Review of the remodeled Smithsonian American History Museum

[Buffacuse]

In a word...sucks. They have removed almost all the memorabilia that so many loved (Archie Bunker's chair, Evel Knievel's skycycle, and almost everything like it) and replaced it with a series of thematic displays that are intended to be educational but have almost no "items." Two exceptions: a display devoted to America at war--well done, extensive, educational but with lots of stuff to see, and a transportation section with lots of old cars and interesting, hands-on displays about mass transit. But, these are the only two sections in the entire museum really worth seeing. For whatever reason, they also kept Julia Child's kitchen...it's a kitchen. Big wow.

Interestingly, they tried, but failed miserably, to recreate the hands-on approach used with great success in places like the National Toy museum in Rochester, NY. They had a small area that looked just like the Rochester museum but it had so few areas for kids to use it was overwhelmed and frankly not that appealing from an arts and crafts perspective.

This is apparently the new theme in museums--we are presumed to be idiots so stories and themes need to be spelled out for us instead of showing us a great collection of artifacts with some context. We got done with the whole thing in less than two hours. Real bummer.

[gsabc]

You should write to their PTB with your opinion. I'd bet they take your thoughts seriously, and if there are enough others with the same attitudes, they might just change back to what people expect.

What, no small model of NCC-1701? No Kermit sitting next to Charlie McCarthy? Feh!

[Buffacuse]

You should write to their PTB with your opinion. I'd bet they take your thoughts seriously, and if there are enough others with the same attitudes, they might just change back to what people expect.

What, no small model of NCC-1701? No Kermit sitting next to Charlie McCarthy? Feh!

Kermit is still there--in a tiny little glass booth in a tiny display area that is off the beaten track--but Charlie is gone.

I am writing them...I think they ruined what made the museum great and so much fun.

[gsabc]

You should write to their PTB with your opinion. I'd bet they take your thoughts seriously, and if there are enough others with the same attitudes, they might just change back to what people expect.

What, no small model of NCC-1701? No Kermit sitting next to Charlie McCarthy? Feh!

Kermit is still there--in a tiny little glass booth in a tiny display area that is off the beaten track--but Charlie is gone.

I am writing them...I think they ruined what made the museum great and so much fun.

From your description, I agree. I haven't been down that way for far too long, but nearly always hit that museum when I was there. I remember Julia's kitchen setup; why bother leaving that, when there aren't even reruns of her show available on TV and the younger set (I presume their desired demographic) don't even know who she was? Star Trek and Kermit, OTOH, will remain on the air forever.