Nashville Museums - A Review

When I asked my beau to plan a romantic weekend for a visit to see him (we're long-distance), he was a bit at a loss. We were going into Nashville for a day to see some sights, but not being big country music fans, we had trouble finding some low-key, but fun spots to check out. Knowing my passion for museums, he decided we should visit a couple of the bigger sites in Nashville.

First, we checked out the Tennessee State Museum, which for the most part was underwhelming. Being a state museum, it's likely underfunded and many of the exhibits were out of date. However, I was incredibly impressed with the Civil War exhibit. Being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, many museums are focusing on some aspect of the war. In fact, the Missouri History Museum has a large Civil War exhibit. I was a bit unimpressed with that exhibit mainly because there wasn't much of a coherent voice and the interactives were not useful. You also walk out of that exhibit a bit somber. It's war, of course, but it hesitates at the end heavily on grief. The exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum, on the other hand, does a great job of leading you through an adventure - an archives adventure that is! You "work" with archivists at the interactive touch screens to find materials that led them to conclusions about the war and thus the exhibits. Definitely a good use of touch screens. The museum was also buzzing with life due to a book signing and live musical performance. Definitely nice to see the museum attracting a large crowd for that event.

Photo Credit: Me!

Second, we walked to the Frist Center for the Arts. Definitely was not sure what to expect in the way of art in country music's hometown, but I was blown away. The Frist Center is a first class institution in a gorgeous building that Art Deco nerds would love. Three amazing exhibitions were on display - one on Exploring Art of the Ancient Americas, another on Rembrandt and the Golden Age, and a contemporary interactive art installation piece. The combination of each of those very different exhibitions showed the breadth of content the Frist can display in its halls.

However, what impressed me most about the Frist was its children's area - Martin ArtQuest. Of the art museums I've visited in my life, about half of them have a children's area - all with varying levels of interactivity and engagement. Martin ArtQuest is by far the best children's area I've seen in an art museum. There is a variety of displays representing multiple art styles and mediums. While I was there, I created a print at a printmaking station, while my boyfriend was very impressed with the stop motion animation station. Kids of all ages could enjoy something with their families. The staff was very friendly and talented - one staff member was drawing on the sketch wall. I could have spent all afternoon exploring the Frist, but I think my non-museum professional boyfriend would have been bored. He was already playing on his phone by the time I finished my print.

Photo Credit: Clarksville Online

Overall, we spent about 4 hours touring the museums - 2 hours at each. While the State Museum was much larger than the Frist, the Frist has far more to engage us. In fact, we were hoping to stick around for an impressive party that was being arranged as we toured the Frist. Mostly, we were impressed by the level of activity in each of the museums. Sometimes state-funded institutions can be stuck in the past, and while many of the exhibits needed updating at the State Museum, it was refreshing to see new exhibitions and an event going on. Next time we're in Nashville, I'm definitely going to want to see what's new at the Frist.

Appealing to New Audiences

Yesterday, I visited the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. The facility itself is simply amazing and the exhibits are all very well done. I was with a friend to visit a specific exhibition on dresses of the 20th century worn by Oklahomans. Unfortunately, the museum does seem limited on special exhibition space as this exhibition was wedged between another exhibition on Pearl Harbor and an exhibit on sod houses. 

However, I want to focus on their exhibition space on entertainment in Oklahoma. Like much of their other exhibitions, this area had quite a bit of information all squished together without much of an over-arching story. Yet, I was intrigued that what seemed to be a typical buttoned-up history museum, had embraced an exhibition that many historians feel isn't worthy of museums. 

Photo by me at the exhibition.

The exhibition itself covered everything from comics to movies. My friend and I really enjoyed the exhibition, but on top of that, I think it appeals to a wide variety of audiences. In the section on film in Oklahoma, I know my grandmother would have loved to watch a few clips from the westerns. My brother and my boyfriend would have loved the section on comics, which talked about illustrators and authors from Oklahoma. Many age groups are fascinated by comics, whether for the memories they bring or the enjoyment they currently give to readers.

Can you see me? I'm Wonder Woman!

I was deeply impressed by this exhibition, but I was unable to find any corresponding educational programming with it. In fact, the History Center seems to lack very many public programs in general. There were a few on their website and the staff at the ticket counter couldn't think of any other public programs for the next year. I found that very disappointing since I could see so many opportunities, not only for the entertainment exhibition, but also for so many of their exhibitions as well. 

Memorial Museums

You can probably ask anyone in America, college-aged and older, where they were on 9/11 and get a detailed answer. I was in my 9th grade Algebra class. My teacher usually had the news on while waiting for class to get in, but I noticed that the news was different. There was an urgency and uncertainty. If you ask people living in Oklahoma in 1995, they can definitely tell you where they were the day of the bombings. 

Two weekends ago, I visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum with my boyfriend. It's important to note that I went with someone and I strongly encourage visiting this museum with a close friend, significant other or family member. The content of the museum is heart-wrenching and does a great job of providing multiple-entry points to connect with the events of that day.


