During the time the original version of Battlestar Galactica was airing — it premiered in 1978 and was followed by a sequel series in 1980 — someone made the glasses pictured above. Brown, plastic, aviator-style frames with the show’s logo on both earpieces. In 1982, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History got its hands on 36 additional pairs of glasses unrelated to the show, but including these glasses. And now they’re wondering where the frak these glasses, featuring the BSG logo, frakking came from. Everyone is baffled!
Museum technician Drew P. Robarge has searched high and low for the origin of these glasses, including eBay and Universal Studios, thinking that the frames could have been sold in a gift shop. Records show that one Dr. J. William Rosenthal made the donation, but there was no indication of how he came upon the glasses originally. Dr. Rosenthal has made over 20 donations to the Smithsonian’s medicine department, and the one that included these glasses consisted of 36 complete pairs of glasses (frames and lenses) and 26 additional lenses. But no information on these “fan frames.”
It’s not every day that one comes across glasses frames with a sci-fi show’s logo on them. Normally, when we think of “wearing our passions,” it’s in t-shirt form. Or at least something less expensive or “daily-wear” than glasses. (Like sneakers.)
Interestingly enough, Robarge (a sci-fi fan himself) was particularly interested in the aspect of visual disability when examining the Smithsonian’s collection of over 1,000 pairs of glasses — because he’s deaf. In this video about his discovery and the ensuing mystery, he tells his story in ASL and asks for your help in helping him find out where these BSG glasses originated.
(Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History via Blastr)
