Museums

from the New York Times

After spending a day last week at the Roberson Museum investigating how local institutions might support the Common Core, I was more than ready when Thursday's "Museums" insert arrived as part of the New York Times. There were so many articles that illustrate how these centers actively strive to create meaning for patrons: At Play in Skies of Cretaceous Era, After Exhibition, Finding New Uses for Display, Motowns' Link to Civil Rights Movement on Display, Remembering the "Black Fives" of Basketball, Is there a Doctor in the Exhibition?, Warming up to the Culture of Wikipedia , and Entering World of Literature's Great Sleuth. I realize that is NYC we are talking about, but the ideas behind what they are doing and how they are responding to patron needs are applicable to the Southern Tier also.

It is inspiring stuff.

As a footnote, another article; this one in the Sunday Times "T" magazine was written by author Orham Panuk, who argues the virtues of small personal museums that provide period context for the items they present. Interestingly, Pamuk has created "The Museum of Innocence," which exhibits artifacts from his novel of the same title; a neat project idea for students, yes?