New Gettysburg Visitors Center

[Bill Fean]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

I went over today. Of course it was crowded, but I didnt mind. I thought the displays were laid out very nicely. I did miss however all the rifles, pistols etc. that are removed from permanant display.


I did NOT like the bookstore/gift shop however. The prices seemed pretty high on the tourist-like things. I didnt check the prices on the books though.

Later in the day I went past the old VC. It was sad looking. An empty parking lot & a dark building.



Most Respectfully,


Bill Fean

[Guy Gane III]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

I'm going this weekend. Most likely Sunday. I can't wait to get home and tear it up on the boards. hahaha jk. :p

Basically, I think it sucks. I've been overwhelmed everytime I went to the old center and I could literally spend about 3 days looking at just that place. :D

It's a shame.

[sustudent]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

I was in "the Burg" this past weekend with some pards. We decided to play dumb college students and just drive through, to see what the outside looked like. I was surprised by the number of cars there Saturday, and it turned out to be people looking to buy tickets for the Eisenhower estate. Anyway, I ranger ran over and told us we weren't supposed to be there. He said that there were signs marked all over. I felt bad for the guy, because we weren't the only ones there, and he was having to do crowd control all day (mostly because of the non-existent signs).

Something I thought about while there was the fact that, due to budget cuts, there are noticeably fewer park staff that are visible to the average park visitor. Everyone knows that we civil war buffs are known for going on the field in uniform, whether it be after an event or whatever. With no park rangers, the people start asking questions of people in "uniform". Personally, there are some "reenactors" that don't have a good understanding of history, and I wouldn't want them trying to teach history. So, the rangers see anyone in uniform and have to be wary. Maybe this is why we have some problems. Who knows, Mr. Heath might just inform me I have successfully reinvented the wheel. But all I care about is if I get an "A":wink_smil

My 1 cent (my taxes took the other one!)

[ephraim_zook]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Ladies & Gents,

Very trivial, very important: Does the new center have restrooms accessable from the exterior? I can't tell you how many times over a lot of years...

Ron Myzie

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Hallo!

"Very trivial, very important: Does the new center have restrooms accessable from the exterior? I can't tell you how many times over a lot of years..."

I will know in a few weeks when I visit...

But it could be like History, it is often best when you bring your own...
:)

Just a-funnin'....

Curt
Former Americans With Disabiities Act of 1990 Investigative and Compliance Officer

[garyjd]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Until I go in June I've been trying to find out what people are saying about the new visitor's center. The few things that turned me off about this observation is the amount of wide open space in the center (I know it gets a lot of visitors during Summer) and the bookstore which appears to not compare (in terms of selections) with the old visitor's center. Has anyone else gone yet? ~Gary

http://scottmingus.wordpress.com/2008/04/20/new-gettysburg-visitors-center/

[charding4496]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Greetings,

I actually just got back from the visitors center yesterday and have almost all positive comments to make.

To start off with, the facility is wonderful. The wide open spaces, rooms and display areas seem like they will allow the museum to adapt to changes over the next few decades. That I think is one great possibility that the old building never afforded the park.

When it comes to displays and the actual museum area I was, for the most part impressed. Yes, there are less items on display. Ive heard many complaints about this fact but I try to remind those folks that variations in cartridge boxes aren't interesting to middle schoolers. In fact, Im happy less equipment is on display. That means more chances for us to examine it personally and not have it hidden behind glass. There were coats on display at the old visitor's center that I always wanted to examine up close. Now, they are only an appt. away!

The museum divides the battle up by days and provides some thorough evaluation of all three. My personal favorite was the touch screens at each section that allowed you to research the location of individual units around the battlefield.

There seemed to be some nice video displays in each section, but I didnt have enough time to check them out since we had stopped late in the day on the way home from Glendale/Malvern Hill. Though the displays contain very few uniforms (I can't remember more than one Confederate enlisted coat), they had some nice unique items on display that were previously in storage. Many of them had direct influence or pertinence to the battle.

As a museum, it teaches the uninformed A LOT of information in a short time. It devotes plenty of room to the evolution of the actual battle which was a nice change from the old visitors center. And even for snobby reenactors, itd be hard to go through there without learning something.

When it comes to complaints, my only major one was in relation to the "causes of the war" section that you encounter first. It laid a bit too much emphasis on slavery as the central cause for secession - at least for my tastes.

In the end, Gettysburg finally has the visitors center that it deserves and will last (hopefully) well into the future. I am a bit skeptical on the ability of the NPS to maintain the displays and technology. I think that light up soldier room at the old visitors center was broken for more than ten years! Either way, I went with low expectations and was thoroughly impressed.

Some will complain and its certainly not perfect but its history, it never is.

[charding4496]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Sorry to respond twice but I just reread some of the previous posts and felt a need clarify one of my points.

Ive spent a few trips examining some items in the collection at the GNMP, most of which is stored in the facility that Paul posted photos of. I asked the one of the curators, Paul Shevchuck, his opinion on folks coming to examine artifacts. This is paraphrasing but he said very bluntly, "It's everyones, Im happy when people want to come do research. It's partly theirs."

I can't echo his comments more. We pay taxes for the upkeep of this facility and have a right to examine and see these items and the curators know it. If you want to see something, its only a phone call away. If the museum had all of the hundreds of bayonets that it owns on display, even I would get bored.

Call me selfish but, like I said before, Im happy that some of the items are no longer on display. They'll be more accessible to me and anyone else who wants to look at them.

Well, I guess thats it for now. Can't wait to go back to the visitors center in june!

