As with most museums, space and programming constraints mean that only a fraction of objects can be on view at any one time.

In this episode of the PEMcast, we throw open the doors of the James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes Collection Center not only to curators and visiting scholars, but also to Ben Miller, host of Curious Objects.

Ben Miller knows a lot about antiques. Not only does he now work in New York City as the director of research for S.J. Shrubsole, an antiques dealership specializing in English and American silver and jewelry, he’s also the host of the Curious Objects podcast produced by The Magazine Antiques. And in this episode of the PEMcast, he’s taking over, exploring our collection from his very curious vantage point. You’ll hear him navigate time and the globe through highlights from our collection, brought to Salem from around the world. Listen as, with our curators and experts to guide him, Ben wanders through our new 120,000-square-foot offsite Collection Center, generously supported by philanthropists, James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes. The state-of-the-art Collection Center is also home to PEM’s Phillips Library, one of the oldest library collections in the country, which holds several hundred thousand volumes and one linear mile of archival material.

In this two–part episode that we’ve turned into one, Ben embarks on an odyssey through our collection with access to Jingdezhen punch bowls, documents from the Salem Witch Trials, Christian Louboutin shoes and a $2.1 million copy of the Declaration of Independence, as well as showy Persian slippers and much, much more. Featuring Angela Segalla, director of the Collection Center, Curators Karina Corrigan and Paula Richter, and Dan Lipcan, Director of PEM’s Phillips Library.