It's A Museum: Common Sense Please

Before today, I had never heard of the National Canal Museum located in Easton, PA. After going to it's website, I think I would rather enjoy spending an afternoon there. In addition to the museum itself, there is a historic house, a technology center, a park, and a canal boat ride. This boat is pulled by two mules.

If it were not for this canal ride being in the news, I do not think that I would have heard about the museum. First, I think it is necessary to read the article here at CNN that was posted yesterday. For those of you who don't want to read the whole article, basically the Transportation Security Administration wants the Canal Museum to pay for biometric Transportation Worker Identification Credentials for those who lead the mules who pull the canal boat. These are the same credentials needed for longshoremen and truckers to make sure that they have been given extensive background checks.

The people who lead these mules are costumed interpreters and the canal boat moves slowly along a small route that passes nothing needing extra security. Oh, and it's expensive to get these credentials. "Common sense dictates," as one of my teachers would often say, that this is highly unnecessary. Luckily it is not just the museum community who thinks this as this debate has reached Capitol Hill.

If I read anything new on this issue I will definitely update this story, but in the meantime, go check out the National Canal Museum.

Pictures From Old Sturbridge Village

As promised, here are the pictures that I took when I went to Sturbridge Village.

This is a picture of the Meeting House, and look at those clouds! It was an amazing November day.

This was taken at the Tin Shop. Part of what I love about this living museum is the ability for those who work there to step out of a character and lines to show an interested little girl exactly how to curl a piece of tin. She was so interested in what he had been doing and was so excited to be able to help for a few minutes.

This is a picture of the Potter. One of the very few qualms I have with Sturbridge Village is that natural light is the only light one gets in these buildings. So very spacious buildings are very difficult to take pictures in without a flash because they are very dark. This is a totally understandable however, I don't advocate for unnecessary (and modern) light usage. I actually like this picture a lot, it shows the potter in action. I also like it when people can both work and talk, rather than some who have to stop to talk to someone.

This is a picture taken at the Cooper Shop. The Cooper was not there at the time. :-(

This is a picture from the Blacksmith Shop. Look at all of the tools! Also very interesting was how the Blacksmith had an apprentice. I liked that since it adds another element of reality to it all.

And what is a living museum with out real live animals? So here are a few pictures of them.

Canon Camera Museum

Occasionally I stumble across museum related things while I am not trying to. Take for example the Canon Camera Museum, which I found on the Canon website while looking up the differences between two different flash memory camcorders. There it was, on the sidebar of the page... an ad for the Canon Camera Museum. Of course I clicked on it.

I was taken to a new page with animation. It started off blue and as the animation panned down I could see that it was a of a museum complex set in the country. There are open pastures, a garden, a pond, horses and what seems to be a petting zoo. And the horses move as do the kids and animals at what I'm thinking is a petting zoo. It's actually quite cute. I would be in love with the museum's setting if it were a physical place.

The museum complex is made up of 5 buildings: A more classical motifed building with pediment, pilasters, and columns. This building is in the center and is the largest. It is called Camera Hall. The other halls are housed in buildings that are progressively more modern looking in terms of architecture. The Design Hall reminds me of the Farnsworth House. There is also History Hall and Technology Hall. There is an information building as well but it's only real purpose is to balance the museum complex's design. When it's clicked on, a pop up gives a basic 'Welcome' and introduction.

When any of the other four buildings are clicked on, the animation zooms closer to that building and one can see that the people out side of the buildings are excited to be there. The children bounce up and down. It's all very cute and highly innovative.

Camera Hall is just that, a hall about the different types of cameras. Digital Cameras, Film Cameras, Digital Camcorders, Analog Camcorders, Movie Cameras and Lenses. They are all set up as if they would be different exhibition rooms in a physical museum.

History Hall is formed by the Canon Camera Story, a more complex version of the Canon Camera Story and EOS- Goddess of the Dawn.

Design Hall features the Design Room, Portrait of the Pioneers, the Camera Design Process, and the Theory of Design Evolution.

Technology Hall consists of the Technical Room, Virtual Lens Plant, and the Technical Report.

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The Canon Camera Museum is very much worth checking out. I love it when I see technology being used for museum purposes in this way. I think that while museums in the physical sense may be limited to the walls of the buildings they are housed in, the limits to their virtual presence are almost nonexistent (or they should be nonexistent anyway). I really do think that this is an avenue into which we are going to see more and more museums head in the near future. I do hope to be a part of it in some way.

My Favorite Living Museum

My favorite Living Museum is Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. Meant to capture life during the 50 year period of 1790-1840, it consists of 59 buildings including homes, a traditional New England church, places of work and industry and farms with real animals. Whereas some other outdoor living museums close during the Winter, at Sturbridge, there is something to do year round.