[GreencoatCross]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

I had the chance to visit the new Gettysburg Visitor's Center after the Glendale/Malvern Hill event this past weekend. I have to say that the overall experience was only somewhat satisfying. My friends and I were pressed for time and so we didn't have several hours to take everything in, which is what led me to feel more like the typical spectator/visitor rather than a student of what some call "Man, Material, Methods."

First, I felt that the sheer size and openness of the mezzanine sections (outside of the actual display areas) made me feel as if I were in an airport. I was nervous, maybe trying to find my connecting flight somewhere, with not enough time. There were hundreds of people inside, bumping off of each other, and I didn't like it.

Second, I felt that despite some excellent displays in the museum segments, the general arrangement of each large "room" was poorly executed. The digital/video displays at the start of several separate rooms caused awful bottlenecks to such an extent that I had to physically muscle my way through. Once inside and observing the displays, I noticed that at least two of the large rooms were situated in such a way as to create very narrow dead-ends. In these same "dead-end" rooms along one wall were separate displays that were segmented by walls that jutted out, causing massive gathering and shoving of visitors.

Third, where did EVERYTHING go? I made note of the huge, blown-up images and quotes thrown about the display rooms, and I figure this was done to add some "oompf" to the general public's experience.....but the displays themselves, in my opinion, were lacking in substance. Maybe this is my material culture research side crying out for more.

I'm very glad that I was able to see the new visitor's center, and doubly glad that I was able to share the experience with my best friends, but in the end I don't know if I'll return just to view the general exhibit. Yes, it's heads and shoulders above MANY other NPS museums and visitors centers, but to me personally it just didn't feel right.

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

During my stint at Eastern National, we already knew that the map wasn't going to make the journey down the road to the new site, something that upset many who inquired about its fate.

Knowing that one day the droning voice of John Flynn would no longer be heard along with the click-click of light circuits, and since the most modern medium on which the narration had been stored was laser disc, I made sure to make a digital transfer for posterity.

http://www.myrtle-avenue.com/electricmap.mp3

When powering up the various Frankensteinian lighting and sound controls at the beginning of the day (or powering them down if there were a lightning storm!) one felt as though the map was going to open up into a missile silo. A faded box of spare colored lenses in a cabinet dated from the pre-ZIP code days (and made in Brooklyn, of course!)

The surface of the map is incredibly solid, not as papier-maché as it appears -- changing lightbulbs was difficult, though, as the sockets tended to drop down the bored-out holes when you touched them. They could only then be accessed from the undercroft, which doubled as some storage space. Some bulbs lasted so long, that the dried paint around the rims of some of the colored lenses indicated that it was the first time they'd ever been replaced.

And then there were the random times when the map liked to start on its own. Either the mysterious, unseen hand of Rosensteel -- or vermin nibbling at the wiring.

As a visitor and employee, I'll really miss the old place.

[Ken]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Marc,

That was outstanding. Thanks for the link. I'm really going to miss that MAP.

[1stMaine]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Comrades,

The attached pdf is an AAR of his first visit to the new GNMP visitor's center by the chairman of the New Hampshire Civil War Roundtable. I include it without comment for your perusal.

Respects,

[Ken]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

After reading this report I honestly think the new visitor center will probably be a one time visit for me out of curiosity (probably wait until the painting is displayed) and sadly, I'm inclined to beleive I will probably find no compelling reason to go back. Truly sad when I think how the old VC was always a must see when I was in town. And then there is the stick with the plastic Lincoln head that a kid can use as a grabber from the bottom of the stick. WOW, You know, as odd a picture as the description of this toy painted in my mind I guess it kind of fits into the new order. Very educational and probably a big seller$$$

[garyjd]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

WOW! disheartening to say the least. I can understand devoting some exhibit space to talking about events before and after the war but it seems like it's overdone. I 'm not too crazy about the "new" look of museums where we get treated to monster size blow ups of photos and paintings. Though they can be used to good effect I'd rather see less of this and more artifacts. It looks like the visitor's center has plenty of one thing and that is wasted space. This was a great chance to tell the story of the battle and all you get are bells and whistles. So sad. ~Gary

[Scott Biggar]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

I attended the Gettysburg Foundation event at the new visitors center last Friday. I brought along a non-reenactor friend of mine who is quite interested in history and had been to the old visitors center a couple of times.

From my point of view, the visitors center was nicely done and I particularly liked the 3-5 minute videos in each section of the museum that describe the "action" at that point of the war or battle. I thought those were very well done and add to the experience.

I was disappointed that many of the items on display were lacking labels, so it was hard to tell exactly what I was looking at. In talking with a museum person, that is something that they are working on correcting, which was nice to hear.

The range of items on exhibit was not as large as the old VC, but there were items on display now that haven't seen the light of day in a long time. That was a definite positive, and I found myself saying "that's neat" several times.

My friend found the new VC to be excellent, and said he would bring his family back when they visit G'burg later this summer. While I was lamenting about the missing minutia that the old VC had, that same fact was a plus in his mind. He also believes the layout and content of the new VC will keep his two teenage kids interested for a longer time, which was an interesting perspective.

We were both disappointed by the 20 minute movie, but part of that could be that we toured the museum first and then saw the movie last due to the crowds in line. I think if we started with the movie and then did the museum, the movie might have been more relevant.

Overall, for a general battlefield visitor, I think the new VC is a huge improvement from the old VC. However, for folks like us reenactors, that love to delve into the minutia and see multiple examples of each item, it is a bit of a downer.

I can totally understand why the NPS has catered towards the 1M+ general public visitor rather than the 10k+ reenactor community for the new VC.

Scott Biggar
155th NYVI