It is no secret that I LOVE history. Granted I would prefer to learn about early American colonial history or early 20th century history but really any history fascinates me. Therefore it goes without saying that I love history museums and in my opinion the NC Museum of History is one of the best state run museums I have every seen. In New York most collections are housed at historical sites and a bulk of the state funded archives and collection storages are closed due to lack of funds and curators selling items illegallly underground.
In a majority of states there is no state museum open to the public. In most states artifacts deemed of historical significance are housed together in a state-ran building or archives and loaned out to private museums or collections for public viewing. Funding has been scarce in the historical community prior to the economic crunch we have recently seen so in most instances collections are either closed or privately funded until the funding runs out....this reason alone is why I find the NC Museum of History so impressive. And of course the resources they have made available to educators far exceeding my expectations, especially because a majority are available online FOR FREE.
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1 year ago
2 comments:
My word...I had no idea that all state museums weren't of the same caliber as ours. Wow! I too am even more impressed with all that ours offers. It is clear that there is a passion for history in the museum by everyone working there. That is huge and translates into the community wanting to support the museum ...which in turn provides them more funding. Glad you enjoyed the visit!
It is nice to learn form someone with first hand experience about the quality of this museum and resources we have at our disposal.
While I am certainly not naive, your comment of curators selling items illegally underground is really disheartening. The mere thought of such practices, even for a NYer that is well aware of the the under the table and off the record type of business deals, angers me. I cannot imagine what it does to you.
When it comes to funding, I think that it is why it is important for us as educators to promote, engage and hopefully foster an interest in SS (history) to our students. They are the future doctors, lawyers, and politicians that we will be entrusting these legacies to. If it is deemed important and significant to them funding will come. If we continue down the path that I feel we are on, funding will only get much worse.
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