The Museum itself has a fixed path that starts you at an introduction to terrorism, then leads you through a gallery explaining the building itself - why it was built, what it looked like, what government agencies were housed there. I recommend starting in the Museum rather than the Memorial because for those who were very young at the time of the bombings or is not part of the Oklahoma City community have the opportunity to really connect to the devastation and heartache of that community in the galleries. We remember 9/11 and can easily connect to the stories of family members, the images of destruction and objects that barely escaped the building. We've seen that all on TV so many times and the galleries provide a good connection. Unfortunately, the galleries have not been updated to include 9/11 as part of the history of terrorism.


At the end of the first floor of gallery space, you are shuffled into a room where you hear audio from a meeting that was taking place at a neighboring building. It's an immersive experience where you hear the bomb going off and the next room is all too familiar to us. A news helicopter is on a television screen and you hear the audio very similar to the initial news stories from 9/11. It's a great way to make visitors feel as though they are going through that day with Oklahoma City. 


The rest of the gallery space continues with stories of the rescues, of the family members waiting and of the finality of the death of a loved one. You hear personal accounts and see objects from the building that truly measure the violence of the blast - broken glasses, shoes staying together by strings and watches frozen in time. Visitors also learn about the investigation and trial of the men involved in the attack.


At the end, an exhibit area shows images of those lost in the explosion and family members have been invited to donate items that their loved ones truly cherished or felt was representative of that person. A box of tissues is available for anyone that needs one. I know at this point, I was definitely tearing up. 

Above: Image of the gallery of people and objects relating to them.

Outside, the Memorial consists of two black walls on each end of a reflecting pool. These walls are marked with times - before and after the bombing - to represent the speed at which life changed. These walls are copper and will begin to tarnish in the rain, but the Memorial was designed for that. Each visitor is invited to place their hand in the water and then place it on one of the walls. This allows visitors to permanently make their mark on the Memorial. After going through the exhibit area, this is an incredible experience that really finishes the connection between you and the community. 

Above: One of the walls at the Memorial. Notice the patina at the bottom.

 The Memorial also includes chair sculptures representing each of the people killed in the bombing. Especially poignant are the smaller chairs representing children.

Above: Chairs at the Memorial.

For further reading, I recommend reading the article "Passion on All Sides": Lessons for Planning the National September 11 Memorial Museum that was in the January 2010 issue of Curator. The article discusses the design of that Memorial Museum and can definitely show us what we have learned about designing memorials that speak to us all.

Judging Exhibitions

Today, I had a rare opportunity to give direct feedback on an exhibition. A representative from the museum just happened to buy a membership while I was at my current job and just happened to mention that he worked at said museum. I, of course, piped up that as a project, I had evaluated that exhibition and he was curious as to my group's conclusion.

First, I must point out that we used a specific framework assigned by my professor for the assignment. The framework can be found in Beverly Serrell's Judging Exhibitions: A Framework for Assessing Excellence and a copy of the framework can also be found here. I also must be honest and admit that all the groups in my class spent more time criticizing the framework than we did evaluating the exhibitions we each visited.

As we were explained to by our professor, the purpose of the framework is to evaluate an exhibition based on how a visitor might view it. The issues we found with the framework were not so much that the aspects listed were not important, it was more that we found them limiting and did not appropriately assess how we felt about the exhibition. As I learned in my visitor research course, visitors have a variety of ways of looking at exhibitions and could easily rate an exhibition highly, but still not have enjoyed themselves or vice versa. The framework certainly attempts a more objective way of evaluating exhibitions, but we still found ourselves being subjective. Perhaps this is because museums are essentially meant to be subjectively viewed. With the exhibition we reviewed, we found the exhibits to have poor labels, undefined flow and a creepy mannequin. However, most of us were glad we were able to see the content and explore a new museum.

When I did bump into the employee at this museum, I was able to communicate my assessment of the exhibition, but I think I could have come to the same conclusion without the framework.

Has anyone used this framework? Has anyone attempted another method of similar style evaluation?

Exhibition Spotlight: Extreme Tree Houses

A couple weekends ago, I visited the Missouri Botanical Garden's Extreme Tree Houses exhibition. I was intrigued by the opportunities a botanical garden might have to experiment with exhibitions that museums normally do not have. Botanical gardens are a cross between an art museum and a natural history museum, but outdoors and with living specimens. Like art museums, botanical gardens are places for contemplation, where one can enjoy the bounty of nature in a controlled setting. Like natural history museums, botanical gardens usually offer scientific names of their specimens and opportunities to use hands-on science.

I'm not sure what the Botanical Garden's goal was in installing this exhibition, but it does bring attention to an area generally neglected by garden visitors, the trees. From personal observation, most visitors are interested in what's at eye level - bushes, flowers, vegetables, and smaller trees. The Garden does have a beautiful collection of large trees throughout the premises, many of which were planted over 100 years ago.

The houses were all designed by local designers, architects, schools, studios and individuals, without much educational material. However, this does not discredit the merit of this exhibition.

Extreme Tree Houses is more similar to an art exhibition than an educational science exhibition. Since each house was hand-crafted by some type of artisan, each house could easily be considered a work of art. More than that, though, is the child-like wonder each house invites with their whimsical designs and basis in a childhood object. Though I never had a tree house as a child, I can remember wanting one and walking through each house made me feel like a child again, wanting my own tree house. In one I could imagine "playing house:"

While in another I conjured up an image of pretending to be an inventor/scientist and going on epic adventures:

Each house invited an opportunity to imagine another world - pirates, fairytales, magic. Overall, the exhibit was a magical journey I will repeat again.