New Gettysburg Visitors Center

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/05/05/gettysburg.map.ap/index.html

Well, the map at the Gettysburg Visitors center hit the mainstream media...

Tchuss- Johnny

[davidf]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Strange, I had heard that someone had bought it for their private collection, some say the people who founded the museum or something like that?

Anyway, I visited the new center a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say that I think it is very good. On campus here at Gettysburg, one of the members of the Civil War club had worked on the new center, and gave us a tour of the new place (he is in one of the videos you see in the lobby when you first come in for a few seconds giving a tour too!). I must say, just the outside alone is impressive, so much better quality, and blends in with the surrounding area so much better. Both outside and inside are impressive in design and look. It looks like they put in a lot of money and effort into the look.

As for some of the complaints I have heard, I think that all those complaints do not outweigh how good this new place is by a long shot. Sure, there are less artifacts, but the ones that remain are all good and are put together so they tell the story of the war better. Overall, the mission of the visitor center should be to tell the story of the War and of the Battle of Gettysburg. If you didn't notice before, besides the light map, the old center didn't really do that, but really only showed the artifacts. Maybe in the future there will be another museum that does that (if there isn't already), but the main point of a visitor center should be to inform people about the battle and war (which, for many people, they need it. Also, consider that there are many tourists from foreign countries who do not study our history at all and probably benefit from the way the museum is set up now). I found it very nice that each room's name is taken from a part of the Gettysburg Address.

While some may not thing its necessary to have high tech stuff, I think there is an advantage that not many see. Many of the touch screen computer things in the museum do two significant things that I think make them very valuable, they allow people to be interactive with what they are learning (which is a lot better than just going from board to board, this interaction also alows choice), and with all that information on the computer means that museum space doesn't have to be taken up to show it, so more information overall can be presented by the museum. Another thing to consider with high tech is that for my generation, tech is something we like (though I do like to get away from it once in a while, one of the many reasons I reenact) in general, and for a museum to survive, you have to appeal to customers as much as you can without compromising the goal of the museum.

I think one thing to remember is that Gettysburg is a tourist town too. It will always be trying to get the next best thing to draw audience. The Cyclorama is an example. Throughout its history, Gettysburg tourism has done this. After the Cyclorama, there were plenty of other weird attractions, from "fantasy land" to many wax dummies. They go with whatever will bring people so they can be entertained, and hopefully learn at least a few things too.

Also, I remember hearing some things about the book store/gift store not offering as many books. I looked in the store, and I think it is close to even. The new one definately has a great look. The selection seems to have changed a little bit, with more categories of books (and the way the books are set up I think is better now). I thought it was kind of cool to see a kids section and seeing some of the books that got me started in Civil War when I was a child. Ultimately, I think the gift store appeals more now than it did before and to a more general audience. Hey, they still run the Movie Gettysburg on a Television in there too (well at least now its a HD TV)!

As for all those big open hallways, the reason those are there is because of bus tour groups come in a lot (especially school groups) and there are a lot of tourists in general (remember, about 2 million people visit the battlefield every year, if only half, or even a third, visit the museum, that it a lot of people!). I think it is a good idea to have those big halls, I can actually get around those school kids! I remember talking with a gift shop employee and he told me that in May there are weeks were there are several hundred buses coming in from schools!

I didn't even get a chance to explore the new eatery in there or the 20 some minute movie. Don't forget the Cyclorama opens in the fall some time too.

For those who miss the eletric board, maybe some day they will bring it back because just like the Cyclorama, it is a part of Gettysburg history too (Gettysburg tourism being a history in its own).

I hope you all give the new center a chance, its worth it to visit at least once.

[SamuelCathey]

You logically speak from the view of a person with museum experience. However, I'm guessing you will be utterly shocked by the lack of artifacts on display and how little the visitor center deals with the battle of Gettysburg. I also tried to view the exhibits using my many years working in the museum field plus my years as a reenactor. In the end I was utterly disgusted that the collection is hidden from view. Parks need to set their site in the context of history, but 75% of that museum is a fairly uninspiring thumbnail sketch of the Civil War. To top it all off, there is a whole bunch of crappy reproduction stuff on mannequins both inside and outside the main exhibit.
I was so sickened I wrote to the park and they wrote a note saying that they have been getting lots of positive responses about the visitor center. I had to chuckle because of the many people I have spoken to, all of them thought it was terrible.
Sam Cathey

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Last week, a co-worker of mine visited Gettysburg at the tail end of her vacation. She is highly educated (PhD Chemist) and well travelled (UK and Europe, mostly), but has no particular interest in the Civil War (probably about the same level of interest as 95% of the visitors to G-burg).

Her comments on the visitors center were that it was a very nice place and that the different videos did a decent job explaining the battle and what happened there. She commented that the videos looked well-done ("...looked like they were done by the History Channel...").

