Are museums relevant?

This is the time in which we will find out.

Addressing the Causes: Ultimately the TERROR of September has at its roots a lack of mutual respect between different peoples. The museum world has been discussing diversity and inclusion for a decade. WHAT HAVE WE TO SHOW FOR IT? We speak blithely of transformation of visitors. Which politicians have we transformed? Who in the Middle East? Are we playing with the concepts of diversity and transformation, or are we serious and driven?

Addressing the Effects: Inconsolable grief as individuals and as a nation. Emotions of anger and revenge! How have we responded in the past? What were the pros and cons of those responses? A better world or a new tinder box? How do we respond as museums? Will we be brave like firefighters and rush in or rather like reporters at a distance--simply reporting?

Speed: We have spoken of the need for lightening fast exhibits to meet the currency of the news. WELL?
What will museums do to address these PUBLIC NEEDS today, this week and this month?

CAll to Action: We propose a small group of leading museums actually begin leading. Take action--share it profusely with other museums. Start today--not with planning but with serving the public.

Immediate Actions: Here are some of the immediate actions taken by museums within the first week following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Brian Thompson, Museum of American Financial History, 26 Broadway, NYC

September 11: All accounted for except Marc, our student, who was in the subway under WTC at the first explosion, got to the street and made it to the bookkeeper's apartment, but then stupidly left thinking he'd make it back home to New Jersey, not knowing there's no transportation. It's nightfall, he's still unaccounted for. [Marc later reported in safe from his home in New Jersey.]

I got out of the Wall Street subway after the first plane, just before the second, which hit just as I arrived at 26 Broadway. Within moments, inches of ash on the street - and the singed papers of WTC offices, as far away as Canal street, I saw, as I later walked to Grand Central. Horrible. The smoke was so thick it was like an eclipse, dark as night, everyone covered in ash. It will be horrible as we hear the numbers rise.

Ruth Abram, Tenement Museum, NYC

On September 11 we closed the Museum to business as usual and opened as a center for the hundreds of people walking up from lower Manhattan - wearing dust masks, stunned, thirsty, exhausted. We handed out water, seats, phones, food and made toilets available. Such a small gesture in such a terrible tragedy, it nevertheless gave us all some sense of doing something.

On September 14, after a two-day absence, staff returned to the Museum. We had been prevented from returning earlier by the closure of all businesses south of 14th Street.

Recognizing how deeply and perhaps indelibly affected we all are by the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Museum staff gathered to reflect on what had happened, what we felt about it, and in what ways the Tenement Museum could contribute to the healing.

Since the bombings, many of us have overheard anti-immigrant statements in public places. For the most part, these hateful sentiments were generalized. Still, recent articles on bias attacks in the NY Times and other news media suggest that people of Arab descent and Muslims are particularly vulnerable.

At our staff meeting, we discussed what positive steps we might take as a Museum to stem any racist and anti-immigrant sentiments exacerbated by the bombings. We came up with a number of ideas which we will further refine in the coming weeks.

Ralph Calhoun, Biedenharn Museum, Monroe, Louisiana

I got home [September 11] and thought that after prayer and giving blood and hugging your family, one of the best things we can do is put our flags out to show support and resolution. We had two lectures planned [this week] and went ahead with them. Turn out was down but okay. I felt like we should not let the terrorists stop our plans, even though we got very little work done, as everyone, myself included, was glued to our radios.

Andy Ackerman, Children’s Museum of Manhattan

On September 13 CMOM announced that it would be open for free on the weekend of September 15 and 16 and provide programs for children to talk about their feelings. The museum would endeavor to have trauma specialists on hand. Museum educators would work with families in the art room, in the Time Warner Media Center and the performance center to help children express their feelings and to be able to discuss them with others. All police and fire fighters and their families will be admitted free indefinitely.

By the end of the week CMOM was joined by the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Staten Island Children's Museum, and the New York Hall of Science.

Julia Bland, Louisiana Children’s Museum

At the Louisiana Children's Museum, we were planning to celebrate our 15th birthday this Saturday, and have been in a quandary as to how to proceed, but have come to a good solution, I think. We are going ahead with our festivities, but adding a true patriotic twist to everything we will be doing - flags flying, flag-making, etc. I spoke with the director of the Children's Museum of Manhattan this morning, and he informed me that he is planning to open free of charge this weekend and offer grief counseling to all children who enter. We are dedicating ALL proceeds of our event to the children of Manhattan, and will additionally have our children make origami cranes to be signed and sent as a gift from the children of New Orleans to the children of Manhattan. Our revenue will help offset their expenses.

Jim Wallace, The Kentucky Historical Society

The Kentucky Historical Society has converted its exterior display spaces into a memorial featuring quotes from historic Kentuckians and national figures that speak to how our country and our citizens have responded to other national challenges. We are exploring the possibility of a special page on our website with similar material that is even more Kentucky-specific and from a wider array of disasters than military conflict.

Martha Morris, National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian

About a day or so after the events last week our curators held a meeting on collecting artifacts from this tragedy. I am not sure how quickly we will do it, but there is a lot of interest. Also, we immediately
put out comment books for visitors to write about their feelings. Today we installed 45 US flags on the flag poles that surround our building...all at half staff. In a couple of days we will have a display of the "Four Freedoms" posters by Norman Rockwell, in our main flag hall. And of course we have the flag! The museum is open, but attendance has dropped significantly.

Irene Hirano, Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles

We have been in consultation with colleagues since Wednesday over possible action steps. I arranged a conference call on Friday for some of the Los Angeles museum directors to see what others were thinking and what we might do collaboratively. I have also been in contact with a new Arab American Museum that is forming in Detroit. I was scheduled to meet with them in a couple of weeks to assist them in their future planning - I think their work becomes even more critical in light of this past week.

We have begun to look at how we can adapt or change programs that were on our schedule as a starting point. We actually have a joint program with National Museum of American History that will take place in Los Angeles so we have already begun to re-shape that program to be more relevant to this week's events. Other new programs are in discussion.

Bruce Katsiff, James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA

The museum was open on Sunday, 9/16/01, free of charge. The museum served as a place of community conversation and relief.

The Months Ahead
We have heard that everything has changed since September 11th. Will museum leaders act quickly to seize the opportunities presented by this national tragedy? Will we settle for a few easy programmatic changes, and then go back to business as usual? Or will we take up the call to help the American public understand and cope with the immense changes we are experiencing?