We all like to hit up the gift shop after a museum visit, but Shannon Draucker, Ph.D. saw a very special item available on her recent trip to the Met.
Draucker, associate professor of English, was taking in the new Musical Bodies exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York earlier this month. The show, which runs through September, explores the deep connection between musical instruments and the human body through over 130 works spanning 4,000 years of art and music history.
She stopped by the exhibit pop-up shop, and to her happy surprise saw for sale her 2024 book Sounding Bodies: Acoustical Science and Musical Erotics in Victorian Literature. Her academic work was also cited in the exhibit and its catalogue.
She introduced herself to the bookseller, who asked her to sign a bunch of copies, then took photos for the Met’s social media.
“It’s rare for academic writing to reach wider audiences, so to think that my research played even a minor role in the exhibit narrative is really exciting,” said Draucker. “I’m grateful to the curators and booksellers at the Met for including my work in this incredible exhibition!”
Want to learn more about her research? Check out “A Fresh Look at an Overlooked Genre.”
