Museums are Awesome!

Over the past few weeks, we have been sharing some of our research into early childhood memories of museum visits.  A recurring theme has been what we call the “wow” factor.  A sense of awe or wonder.

Time and again, people wrote about being “awestruck” by what they saw at a museum.  (In fact, the sum total of more than one memory was “awesome.”) 

We wanted to look at these memories in a bit more detail to see if there were any themes.  What made a museum awesome?

Unsurprisingly, most awesome memories were about scale.  That is, buildings and objects that were larger-than-life were more likely to create that sense of awe in children. 

• “Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY. We went there periodically and had a fun time. The spaces (exhibit halls) were big and exciting . . . “
• “It was in Branson, MO . . . I remember the moose b/c I'd never in a million years imagined how big they are!!”

And while dinosaurs do, indeed, incite awe in children, we also saw a strong correlation with dioramas, both natural history and historical.

• "Natural history museum in New York.  The dioramas were burned into my skull and I could not comprehend such a magical place could exist."
• "My earliest memory is of the Chicago History Museum and the dioramas.  I thought that was the coolest thing I ever saw!"

Not all “wow” factor memories were about scale, however.  Children were struck by the glittery, the beautiful, and the exotic.

• "Armand Hammer Museum for Catherine the Great and Ottoman Empire Exhibitions. Feelings of wonder,excitement, and mystery."
• "Very old Chinese sculpture. I was in awe of a sculpture of a horse that sweat blood. The entire exhibit seemed so exotic to small-town Ohio girl."
• "I was at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, PA and was struck by Waterlilies, by Monet.  I got in trouble with my teacher for not keeping up with the group because I spent so much time in front of the painting."

And, finally, even a fairly simple interactive could be fantastic:

• "  . . . There was an exhibit of the southwest or something that had a buzzer you could push to make the rattlesnake in the display rattle its tail. That was awesome (it was 1971, mind you)."

While not every museum has cavernous galleries, or dinosaurs and mastodons, all museums have something that is going to be awesome to a child.  The trick is figuring out what those objects and experiences are so that young children today can be suitably enthralled as well.  You can probably find them where children tend to stop and stare.

What do you think?  What do you remember from your childhood museum experiences?  To share, simply click on "comments" below.  (If you are reading this from your e-mail subscription to the blog, please go to http://reachadvisors.typepad.com to add a comment.)

Photo courtesy: Pacific Science Center

 

Comments

[Rebecca Lawrence]

My grandparents house was located three blocks from the North Museum in Lancaster on the campus of F&M. I have images in my mind walking through one of their rooms holding my grandmother's hand and the whites of my shirt and shoes quite vividly glowing in the dark. I also recall frequently purchasing and asking for dinosaur shaped erasers and rocks from their gift shop.

[Robert Connolly]

I am still blown away how with all the high-tech gadgetry, it's the dioramas that resonate most with the children who visit our Native American museum today!

[Rita Johnson]

At the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (in the late '60s I think) there was a geology gallery that had a large globe of the earth in the centre of an indoor stream with a little waterfall (no idea what that was for, but the sound was mesmerizing). The gallery was pretty dark, and in those days just about empty. These are part of the special feeling. The globe rotated slowly, on the appropriate tilt, and then... it would come apart. This was a magic moment, worth standing and waiting for; generally, anything that you have to wait for is special. Inside were the layers of the planet, labelled with whatever: lithosphere, etc. That info wasn't why i stood there in anticipation.
By the way, I too remember the rattlesnake with the rattling tail!

[Janet MacGregor]

I remember as an adolescent seeing Picasso's Guernica when it lived in New York - never forgot it. In fact, it became a reason for a trip to Spain last year. Just as awesome 45 years later!