However, she visibly bristled at the "other" content of the museum. She stated that it presented the war too simplistically as a "slavery only" conflict and that too much space was devoted to that issue alone. I didn't have time to follow up on her comments, but they surprised me.

So, there you have it. An unsolicited testimonial from "the general public" ...someone who ain't in the hobby and ain't a Civil War nutjob like the rest of us.

[davidf]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Last week, a co-worker of mine visited Gettysburg at the tail end of her vacation. She is highly educated (PhD Chemist) and well travelled (UK and Europe, mostly), but has no particular interest in the Civil War (probably about the same level of interest as 95% of the visitors to G-burg).

Her comments on the visitors center were that it was a very nice place and that the different videos did a decent job explaining the battle and what happened there. She commented that the videos looked well-done ("...looked like they were done by the History Channel...").

However, she visibly bristled at the "other" content of the museum. She stated that it presented the war too simplistically as a "slavery only" conflict and that too much space was devoted to that issue alone. I didn't have time to follow up on her comments, but they surprised me.

So, there you have it. An unsolicited testimonial from "the general public" ...someone who ain't in the hobby and ain't a Civil War nutjob like the rest of us.

Actually, when I got my tour from a friend who helped with the creation of the museum, he told us that all of the videos are designed by the History Channel.

Also, the reason for the highlight of the slavery thing might have come about because there appears to be this huge drive these days in the achedemic community to highlight that again (my opinion is that its a part of this "new left" history).

I think the ultimate conclusion that we can make here is that there are some good and some not so good things about the new museum. But I think overall the new museum was worth it. I believe that someone above said the new museum didn't tell enough about the battle. First of all, I would have to say that I think that this is not neccesarily true. Second, didn't the old museum have even less (besides the light map)?

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Hallo!

We all have our likes and dislikes...

I was at the "Civil War Visitor's Center" last Monday.

I was not disappointed, as I went expecting to be disappointed.

Lots of dark open space and high "big box" ceilings.
Lots of printed material on the CW on multiple panel displays to read through.
A smattering and splattering of Period artifacts to amplify or illustrate the readings and videos.
A plague of locusts, er 8th graders, going to or coming back from their Washington D.C. trip, arrived three minutes after we did- with a larger plague of cell-phone picture taking and covorting. (Okay I will take that off the list). ;)
I found a better "book section" at the National Ear Wax Museum gift shop.

And yes, the former "rifle room" and downstairs" pistol" display has been condensed down to 46 (?) longarms and 20ish (?) pistols at the front without identifying labeling. (With a small sprinkling within in the cases inside..).

I then went up to Harrisburg for the "National Civil War Museum" for my second visit there. Actually, while I dislike it as well, I disliked it less than the new G-Burg Civil War Visitors' Center in comparison.

Others likes and dislikes, and mileage will vary...

Curt
Heretic
One man's meat is another man's poison Mess

[Parault]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

I found a better "book section" at the National Ear Wax Museum gift shop.

Is the National Ear Wax Museum Civil War related? I want to go.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Hallo!

Dunno.
I was twelve years old the last time I was inside the actual wax "museum."
But my memory is that they sure can do wonders molding ear wax into Civil War soldiers! ;) :) :)

Curt
Remembering the thumping heart vignette Mess

[CSchneider]

I went to the new museum for the first time today, intent to look at it from the perspective of a graduate student in Museum Studies and Material Culture rather than a junkie that likes to look at lots of old stuff. There were certainly many positive aspects, but I found myself disappointed with a few things.

The overall interpretive aspects were good. The VC no longer looks like a big curio cabinet. There is a fair overview of the war, and the sections specifically dedicated to Gettysburg do indeed tell quite a bit more about the battle than the old place, even more than the electric map did. The high-tech stuff was pretty well done and seemed to keep a good handful of the swarms of kids interested. The space reserved for rotating exhibits was a nice addition, and the current exhibit on letter writing was well done.

On two separate occasions I heard someone ask, “Now where are we supposed to go?” (One was a student, the other an adult). In a few places there is a lack of direction, both thematically and more basically, due to the arrangement of the displays sending the visitor either in circles or into a new room without having seen half the displays in the former.

