History through the News: The Newseum part 1

So, with so many of the DC museums closed because of the shutdown, there were only a few museums to choose from when my cousin came to visit on her fall break. Of those museums, the one that looked the most interesting to both of us was the Newseum. I had been to the Newseum years ago when it was located in Virginia, but hadn't been since the new facility had opened on Pennsylvania Ave. So, deciding to brave the rain and the protesters, we got in the car and headed into the city. 

View from the Newseum's terrace. 

It was strange that on the Sunday of a holiday weekend, we got a prime parking spot right in front of the National Museum of Natural History. It was only a three block walk to the Newseum, and before I knew it we were looking at a tall, sleek building. The buzz created by the visitors was a sharp contrast to the locked Sculpture Garden and the closed Archives we had passed on our short walk there. When we stepped inside, I have to admit that I was impressed by the shear size of building and excited to see what the day had in store for us.

After purchasing our tickets (they are good for 2 days and there is a student discount available), we made our way down to the orientation video, which explains what is the best for visitors to explore the museum. Having decided to follow the museum's recommendations, we began our tour on Level 1, where we saw three very different but cool exhibits: The Berlin Wall Gallery, Creating Camelot, and FBI Exhibit. And of course I took enough pictures to make each their own posting. 

The first post will cover the permanent exhibit that I thought was the best done in the entire Newseum: the aforementioned Berlin Wall Gallery.

Looking down from level 6 of the Newseum

The Berlin Wall Gallery is the first gallery you come to after exiting the orientation video. The gallery space is designated by a large section of the wall itself. 

After briefly touching a “piece of history” as instructed by the label text, my mom, cousin, and I headed over to get a closer look at the wall. 

There is something about this object that is awe inspiring. The art/graffiti on it tells part of its history, in stark juxtaposition to the clear surface of the concrete on the other side. After studying the art on the wall’s original West side, we headed into the gallery.

In the center of the gallery stands an imposing concrete tower. There are no panels explaining what it is on the outside of the structure, but it had an ominous feeling about it. Walking into the doorway - one of the only openings in the tower - you can hear indistinct industrial noises. There is a small panel labeling the tower a “Death Tower.” During the period when the wall was up, 300 of these towers lined border between East and West Berlin, from the East side. These towers were used to prevent illegal border crossings. This particular one used to stand at Stallschreiberstrasse, less than a mile from the most famous border crossing in Berlin- Checkpoint Charlie. 

After exiting the Death Tower, we moved to the first of the main text panels. These panels, which are on the three walls of the gallery, tell the story of the wall, from its very beginning to its famous fall. That story is told through the use of multimedia text panels. There is the traditional text that tells the historical narrative and personal stories. My favorite of these was the story of the young reporter who was one of the first to see (and report on) the first barricades that went up between East and West Berlin. 

But the story was not just told in still images and label text. Each panel had a video screen that added not only a multimedia dimension to the exhibit, but also a more emotional connection to the narrative. The videos were collections of news clips and stories about from different periods in the wall’s history, keeping with the museum’s intent to teach history through the news that made it. 

There were also a few other objects selected for the exhibit, to add a more tangible dimension to the panels. The first object is what is probably one of the most recognizable signs in from the recent history: the sign for Checkpoint Charlie. The other object in the main gallery is harder to place, but the inclusion of a photograph on the panel above it identifies it as one of the anti-tank barriers used at Todesstreifen. 

The final panel tells the story of the breaking down of the Soviet control of East Berlin and the tearing down of the wall. It focuses on the images made famous by newspapers around the world of the wall coming down. It is a very moving ending to the story. 

Now, I was a year old when the wall came down (although my mom did prop me up in front of the TV so I can say that I did watch it come down), so it wasn’t as powerful to me as it was to my mom.  Throughout the entire exhibit she had been talking about what it was like to live through certain events and how it seemed like the wall would always be a barrier between the two Berlins. Her commentary enhanced my experience at the exhibit, because to me, this is all history. But to my mom it was her childhood and early adult life. This was her news, not her history. Which I think is one lesson the exhibit is trying to get across to people born after the wall came down. This was millions of people’s reality, unfolding daily in the media. 

The gallery is not large and the panels are not as in depth as they are in many other of the Newseum’s exhibits, but this exhibit may be worth the price of the ticket on its own. It flows well, tells a meaningful story, and invokes an emotional response from patrons. Definitely one to check out. 

And next time, the Newseum part 2 and the JFK exhibits. 

The V&A

The Victoria and Albert Museum advertises that it is "the worlds greatest museum of art and design." While I'm not sure if I would agree that it is the world's best art museum, after my visit there I will concede that it is probably the world's best museum of design (the building itself is an amazing work of art!). From architectural elements to interior design, the museum covers a wide range of historical periods and geographical localities. 

During our visit, the museum had two special exhibits: "Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950" and "Hollywood Costumes." Unfortunately, my dear museum companion and I did not see either of these, because of the admission fees required for both.  With the sheer amount of exhibits in the museum, we still had plenty to see (although we did manage to sneak a peak at "Ballgowns").

