Conestoga Hasp and Hinge c. 1938

Editor: This is "Conestoga Hasp and Hinge," a watercolor and pencil drawing made around 1938 by John Petrucci. It's quite a detailed study of what looks like some pretty old hardware. It almost feels like an archaeological record, you know? What jumps out at you? Curator: I’m intrigued by that comparison to archeology. These drawings, seemingly simple, are actually tied to the New Deal era. Petrucci was documenting, through the Index of American Design, aspects of American material culture that were rapidly disappearing. How do we value the everyday objects, before their obsolescence? Editor: So it's not just art for art's sake, but art as documentation? It feels almost like he’s preserving a memory of a time gone by. But why this hardware specifically? Curator: The choice speaks volumes. Think about the Conestoga wagon itself, its iconic status in westward expansion. These humble hinges, then, become stand-ins for that narrative, of labor, migration, and ingenuity, now made romantic through time and the changing landscape. How did such drawings shape national identity? Editor: That makes so much sense. Highlighting that ingenuity... It shifts my perception from just seeing old metalwork to understanding its deeper cultural significance. Curator: Exactly. It prompts questions about preservation versus progress, who gets to define ‘American’ identity, and what stories museums choose to tell, and *how.* What does it mean to elevate these functional objects in artistic context? Editor: It sounds like it challenges our current throw-away culture to consider things through a very different social lens. It's more than meets the eye. Curator: Indeed, seeing them not as mere tools but as relics with complex histories transforms the viewing experience and challenges our understanding of everyday life, then and now.