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YouTubeI was thinking about how great the museum was in NY ..also the Field Museum in Chicago. I wonder if Columbus could ever have a Have a history museum?
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion
Will Columbus ever see a Natual History Museum?
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Stephen43215
Downtown
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Posted 8 months ago # -
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/index.shtml
There's also the Orton museum in Orton Hall at OSU, which is a small but free museum with a bunch of Ohio paleontology and geology stuff.
(pictured fossile NOT from ohio, IIRC but was discovered by an OSU prof)Posted 8 months ago # -
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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myliftkk
Columbus, OH
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Stephen43215 said:
I was thinking about how great the museum was in NY ..also the Field Museum in Chicago. I wonder if Columbus could ever have a Have a history museum?If you're asking why Columbus doesn't have a History museum across the street from Columbus Commons, but instead has one that overlooks I-71, I can see your point.
I do know someone (originally from Cleveland) who's been working on an idea for a museum of narrative painting for a couple years now and have tried to encourage him to look at Columbus for locations instead of Southern Cal (I think they have quite enough museums at this point).
Posted 8 months ago # -
sirlancelot
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What Columbus really needs is a high-class historical museum that focuses on Columbus and Franklin County. I am amazed that we have so little to show the visitor, being that Columbus is 200 years old! The Statehouse, Ohio Village and the Ohio Historical Center is nice but they are about Ohio. Do local residents think there is nothing interesting about the original inhabitants and their mound building, or the pioneers of Franklinton and their lifestyles? There appears to be little to illustrate Columbus during the Civil War period (except for the Kelton House.
Posted 8 months ago # -
mrsgeedeck
Castle of Lions
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Not to knock either the Historical Society or Orton Hall, but I think @stephen43215 is thinking along a grander scale. Personally, when I go to Chicago or New York, one of the places I want to hit most are their Natural History museums because I can't really find that here in Columbus.
On the other hand, I think that in some cases we've spread the interest in something like that too thin, I mean, would people go to a dedicated Museum of Natural History to see a planetarium when there's a Space component to COSI?Posted 8 months ago # -
joev
Merion Village
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I would personally burn a planetarium to the ground, because I think space is just that stupid.
I do think more cultural landmarks would be great, but probably not sustainable as one large institution. Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Chicago already have decent to excellent natural history museums, and the Ohio History Center does have a foot in the water with its collection. A large-scale Columbus/Franklin County history museum would likely do well its first year, but then interest would probably wane - it's a very niche topic, and once you've seen it, there's not much reason to return.
A better idea would be to support and connect existing institutions that curate those experiences (Kelton House, King Arts Complex, OHS, Ohio Statehouse, etc.) while working with funders to develop new small-scale institutions.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Mr. Peabody
Clintonville
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Where would the collections come from? A new site is a nice, but it takes many years of work and a lot of money spent on building the collections that makes these institutions what they are. Most of the collections you see in all these places were put together/donated back in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.
And remember, there were no dinosaurs in Ohio, so no dinosaur bones to display. If that's what floats yer boat.
Posted 8 months ago # -
RoundTowner
Miranova
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When Nationwide Plaza 3 and the Workers Comp buildings were built, NW and the Ohio Historical Society had discussions on incorporating the museum into the plans. I’m not sure why the idea was dropped, but, relocating the OHS to downtown is still a great idea.
Posted 8 months ago # -
groundrules
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Hey, at least ohio has the Creation Museum.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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Mr. Peabody said:
Where would the collections come from? A new site is a nice, but it takes many years of work and a lot of money spent on building the collections that makes these institutions what they are. Most of the collections you see in all these places were put together/donated back in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.Natural history museums are often started by people with large amounts of wealth and time to collect items. Marshall Field was the major benefactor of the Field Museum in Chicago. Cities don't usually spontaneously originate museums of natural history.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Mr. Peabody
Clintonville
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Tenzo said:
Natural history museums are often started by people with large amounts of wealth and time to collect items. Marshall Field was the major benefactor of the Field Museum in Chicago. Cities don't usually spontaneously originate museums of natural history.Kind of my point, which I was assbacking into...
Posted 8 months ago # -
groundrules
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cincinnati, kentucky, same diff.
Posted 8 months ago # -
mrsgeedeck
Castle of Lions
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Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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Tenzo said:
Natural history museums are often started by people with large amounts of wealth and time to collect items. Marshall Field was the major benefactor of the Field Museum in Chicago. Cities don't usually spontaneously originate museums of natural history.Right. The American Museum of Natural History in NYC is actually a very old and very active research foundation. The museum is the tip of the iceberg as it were.
The closest thing we have to a foundation like that working on natural science is OSU, but there has never been a push to centralize research specimen collections or anything like that. So there's the orton museum, the polar rock repository, the ice core storage facility, etc...and thousands of specimens in cabinets in offices all over the place... all separately curated (and that's just geology).
I know the botany department has a research collection (or more than one) and individual collections in various offices. There used to be a medical specimens museum but its not open anymore.
Nobody has shown any interest in centrally curating all of these things and making displays for the general public that I know of.
Also, it pains me to say it because I actually do astronomy, but I must agree... planetariums are mostly useful as a good place to take a nap when you get tired of walking around the rest of the museum. If we could actually get the light pollution under control to the point where we can see the stars at night we wouldn't even need one to begin with. As it is, the metro parks and a few other groups do some killer night-sky programs. Anyone at all interested in astronomy would be better served just doing that.
Posted 8 months ago #
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