Hi all.

I just thought that I would share this video that I just finished with you all. I'm entering it in a DTC (Digital Technology & Culture) Showcase here at WSU later this week.

Granted, the museum depicted in the video is a small printing museum (the Roy Chatters Newspaper & Printing Museum in Palouse, WA), and does not focus on rail history, but the theory I lay out in the narration can apply to multiple types of history museums.

I know that my cinematography isn't the best, and I know that I'm still have a lot to learn in the world of museum operation, but this is what I've got currently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sMuUViFbIQ&feature=youtu.be

What do y'all think?

--Drew Black

Excellent! The steel industry museum that I have been working on for many years now is all about "doing this". I recognized early on that not many people will make the trip out to see a bunch of static objects, but if we could make those objects work then we might have a change of attracting some attention. So we don't spend much time on static exhibits (there is a boring museum downtown that already does that), we focus on machinery that works.

Our place isn't quite finished yet, but when it is we will be doing demonstrations and workshops in metalcasting, strength of materials, riveting, steel rolling and a few other metalworking processes.

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!

I found an interesting book on the history and evolution of museums in the United States.

Conn, Steven. 2010. Do Museums still need objects? University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia. 262 pp. ISBN 978-0-8122-2155-8

The author does not treat railroad museums explicitly, but has a good discussion of other technology museums and how their collections, exhibits, and target audiences have changed over time.

It's a thought-provoking book, but keep a dictionary handy - the vocabulary is quite a bit higher-level than eighth grade!

Nice job, pleasant music, clear dialog. You make it look so easy. I've been working those machine for years, still have a Kluge in the basement, but only do an occasional job on it these days. I'll look up that museum when I got up to WA again.

I found this book to have interesting insights into the trend of "infotainment".
The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg. By Richard Handler & Eric Gable (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997