I enjoy it for numerous reasons one of which is the personnel's ability to perform characters but step outside of the role and truly explain what one is doing with a more modern understanding ... moving beyond a scripted dialog, so to speak. This also provides a revisitability because you could walk around on numerous occasions and hear different things said each time, even from the same people.

Once upon a time I may have not chosen it because of its having moved its houses to that spot to create an artificial village that never existed. I appreciate that now, however, because although these houses have in part lost their authenticity having been moved from their original contexts, they have been saved from a much worse fate. This, I think is a very good thing.

I last went two years ago in the Fall. It was a beautiful day and Sturbridge was a great way to spend that day.

Pictures to come.

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There are a limited number of other Living Museums that could have earned the title of my current favorite Living Museum. This is due primarily to the fact that I have been less often to this type than any other and the one I have been to the most is Sturbridge Village. It apparently was also the favorite of the teachers in my elementary school and of my Girl Scout troop leaders.

Other contenders:

- Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA.
- The Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, NY. I haven't managed to go here during the museum season, missing it by only a few days the last time I went to Cooperstown. I did, however, participate in a hearth cooking demonstration here in one of the houses, which ranks among the top museum experiences that I have had. Hearth cooking is amazing and tons of fun.

I also intend on traveling to Williamsburg to visit Colonial Williamsburg. I don't know when that will happen exactly, but it is high up there on my list of places to visit.

No One Noticed the Cat - A Book Review

Let me preface this by saying that I find myself buying books to get the free shipping from places like Amazon, Borders and Barnes and Noble. I try to find a book which puts me just over that free shipping edge. This is one of those books found solely for it's price. I do not think that I would have sought it out otherwise. After reading the book, however, I am glad that I did find and buy it. I am also considering the purchase of some of the author's other books, but that will be once I finish the massively large "to read" pile that sits in my room, which gets larger faster than it shrinks.

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Today's book review is of No One Noticed the Cat by Anne McCaffrey. Known more for her Dragonriders of Pern series (which I have not read), this is a short (182 pages) story chronicling the events surrounding the Prince of Esphania after the death of his regent, including a hunting trip with the rulers of the neighboring kingdom, his wedding, and a plot to kill him and all other potential heirs to the other kingdom so that the Queen can rule for her infant son. Key in this story is the regent's cat, Niffy, who with a very limited vocabulary might be the smartest one in the book with a very big personality. Niffy is, clearly, no ordinary cat and often takes matters into her own paws.

I thought that overall the book was well written and clever, but sadly, I think the ending moves too quickly into a nicely bundled package. It clearly leaves little room for a sequel, which is something I look for in a standalone book, but even another 10 pages would have provided the adequate description which would have elevated the conclusion to a more satisfying level. I really wish that this book was longer.

That being said it is a quick read if one has a couple of hours to spare. I do recommend it.

Kingscote Photos

I knew I had some photos of Kingscote's exterior, and I found them last night. I apologize that they do not consist of a shot showing the proper massing or even a majority of one facade. These are the architectural elements that I enjoyed. So I thought I would share.

This is a shot of the entrance.

And another shot of the entrance, but from a different angle.

A detail of the roof line above the entrance.

And one last shot. I just love the architectural details.

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I had also wanted to mention in my previous post that my favorite house museum from my childhood is the Gilbert Stuart Birthplace in Saunderstown, Rhode Island. Gilbert Stuart is a famous portrait painter, best known for his portrait of George Washington which is featured on the dollar bill.

The site also consists of a snuff mill, gristmill, and a fish run. In 2007, the Hammond Gristmill started working again for the first time in about 100 years thanks to the efforts of the many who wanted to see it happen. It is definitely a sight to see and I highly recommend it.

My Favorite House Museum

Today is the first installment of my favorite museums. Today I feature my favorite museum house, Kingscote in Newport, Rhode Island.

Owned and operated today by The Preservation Society of Newport County, Kingscote is my favorite because unlike many other house museums, although certainly not all, everything in Kingscote is original to the house. Nothing has been brought in to add to the house or create an attitude. I always wonder how many people realize that the things in the Breakers, for example, were not necessarily owned by the Vanderbilt family. Many of these things are representations of what the family could have owned. In no way am I saying that this makes touring the Breakers not worth it. It is a fabulous mansion and totally worth the cost of a tour and the crowds. Look everywhere it is gorgeous both in its exterior architecture and its interior opulence.

