Dumbing Down Museum Exhibits

[TXGunNut]

Yes, finally home after 2951 miles with a thoroughly hammered Cabelas Visa.
I had the pleasure of talking with the curator of the firearms museum at the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum in Cody, Wyoming. Not only is she sharp as a tack, cute as a bug and a hard-driven ambitious person but she knows something rather disturbing about visitors to her museum. They're seemingly a visual bunch, not much interested in text. My favorite exhibit on my last visit was the John Moses Browning exhibit. Turns out it was their least favorite exhibit; too much text. The exhibit is being re-done and none of the items (or text) were on display when I visited.
I knew something was odd when a security guy mentioned I had been in the basement looking at the more obscure guns for over two hours, apparently some kind of record. Seems I got their attention with my notepad, or maybe their practiced eyes noticed the concealed 45 on my hip. Many of the downstairs guns were not on display last time I was there, thanks to a new slide-out drawer and vertical display system. Yes, I spent another hour or so down there. Took lots of notes and pics.
Yes, it disturbs me to learn that a museum of this caliber (pun not intended) is forced to "dumb down" it's exhibits to draw attention from today's visitor(s). I'm glad that the curator is aware of the likes and dislikes of the museum's visitors because that is essential to any museum's survival. I'll admit that I'm fascinated by John Moses Browning but IIRC the extent of the text of the old exhibit was probably well under 1000 words, maybe closer to 500. For me that barely scratches the surface of JMB's contribution to the world of firearms.
I've learned there is a museum dedicated to the contributions of JMB. Planning for my next road trip starts soon. Yes, I'll continue to support the BBHC and feel it is a "must-see" for any old gun afficianado. I'm just a bit disappointed in the mainstream museum-goer.

[mjwcaster]

Sounds like a great museum.

It is not surprising, if it doesn't move, flash or explode there is no interest in it anymore.
Hard enough just to get people to look up from their phones.

Just be thankful that there are still enough people left even going for the museum to remain open.

I enjoy reading the text with displays also, but then again I just enjoy reading.
Was at the cable company office the other day and while bored waiting in line I was reading everything posted on the walls.

Thankfully my daughter enjoys reading, even though she will watch some TV and play on her tablet, she still turns things off and reads her books when she wants to.
I just wish we had a larger library in town, it is getting hard to find books on her interests that aren't childrens books.
And our online search engine for inter Library loans is horrible.
Not even a way to search for just non-fiction or adult.
Search for wolves and get a huge list, mostly childrens or fiction.

Gracie is pretty good at reading the descriptions of displays, probably because I have never spoon fed her information, always made her work for it.

'What is this dad'
'Read the description and you tell me'.

Never directly answer a question, make them think about it and try to answer it for themselves.

I know it probably has irritated her at times, but she has said that she does enjoy it and enjoys learning.

[Freightman]

Glad you got home safe, wish we had of had time to go to the museum in Canyon at WTA&M it has a fair gun collection not as extensive as that but not bad. Glad to have met you SYL

[runfiverun]

I thought it was just me.
when I was down in the basement I thought it was the most sterile and boring part of the exhibit.
slide a drawer open and it has some guns, open another and more guns.

if I/you didn't know what they were, they would have just been chunks of steel and wood in a box.
every gun has a story and I'd like to hear it.

[TXGunNut]

I thought it was just me.
when I was down in the basement I thought it was the most sterile and boring part of the exhibit.
slide a drawer open and it has some guns, open another and more guns.

if I/you didn't know what they were, they would have just been chunks of steel and wood in a box.
every gun has a story and I'd like to hear it.

There were a few guns in those drawers or vertical storage that I've been reading about and wanted a closer look. The vertical storage also lets you see the gun from all sides. Lighting wasn't great but I used my little flashlight to good effect. There was a big collection of S&W revolvers from a single collection, some were a bit odd but all seemed a bit too "modern" for a museum. Most were not older than 20-30 yrs old.
The folks I met in Raton on the way north live in Sherman County, Freightman. They told me about the Canyon museum, I'll be planning a visit there soon. I'll shoot you a PM if you don't mind showing me around.

[doc1876]

Cody is one of the best museums I have ever been in. I have been asked to leave several other ones due to my pointing out that they had wrong information. Most mistakes were in the display, like a 1904 McClellan saddle in a 1849 diorama. So I have concluded that many museums are contributing to the ignorance of the visitors.

[popper]

Pretty much the same as the Cosmosphere, flashing lights and all. Only a few lines of text at most for each display. Now old guns, most aren't that interested. History of many old ones is interesting. I do remember going through the Jeff City museum, long ago. Mostly racks of rifles sitting against the wall, no text at all. They did have a large model of the Big Mo. Most are like 'art' museums, just 'look'.

[flint45]

I hope to vist one day makes me sad whats happing to this country we dumb down every thing.For a bunch of lazy dummies.

[Petrol & Powder]

A little off topic but not much. While the "dumbing down" of exhibits is a sad state of affairs in our world where few want to think; the altering of history to make it politically correct for the current times is inexcusable to me.
Revisionist history is dangerous and seems Orwellian to me at the least. The events of the past should be accurately depicted without regard to how some now feel about what happened.

I was at the downtown Smithsonian Air & Space museum in Washington D.C. (not the newer Udvar-Hazy museum at Dulles) during the Bill Clinton administration. The downtown museum doesn't have the space to exhibit the entire Enola Gay like the newer one but they had portions of that B-29 on display along with an extremely apologetic and distorted text explanation of how the U.S. was wrong to use atomic weapons. Museums should display artifacts and give accurate details about those artifacts connection to history; they should never re-write history because it might be offensive to someone now.

[TXGunNut]

I dislike the PC revisionist historians but some revisionists are right, I think they irritate the PC more than a little bit on some issues. The apologists aren't historians in my opinion, propagandists is more like it. I enjoyed the Buffalo Bill section of the museum even though I know most of what made him famous was hype. The art section was a bit disappointing, I think a few exhibits have moved on. I seem to recall more pieces of Remington and Russell on my last trip, almost scarce this time. Draper Natural History Museum targeted the younger crowd but had lots of very good text as well. Will be interesting to see how those exhibits evolve.

[Rockydog]

I went to the Fort Snelling, Minnesota, Museum once a long time ago. IIRC it was run by the MN Historical Society. Summer history interns were dressed in period costumes and were in character. They were not allowed to break character for any reason. I had questions about the military muzzle loaders they were carrying. If I included any reference to something of a later date than the characters they were portraying they had a stock answer. "I know not of what you speak." Absolutely maddening!!!! I was so ticked that I left and demanded my money back, which they refused to return. Most ridiculous set up I ever saw. Makes me mad to this day. RD

[TXGunNut]

My apologies in advance, but I can understand the parameters of the Fort Snelling exhibit. I don't expect many college age kids to have a thorough understanding of firearms of any period. I suppose these interns were thoroughly schooled on the featured period of firearms and no more. I think that should suffice for that purpose. Even if they had knowledge of later period firearms it would not have contributed to the exhibit to discuss them with you. The purpose of that exhibit was to enlighten folks about that era, and that era only. Why would I ask a Civil War soldier about an 1874 Sharps? I'd ask him about paper cartridges, bullet lube and fouling issues. And yes, I'd ask him about rainy days when you could stare at the enemy and maybe converse with him but not shoot him. I'd ask him about members of his company still clinging to flintlocks. I'd ask him about the real world survivability of bullet wound in that environment with the medical care available. I might ask him about the Spencer carbine but would be very aware of whether my subject soldier was wearing blue or grey.