Mmmmmmmm.....

Museums--Some of the best places in the world! The best kind now-a-days are the art museums. They still have lots of real objects to see. It is so sad to watch the history museums and science museums put their real things away in favor of posters and computer stations filled with buttons to push. I remember the wonder of looking through the glass cases at the Ohio Historical Society at a doll's trunk all fitted out with clothes, shoes, hairbrushes, and all sorts of miniature items for the doll to use. Another case would have the real dishes pioneers had used when they first came to Ohio to live. I loved seeing the real stuff and imagining who used them. Now, most history museums store all their real things away and mount up pictures on the wall with lift-the-flap games that tend to be a bit boring. Please, please bring back the "stuff"!
Another neat kind of museum though, is the open-air, living museum. A great one in Ohio during the summer is Robin's Crossing in Nelsonville. It is peopled by students learning how to work at this kind of museum and volunteers.

A wonderful book I just found at the library is about the people who work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and is called simply "Museum" by Danny Danziger. Makes me want to work at a museum, right now!

The girls and I have made our own museum in the past. We started doing this when my oldest read about the boxcar children putting up their own museum. (second in the series by Gertrude C. Warner--"Surprise Island") We collected bird egg shells, feathers, rocks, shells, leaves, etc., made labels for each and then last year we put together our own art museum and a catalog. Tons of fun!