I was most disappointed by the labeling of artifacts. I must admit, I had some warning about the labeling at the new Gettysburg VC as it came up in a Material Culture class a week or two ago. Due to this, I did go around looking particularly for the little 3x5 cards that I spent the last two semesters learning how to squeeze volumes of information into 50 words on. Unfortunately, as I expected after that class discussion, there aren’t many of those 50-word labels. Artifacts can certainly be used to illustrate an exhibit’s larger interpretive themes, but they can also tell stories themselves. At the new VC, artifacts aren’t allowed to speak. Sure, a fatigue blouse can be labeled “Union Army sack coat,” but who wore it? Where was he from? Where did that coat go during the war? Was someone wounded while wearing it? Was someone captured while wearing it? Did its owner die during the war? What family did he leave behind? Indeed, the vast majority of artifacts are so poorly labeled that the visitor can’t really be inspired to think much about them. Objects that did have nice labels at the old VC, and objects that used to be in storage that I had the opportunity to examine in the past, are displayed without any way for the visitor to analyze their own engaging stories. Maybe the folks in Gettysburg know something that the Smithsonian curators and AHA and AAM directors that have been teaching my courses don’t, but I’ve always thought, and have recently been taught quite relentlessly, that an object itself, coupled with a little background information, can teach more and inspire more thought than the text on the wall that only a small percentage of people read anyway. I believe that a great opportunity was missed to couple some nice overall historical interpretation with the more personal stories that objects tell, which are often representative of larger group experiences. When you place a Confederate officer’s coat in a display case and imply that it was worn by one Confederate officer (with a little notation at the end of the text saying that it actually wasn’t) without saying anything about the coat’s original owner, or when you display a regimental flag completely out of any context and without a label, I don’t think you quite get it.

-Craig Schneider

[garyjd]

Does anyone remember the light-up display at the old visitor's center that showed man for man how many casualties were suffered on a particular day or part of the field? I've been to Gettysburg many times and saw this in working condition only once. After that it just became a black room with no purpose. I wonder how long it will be before these "high tech" displays start %$@#*&^ the bed and we're left with the odd room(s) of blank screens. This way of parting information is great...just as long as they are working. ~Gary

[Rob Walker]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

I made a brief visit to the new visitors center last week and came away both impressed and disapointed. I was in total shock of how the book store went from a place to get books and information on may different subjects to a place to buy everything you can imagine with the name Gettysburg on it. I was half impressed with the restaurant. It seemed resonable but the "period" menu was amusing. The dispalys were done well although I was dimayed by the lack of artifacts on display. I left the museum area feeling a little down. We were asked to give a few hours of our time to leave the field to stay at the visitors center to answer questions near the information kiosk outside between the parking areas. After speaking to many visitors I came to the conclusion that the visitors center was perfect for most park visitors. It affords them the opportunity to learn more by viewing the displays and interacting with others. The old museum was great for us to get a good look at uniforms and equipment but it was just stuff to the average visitor. To most people the old dispalys were just stuff to glance at on their trip to the electric map and the bathrooms. So my conclusion was this, it is a good set up for the average visitor but not so great for research. But, in the long run it may benefit us since it posseses the ability to educate the general public.

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

When I worked at the old VC, the removal of some objects for the new place had already begun. A few weapons had been taken from their respective displays, and I logically thought "oh, they're starting to move stuff over now so they don't have to move EVERYTHING on the day the new place opens."

Well, it seems that the objects removed early were ALL that were destined for the new displays. That was a bit of a let-down.

In all fairness, the former VC really DIDN'T tell the cohesive story of the battle of Gettysburg, apart from the Electric Map, but isn't that the point of the BATTLEFIELD ITSELF?? The way I've always looked at it, you learn about the battle by actually getting out there. Almost every school group takes a two-hour tour with an LBG. The Visitor Center should then be a supplement, not a substitute, displaying physical objects from the battle and its participants.

It has been argued that when Joe Q. Public decides to go to "a Civil War battlefield," at least in the East, Gettysburg is the logical choice, and therefore it should be Gettysburg's job to say "well, as long as you're here, let's give you the REST of the war." I don't go to Yellowstone to learn about Carlsbad...the scope of the Gettysburg Visitor Center should be narrowed.

I did notice that adults were enthralled by the interactive displays (signaling, and the "pack your knapsack" display, which seems to be narrated by an R. Lee Ermey type, for some reason...) The short videos on each day of the battle do their jobs well. There are more than a few new objects that have been taken out of storage, which were really great to see, and the rotating exhibits gallery promises to be exciting. There are a few items that are either mislabeled or incorrectly displayed -- forage caps ID'ed as kepis, kepis ID'ed as forage caps, Sergeant Bodler's chevrons displayed upside-down (and separately from the rest of his items), etc.

One of the great things about working in the former book store is that I could count on one hand the items that I thought were ridiculous or inappropriate. It was, truly, an educational book store. Everything we sold had to first be submitted to us by a publisher, reviewed, and approved by a Park Historian; any "gift" type of item had to have accurate, interpretive text associated with it, or else we would not accept it. No ghost books, no rubber hatchets, no penny-flattening machine, etc. The samples in the "reject" pile were truly nauseating. The new place has no such oversight. All the ordering is done by Event Network in California, and the NPS has no say over what can be sold. Now, it resembles a Pier One store. Everything and anything goes, up to and including the polyester-and-pleather kepis that you can get in town for $20 -- here, being sold for over $100.