Just make some time to visit Kingscote as well if and when you come to Newport. It is a great example of the Gothic Revival and as I have already mentioned, everything in the house goes with the house. The entire collection was left with the house by the last descendant of the King family. The Preservation Society became the property's owner in 1972. The collection contained within the house is large and amazing, but in some cases results in a little bit of object crowding. The tour groups are smaller however and the tour runs at a slower pace, allowing one to appreciate much of the collection and tour guides do a wonderful job pointing out the intricacies of certain objects that might get missed with only one glance around the room.

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Other favorite museum houses:

Smith's Castle in Wickford, RI - the history of the Smith family alone is enough to tour the house. It was also a dairy farm for sometime before becoming a house museum. It is also situated on a beautiful plot of land near the water, an area with a history of it's own.

The Whitehorne House in Newport, RI - owned by the Newport Restoration Foundation, it is a house museum in the sense that it is a house, but is more the home of a wonderful furniture collection. It also has a very interesting restoration story with the pictures to prove it. Well worth a visit if you are spending some time in Newport.

Edith Wharton's The Mount in Lenox, MA - this might be my favorite of the house museums that I have not yet visited but are on my list. The website makes it look beautiful, a very rags to riches in terms of preservation and restoration. It was recently saved from foreclosure and an uncertain future by the tireless efforts of those who work and love the Mount. I have been wanting to get here for quite some time; maybe I will see you there.

Castle in the Air - A Book Review

One of the many things I hope to accomplish with this blog is to let you know what books I am reading and to review whatever one I just finished. Today is one of those days.

Although I said I was going to bring a book to the Super Bowl party and did, in fact, bring it with me, I never ended up reading any of it. The evening was too crazy with the game and everyone running around. I found myself enjoying the game almost as much as the commercials, my favorite were the three Budweiser commercials featuring the Clydesdale horses, the e*trade babies, and the one with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. Congrats to the Steelers and to the Cardinals for a very interesting game.

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I finished the last 50 pages of my book when I got home. The book is Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones and is the companion to Howl's Moving Castle. Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favorite authors and I recommend reading any of her books, especially Howl's Moving Castle, which is, so far, my favorite.

The book starts out with Abdullah, a carpet merchant in the land of Zanzib. Troubled by his father's other family Abdullah allows himself to daydream about an alternate life where he is a long lost prince found by his father after he was stolen from his castle by the bandit Kabul Aqba. He also dreams that since he is a prince, he is destined to marry a princess.

Then a strange man arrives and sells Abdullah a flying carpet. Protecting his investment, Abdullah goes to bed on top of the carpet and wakes up later that night in a beautiful garden. There in the garden is a princess, the Sultan's daughter, who aside from her father, has never seen another man. She, Flower-in-the-Night, actually confuses Abdullah for a female, after all, he is in a nightgown and night cap. She tells him that there had been a prophesy made about her that the first man she sees it the one she is going to marry. Abdullah is instantly smitten and visits her the next two nights, but on the last night, a djinn steals her away.

Abdullah soon finds himself in chains accused of having kidnapped the princess by the Sultan. He had been discovered by his nightcap having been found among the princess's possessions. In an entertaining course of events, Abdullah is rescued by his neighbors dog and the flying carpet and in fleeing to the desert, he finds the most unlikely of characters: Kabul Aqba from his daydreams who just happens to have a genie in a bottle.

The resulting tale follows Abdullah and the genie in a quest to rescue Flower-in-the-Night from the djinn. The genie is no ordinary genie either, the wishes he grants, if requested in too open-ended a manner, result in more harm than good. This causes Abdullah to meet many interesting characters along his journey.

This is a well written story with lively characters, the right amount of description, and a highly entertaining plot. One could easily read this story without having read Howl's Moving Castle, although I do suggest that one reads that book too.

For those who have read and loved Howl's Moving Castle, what I found somewhat frustrating, is that minus the Castle, the characters from Howl's Moving Castle do not appear until page 250. Thankfully the book is 383 pages long. It took me quite a long time to see exactly how this book was a companion, but in totality it definitely is. There is of course a twist to the story, but that I will not reveal. You will have to go read it to find out what it is.

Super Bowl Sunday

I'm barely a football fan, especially since the Patriots are not playing, but I do enjoy Super Bowl parties when I get the chance to go to them. It also helps that these things are only once a year. My job this year is to slice the pepperoni and cheese.

As much as I wish the Patriots could make it to the Super Bowl each year, when they don't, I can sit down, watch the game, and appreciate the game for how it is played.

So good luck to both teams. Have fun enjoying the game for all of you football fans out there, and for those of you who are like me, enjoy the commercials.

I admit that I will still be bringing a book with me just in case.