My only real complaint about the museum hit right up front. Most of the employees acted as though I should already know everything about the museum, and so things were a little confusing to me and I felt a bit lost. I believe that in any tourist venue, it should be assumed that the guest has never been there before and knows nothing about the site. Or at least ask if I have been there before and if the answer is no, then explain things! They did give me a map when I paid for the admission, but the map didn't explain much either. Things were just labeled as such-and-such Hall or so-and-so Gallery, with no hint about what might be in any of those locations.
So I wandered off down what appeared to be the main hall, peering left and right through doors and hallways until I got to the first exhibit, labeled on the map as "Destination Indiana". This turned out to be a large screening area that showed an ongoing loop of short (about 3 minutes each) films about different people, sites, or events around Indiana. Thankfully there was a docent in here who explained what was going on. There were also little cubby areas where you could sit in front of a large touch screen and choose clips to watch on your own; there was a clip for every county in Indiana. The cubby areas were separated from the main area by a curved wall, and inside was a padded bench that was part of the wall and two comfy rolling chairs. I spent about twenty minutes watching the big screen and then tried out one of the individual areas where I learned about Grant County (where I lived for my first job out of college) and Hendricks County (the county directly west from Indianapolis; I
Next I wandered on and ended up in the Cole Porter Room where there was a young woman in a fancy dress and two older women looking at photos on the wall. There were tons of photos as well as a sign that gave biographical info about Cole Porter. The room was set up like a night club with a piano, small tables with chairs, and a bar. The older woman were asking questions, and it turned out that the piano was a player piano and the young girl was there to perform for visitors! She sang several songs (the other women left during the second one), and then turned on a TV behind the bar where they showed movies about Cole Porter. She did have a lovely voice, and after chatting a bit, I moved on.
Finally I saw a sign for the Ayres exhibit! This turned out to be a lot of fun. There were two exhibits across from each other, but the outer area was a bit dark, and the entrance to each had a fog machine with an old photo projected onto the fog showing a scene specific to the exhibit. The one for Ayres was an interior shot of the old downtown store. A docent explained that when you walk through the fog, you were being transported back in time... in this case to 1959. There would be someone inside the exhibit in costume as the head fashion buyer at that time. You could interact with her and ask questions, but only about anything before 1959. I have experienced living history projects before, and they tend to be a bit cheesy, but these were much better. They had lots of things to look at showing the history of the stores and fashion over the years. The exhibit was not large, but there was a lot to see. They also had several video monitor showing interviews with people who had worked or modeled for the stores. The woman in costume talked about the clothes of the time (they had mannequins set up with the year's "new" fashions). She seemed very knowledgeable, and I felt like she would have had an answer for just about any question I could have come up with.
The second exhibit in this area was a photography studio from the early 1900's (I can't remember the specific year) in Fort Wayne. Unfortunately, the photographer wasn't there, but the living history person in this room was a woman who had come to pick up her photos she had had taken the week before. Again, she was able to give me a lot of information about the photography techniques being used as well as a history of other techniques, and they had lots of examples to show. Apparently the new thing at the time was having prints made instead of the glass photos that had been used up until then. They even had examples of hand tinted prints. I think if the "photographer" had been there, I could have had my picture taken. The setting was very detailed and felt authentic.
After leaving this exhibit, I talked to the docents outside who explained that if you come back on different days, there might be different characters in the exhibits who would give different perspectives on the times. This makes sense, because of course these actors can't be there all the time. Although I guess they would have just had different people playing the same parts, so it is an interesting concept that they actually have totally different characters. I also found out that there was another exhibit on the fourth floor which wasn't even shown on the map! Glad I asked if there was anything else to see.
The last exhibit was very interesting... an African-American physician in Indianapolis in 1943. All of the characters in the exhibits are based on real people, which probably explains why this felt different from other living history exhibits I have seen where the characters are generic people of the time. So, the history of this man was that he was raised in North Carolina, went to medical school, then studied at Harvard. He had come to Indiana to work for a hospital in Muncie, and after being there for about six years, he was invited to come work for a hospital in Indianapolis. Unfortunately, after he moved here, the hospital turned down his application due to his race. They did, however, graciously allow him to volunteer in a clinic once a week to tend to patients of color (so they wouldn't have to deal with them themselves). So this exhibit was an open house for his new practice. He also had a medical student from IU who was studying with him for the summer, so this exhibit had two people you could interact with. The fascinating thing for me about this physician was his interest in cardiology. He actually had a very early EKG machine (which he didn't know how to use yet, because he was travelling to London in a few weeks to study with the man who developed the machine) and lots of charts and photos about hearts and electrical conduction. He was also very good in his part, and I enjoyed chatting with him!
This appeared to be the end of the exhibits, so I wandered down to the canal level where there was a café. Unfortunately, they had just closed, but I peeked my head in to look around. This also opens up onto a terrace where they have free concerts during the summer. I went back up to the main level and wandered through the gift shop before leaving. The museum building is beautiful, but it almost doesn't feel like it's exactly set up for tourists. Maybe it's because there were so few other visitors there (this was a Friday afternoon), but some areas felt deserted, and I kept feeling like I was wandering around somewhere I shouldn't be. And the occasional workers I ran across kind of looked at me like they weren't sure if I was supposed to be there either. Many of the docents looked to be college age, so maybe they weren't totally comfortable in their roles, but they weren't open and freely giving with the information... I felt like I had to ask a lot of questions and almost drag things out of them (like finding that third exhibit). But I did enjoy myself, and at only $7 and with free parking (I found out they validate when I asked how to pay for the parking since the exit gate is automated), this was a real bargain. On Thursdays when they have the free concerts, admission is free as well, so I can definitely see myself coming back here in the future! And this time I'll know where I am going.
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