by Alice Parman
A few years ago some University of Oregon students and I worked on ideas for an exhibit on the history of law enforcement in Lane County. This was part of an annual Interpretive Exhibits Studio course held at the Lane County Historical Museum.
Lady Justice figured prominently in our exhibit plans. She once stood inside the Lane County Courthouse in my hometown, Eugene, Oregon. Sadly, this historic building succumbed to urban renewal in the 1960s. Fragments (the courthouse bell, the judge’s bench, a staircase, and Lady Justice) are part of the museum’s collection.
Our Lady Justice looks like a second grade teacher dressed up for Halloween, right?
Imagine my astonishment when I recently encountered a very different Lady Justice in front of the Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio, Texas.
Who else out there has a Lady Justice in your collection, or in front of your county courthouse? And what does SHE look like?
Comments
The Museum of Mobile has a big, beautifully restored example, should be on their website
Very striking! You inspired me to search Flickr, where I found quite a range of Ladies Justice.
Alice! That's a fun question. If you look online, some people are collectors of such things. See http://mdean.tripod.com/justice.html. In 2007, we worked with the Clackamas County Court as they did a renovation of the courthouse. Our collection included the restored wooden statue of Lady Justice which had, much as in your case, been salvaged when the historic courthouse burned. Believing that one of the responses to a decline in people attending museums should be to take the museum to the people, we helped create an interpretive display including the statue itself in a prominent place in the lobby. Press coverage was good. http://web4.co.clackamas.or.us/mrm/3012.html
The county archive includes a video of the process which was quite involved.
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