I felt incredibly lucky to find myself in a 12th floor apartment in lower Manhattan, waiting for my turn to unbox one of the new acquisitions to the Museum of Interesting Things. For the past two hours, I had been listening to stories and learning about all kinds of things from legendary New Yorker collector Denny Daniel. From Soviet era records pressed onto discarded medical x-rays, to Big Bertha—aka THE Moviola machine used by Tim Burton and others during production of Pee-Wee Herman’s Big Adventure— Denny has everything.
When it came time for me to open one of three unbranded cardboard boxes, I picked the middle one, which turned out to be a book by Mia Fineman about photo manipulation before Photoshop. Denny pointed out the coincidence that I opened a book about photography. He says he feels that people pick the box they’re supposed to open, and I like that.
I owe a huge thank you to Denny for being open to participating in this project. His kindness and passion for his collection made this such an unforgettable experience. Thank you Denny!
