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Smithsonian Institution 如何议论鸦片？
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While the Smithsonian Institution itself has not centered exhibits on New England opium merchants, it has covered the broader topic of 19th-century opium use in America
. The Smithsonian's sister publication, Smithsonian Magazine, has also published articles covering the topic. However, museums in New England have explicitly and directly explored this history. New England museums on the opium trade
Several New England institutions have directly confronted the history of opium merchants from the region:
- Forbes House Museum: This Milton, Massachusetts, museum, located in the former home of a prominent merchant family, has hosted exhibitions on how families like the Forbeses built vast wealth by trading opium in China.
- Massachusetts Historical Society: The society has published articles and hosted events on how prominent Boston families, including the Forbes, Cabot, and Cushing families, accumulated wealth and funded local institutions through the opium trade.
- WBUR (Boston's NPR station): WBUR has conducted extensive reporting on how profits from the 19th-century China opium trade shaped Boston. Articles detail how New England traders like Thomas Handasyd Perkins circumvented British monopolies to become dominant in the Turkish opium business.
Smithsonian coverage of opium in America
The Smithsonian Institution's coverage tends to focus on the broader historical context rather than the specifics of the New England trade:
- National Museum of American History: In an online exhibition, the museum discusses American trade with China, noting that merchants like the Forbes family profited from the trade, including opium. It also addresses the history of opium and its derivative, morphine, as medicinal drugs in the 19th century.
- Smithsonian Magazine: Articles in the publication have discussed America's 19th-century opiate addiction, focusing on the domestic use of opium-based medicines and the broader timeline of opioid use in the United States.
The Smithsonian Institution has provided some exposure to the New England opium trade of the early 1800s, primarily through the National Museum of American History and Smithsonian Magazine. However, the significance of this exposure is distinct from that of institutions based in New England, which have delved more deeply into the specific, localized legacy of the trade.
Significance of Smithsonian coverage
The main significance of the Smithsonian's coverage is its ability to place the New England opium trade within a broader national context.
National scope: By addressing the topic, the Smithsonian, a prominent national institution, moves the story beyond a regional focus. It reframes the New England merchants' role as part of a larger narrative about American trade, economics, and foreign policy in the 19th century.
Connecting to contemporary issues: The Smithsonian's broader approach also links this historical trade to the larger history of drug use in the U.S. This provides important context for modern challenges related to opioid addiction.
Significance of local exposure
Regional institutions in New England, like the Forbes House Museum and the Massachusetts Historical Society, provide more specific and impactful exposure to the local consequences of the trade.
Illuminating forgotten histories: Many families and institutions in New England benefited from the vast wealth created by the opium trade but downplayed or hid its origins. Local efforts to uncover this history force a reckoning with the origins of that wealth.
Ties to civic institutions: Exposing the trade's links to specific, revered local institutions—such as Massachusetts General Hospital and the Perkins School for the Blind—forces communities to confront a complex and ethically difficult part of their history.
Localized consequences: Local exposure highlights the direct connection between illicit overseas trade and the development of specific American communities. It shows how the profits influenced everything from architectural development to the funding of cultural and educational projects.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-story-americas-19th-century-opiate-addiction-180967673/#:~:text=Opiates%20made%20up%2015%20percent%20of%20all,medicating%20themselves%20for%20physical%20and%20mental%20discomforts.%E2%80%9D
Opiates made up 15 percent of all prescriptions dispensed in Boston in 1888, according to a survey of the city’s drug stores. “In 1890, opiates were sold in an unregulated medical marketplace,” wrote Caroline Jean Acker in her 2002 book, Creating the American Junkie: Addiction Research in the Classic Era of Narcotic Control. “Physicians prescribed them for a wide range of indications, and pharmacists sold them to individuals medicating themselves for physical and mental discomforts.”
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-1
