photos, or a display of just a few larger im- ages with explanatory captions? If you give your visitors fewer things to concentrate on, they will absorb more of what you are trying to teach them. I remem- ber my first visit to the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland some years ago, and be- ing overwhelmed. Everywhere you turned, there was something to look at on every just about every single surface. There was no where to rest your eyes or take a break, and my memories are all a blur (kinda like going to a real rock concert, I guess). The tempta- tion for many railroad museums is to simi- larly fill every corner and cover every wall, which results in many people feeling like they are touring grandma’s attic (or grand- pa’s basement), and not an educational (or entertaining) experience. The entertainment value of museums
should not be overlooked, either. We’re excit- ed to be there because we love trains. Your visitors are excited because maybe this is their first visit, or maybe their 50th. Give them something they can tell their friends about. “I rode an old streetcar this weekend! Did you know that there used to be trolley tracks on Main Street?” “The conductor punched my ticket on the train. Did you know what every conductor had their own different shape of hole punch?” “I visited the museum this weekend, and they had a car for sorting mail. Did you know they would snag the mail bags from the station with a hook?” With each passing year we are becoming
farther removed from the first-hand experi- ences and interactions that encouraged us establish railroad museums in the first place. It is up to us to find ways to continue to make railroad history an engaging and entertaining enterprise, while keeping fo- cused on the future.
Associate editor Otto M. Vondrak is a trustee of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum in Rochester, N.Y., and has been an active volunteer with many historic preser- vation groups throughout the northeast.
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