Episode 140: A Large and Historic Puppet Collection

Professor of puppet arts Matthew Isaac Cohen has laid hands on each of the 23,000 puppets that comprise the largest Indonesian puppet collection in the world. Over the last eight years, he has researched the Dr. Walter Angst and Sir Henry Angest Collection of Indonesian Puppets at the Yale University Art Gallery, Cohen has taken great care with each of the artifacts, some hundreds of years old. He joins us on the podcast to talk about what it is like to work with such a large and historic collection. Cohen is a member of the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation’s 100th class of fellows and plans to document in two major publications what he’s found in Angst’s collection. Cohenalso talks about being part of UConn world-renowned puppet arts program as it celebrates its 60th anniversary.