Since we took the Underground, we entered the museum through a back door and decided to start our tour of the museum from the top and work our way down. We took the elevator up to the top exhibit floor, and when the doors opened, I was in exhibit heaven. The top floor is devoted to the decorative arts and the way the furniture and ceramics are displayed is just amazing. The furniture gallery is open and light. Many of the pieces are not caged behind glass barriers, so the visitor feels even closer to many of the objects. The room's open flow is almost reminiscent of the original environment these objects would have been in, private residences, which adds to the visitor's experience of these objects.  

On the sides of the gallery are specialized displays, dedicated to either a furniture maker/designer or a specific type of technique. Many of these alcoves are equipped with a computer screen and handset, which allows visitors to get further descriptions of the items featured and/or the maker or technique displayed. There is an alarm system to protect the objects from having museum patrons get too close, which went off quite a few times when we were in the gallery. But, for me, the overall design of the gallery outweighed the few noise interruptions.

From the furniture gallery, we continued into the ceramics halls. There was room after room of open ceramic storage. I had never seen so many ceramic pieces in one place. The shear volume is overwhelming. On top of everything, the blue and white section was enormous. It is my favorite type of ceramic (yes, archaeologists have favorite ceramic types), so I just had to take a picture. 

From the open storage, we moved into an exhibit explaining how ceramics are produced and the different techniques used in both production and decoration. I absolutely loved how the display worked, especially the pile of beautiful Willow Ware wasters. 

There was even a display on how transferprinted ceramics were made. Again, the archaeologist in me absolutely loved the idea, since I have tried to describe it to many people over the years. And leave it to the V&A to make it pretty too. 

We then moved on to the other galleries, including this architecture gallery which centered around models of some of the world's most famous buildings, from green apartment buildings to temples. 

About 2/3 of the way through our visit, w finally found the main entrance and the Rotunda. There was even a Chihuly there to help guide lost Americans (Chihuly pieces always seem to be in entrance halls). 

We explored the history of fashion and I have to admit that I regret only taking one picture. But you gotta love a pink gown! I think one of the best aspects of this exhibit for me was that the proper undergarments for the time period were included along side the more traditional clothing displays. It was great to see the history of underwear over time. 

After spending hours at the V&A, running through different time periods, localities, and mediums, we decided that it was time to refuel. So of course, after spending our morning immersing ourselves in the height of Victorian material culture, we continued with the theme of the day and headed to Fortnum and Mason. I have to admit something here: I am addicted to tea. Good tea. So this was such a fun part of the day for me. 

The perfect ending to a very indulgent museum day! Tea, prosecco, and ice cream tea cakes (unfortunately not pictured) in The Parlour, which I highly recommend. 

Overall, I loved the V&A. I wish I had been able to spend more time exploring the vast multitude of galleries and hallways, but I'm sure I will be back. And maybe next time I'll even go in the front entrance :)

Tower of London's White Tower

Hi everyone! This is my first blog posting ever, so I thought that I would start with what I want this blog to be about. I love museums and am an emerging museum professional myself. So, after reading many blogs that mention different exhibits from time to time, I thought that it would be fun to write a blog that focus on museum exhibits. New, traveling, permanent; as many of them as I can get to. 

Two months ago, I was in the UK for an archaeology conference, so my traveling companion Jenna (also a museum lover) and I decided to hit up as many museums as we could. These museums/exhibits will be the focus of my first few posts. 

So first up, the Tower of London's White Tower!

I remember walking through this exhibit about 6 years ago, on my first trip to the Tower, and being awed by the different exhibits. Well, 6 years and a renovation later,  I found myself enamored once more, but not for the same reasons. Walking through this time, I was throughly impressed with so many of the exhibit's components. Yes, the horses next to the heads of past kings is still creepy, but that short part is now competing with fun lighting design and amusing hands-on activities for all ages. 

First, you walk through the armor hall, which is full of huge swords and over-compensating cod-pieces. What else would you expect from Henry VIII?

Then you proceed through the Hall of Kings, which I have to admit still disturbs me so much that I scooted through it as quickly as possible. 

This picture may be one of my favorites that I took at the exhibit, because it shows the very impressive lighting design. When you are looking at the individual cases, you don't get the scope of the lighting. The panels actually transition between colors over time, going from blues and pinks to reds and yellow and every color in between. But somehow this really modern design works really beautifully with the Tudor and Stewart armor. 

After walking through some more open planned space, we arrived at the hands-on history section. Now, I normally will NOT touch any of the hands on activities after seeing what happens to them on a daily basis, but there was one that I just had to try. It was a mock long bow, where you stepped up, pulled back, and tried your luck at hitting a virtual target. Despite the my look in this picture (blame the jet lag, as it was our first full day in London), I LOVED this. I even managed to hit my target!

Then we went into the room that use to talk about the Gunpowder Plot. Now all that is left of that is this strange dragon on top of powder kegs and my slightly scared museum buddy. After this room, we headed back down the ground (you work your way from the bottom to the top in this exhibit), but made one quick pitstop before leaving the Tower of London. 

Jenna really wanted to see the exhibit on Torture, so we stood in line in a slight drizzle to see what it was all about. When we got inside, however, we realized that it was just a small, one room exhibit with models of a few torture devices, including the Rack, the Manacles, and the one showed above, called the Scavenger's Daughter. It was a neat little exhibit, but there was a major problem with the flow of people through the exhibit, so we didn't stay too long. 

All in all it was a great exhibit within the larger Tower of London experience. And since Jenna and I both made it out alive (despite this guy's best efforts), I think we can call it a success.