Boston

Last week, the interns took our first field trip of the summer. There are some great ones lined up, but we started off with a bang. We got up early and made the trip to Boston's USS Constitution Museum, the USS Constitution herself, and the Museum of Science. It was an intense but really great day. The woman who toured us through the Constitution was a naval historian, and is quite possibly the best interpreter I have ever heard. Everything she said she related back to our own experiences at the Seaport. When talking about the dimensions of the Constitution, she compared it to the ships we have. And as she was doing this, she name and date dropped like she was a walking textbook of United States and British history. It was fantastic.

Two things really struck me as interesting during the Constitution portion of our trip. First, the ship itself is maintained and toured by the Navy. The museum, next door, is a private institution. And all of it sits on the wharf owned by the National Park Service. We didn't really have time to get too deeply into the complications that causes, but I am sure there are a few. I would love to dig more into those relationships and see how they work.

The second thing that was interesting was the top floor of the museum. In this exhibit, I believe opened a year ago, the museum is really aiming to engage families. Their goal is to create an opportunity for inter-generational conversation. Now, we interns are not a family. We're a group of 20-30 somethings. We, in general, did not feel that the exhibit was something we would have particularly gotten into as visitors. It was very child oriented. That is not a bad thing, at all. Kids often don't feel comfortable in museums, so it is great to be able to show them there is a place for them to be. But as a group of adults, we weren't as engaged by the exhibit as we would have liked to be. I would be interested to go back with my own family, or with another peer group that is perhaps a bit closer. Maybe we would have had a different experience. There was also a school group there at the same time, and while I only saw them briefly, I would be very interested to hear how that particular type of visitor engages the exhibit. I would have loved more time to see the downstairs, which we really only walked by, but that will have to wait for another day.

The second half of the trip took us to the Boston Museum of Science. They have a new traveling exhibit on whales from New Zealand, including some great info on the Maori people and their interactions with the whales. I think this exhibit probably ranks in the top ten I've seen so far. It was beautifully done, had a great blend of artifacts and interactives, and was just a pleasure to look at. I only wish we would have had more time. The rest of the museum I didn't spend as much time going through as I did last fall, but I had the same impression again. It was much more of a kid-focused space, without much real structure to it. It makes me wonder if this is the way all museums are going? Are we doomed to be either stiff and boring on one hand or catering exclusively to children on the other? I wish we could find some common ground.