Yes, it's a shame Fort Wayne is losing the Lincoln Museum. The world-class operation has been here 80 years and its loss will make the city less distinctive in one more way. But it's a private museum that can locate any place it chooses. If the directors really are motivated by wanting the items seen by more people, moving makes sense. This sentence was intriguing:
The foundation board voted to close the museum by June 30, citing the main reasons as too few visitors and lagging interest in history museums compared with more interactive museums.
Anybody else getting a little oversold on "interactivity"? It sort of overwhelms you and takes away one of the pleasures of visiting a museum -- just wandering around leisurely, lingering over something interesting occasionally. The Lincoln Museum is said to be "the world's largest private collection of memorabilia of the 16th president of the United States." Memorabilia; that would be artifacts, stuff you can actually see and -- once in a while -- actually touch. You know -- history.
Comments
That sums up nicely and mirrors my sentiments on it in my posting today.
See?
great minds DO think alike.
Scary, hmm?)
I was just a tad more pungent with my commentary. (MY "boss" won't take me to task).
B.G.
They aren't going to wait until the stadium is built? By then there will be millions of people downtown...
Word to the point about the interactivity hype. A well-designed display with great explanation can make a fantastic exhibit.
The museum closing brought to mind a book I read last year by Andrew Ferguson, "Land of Lincoln". The author travelled with his family to visit many of the Lincoln museums, monuments, memorabilia etc. scattered around the country. Ferguson devoted an entire chapter to the redesigned "interactive" museum in Springfield. Here is a link to the excerpt in Slate, in case anyone wants to see how creepy this makeover seems to be.
http://www.slate.com/id/2169527/
That is a damn shame to see it close. I have some real fond memories of the museum.