I overheard one visitor say "I wanted to get a drink, but they wanted $2.50 for a soda..."

Yes, Farnsworth House and the Earwax Museum are the last bastions of literary hope in that town.

[gfchhdgf]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Those play kepis in the bookstore with plastic buttons for over $100 just about knocked me to the floor, unfortunately I saw people seriously looking at them and toying with the idea of buying on!!! It would be less insulting to hand out punches in the face when you walk into the bookstore now!

[sallyryan]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

Friends,
I have resisted adding my two cents to this discussion, because I thought I might be in the minority. Don't believe that is the case. I live just a short distance from the new Center, I revere this Battlefield and welcome all visitors who come to share in its drama and power.

Wish I could say that the new center does the same. So here are a few of my very personal thoughts.

1. Walking into it, thought I was in an airport concourse. Kept looking for the Arrival board and the Security stations.
2. Too much wasted space inside. See #1
3. Too much wasted space outside, not nearly enough parking. I've been there twice in the past two weeks - what will it be like come summer?! Why do they need all of that yard out front?
4. This Center seems as if it could be put into any Civil War context/site/location. Little seems to be unique to Gettysburg.
5. The movie? Too Glitzy, too PC, too generic for anything historical other than Slavery. This could be used at ANY NPS site, just insert the appropriate campaign names into the 7 minutes allotted to the Gettysburg Battle. Please, please, save your money and put it towards Preservation Funds.
6. The Saloon? Plan to have a cooler in your car, go to O'Rorkes or the Garryowen in the Burg for refreshments. Put the money you save towards Preservation.
7. The Exhibits? I got confused as to which way to go in the Museum...and I know the sequences of the battle. Short videos of each day are nice, but are you really going to sit through each of them? Okay, we would, but what about the average touring family? So the Battle of Gettysburg concludes with the Civil Rights Movement? Gee, I thought it ended in July, 1863. OTHER issues continued on, not the Battle.
8. Bottlenecks within the museum traffic flow. Interactive exhibits are nice, but only a couple of people can use them at a time - otherwise, traffic is blocked. Which way do I go from here? Heard that more than once.
9. Hands on exhibits for the kids? Only saw one...way in the back where there are various accoutrements for them to try on. Really think the Hands-On interactive displays could have been put out onto the Concourse. Oops, I mean the front lobby.
10. Special exhibits - the current one is on letters and correspondence. Would have been great to see, except that when you stand in front of the glass cases, your body casts a shadow from the overhead lighting.
11. Labels, tags, notes. Few and far between, some not even next to the exhibit. One tag in a case was ' Captured Battle Flag'. No flags in the display case but take a few steps away and there it is on the wall, with no tag. Go Figure.
12. The Bookstore? Oh PUHLEEEZE! Even the Civil War and Gettysburg specific books are limited in number and variety. Try finding a book on the Irish Brigade, trying finding some of the regimental histories or diaries that can really tell the story. But note that there are numerous hard and soft bound copies of GWTW, half a dozen copies of Gray's Anatomy. (Yup, the big thick one that pre-med students buy), lots of copies of Killer Angels, etc.
13. Stay away from the other end of the shop...where ALL the kids are. You will go nuts.
14. They desperately need a map of the facility and the museum that one can carry with them. There is a map on the NPS website, print that one out to take with you.
15. I did not see a large map of the Gettysburg area on display inside the Visitors Center. Hard to get a feel for the multi-day battle without an overall perspective.
16. If you want to learn about Gettysburg (tourists, historians, school groups, whoever), get a Guide. (You will find them way down at the end of the concourse...sort of like the Hertz desk.)

So many excellent perspectives have been put forth on this thread. Read them all. Please visit for yourself and then help those around you who are confused.

I'm hoping that things will improve, that people will actually have a sense of what GETTYSBURG means when they leave the Visitors Center. Will have to wait and see.

My apologies for the length of this message. Moderators, please move, revise, exclude as you see fit.

Many thanks for listening.

[1st Maine Trooper]

Re: New Gettysburg Visitors Center

I made a quick visit to the Center this afternoon and overall, I like many have mixed feelings. The primary focus visitor center should tell the story of what happened at Gettysburg. While the events leading up to and after the 3 days in July are important to the overall understanding, I feel they spend too much time with all of that.

The biggest complaing that I have with the museum was the Federal Cavalry trooper display. Absolutley NOTHING on the manekin of the man and horse were original artifacts. They were all either exceedingly bad reproductions or outright creations of someone's imagination. To make maters worse, behind the centerpiece exhibit is a case that contains a majority of the actual artifacts! It was positively attrocious, and incredibly irresponsible of the NPS to put such a display together.

Not that it will do any good, but I will be writing to anyone and everyone I can think of in an effort to get that display removed or changed.

Dave Myrick