Tuesday, October 15, 2013

FDR Presidential Museum & Library

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Museum & Library is the first of its kind, established while FDR was still president. (Though to be fair, that was a wide-open window...)

It's an enormous complex, containing FDR's childhood home, a visitor center with exhibits, and the archives themselves, plus outdoor space for exploring. I couldn't possibly do justice to the whole place in a short blog post, but I did want to point out a few things.



First, a re-creation of FDR's Oval Office, which uses a timeless, simple, effective exhibit technique to share more information about the objects in the space. I never get tired of seeing this done, because I can't recall ever seeing it really flop. (I'm sure it's happened somewhere.)




Second, this inviting outdoor sculpture. I often find outdoor sculpture creepy, especially when the figures are sitting on benches, looking very obviously not-alive, but this works for me. I admit to a huge history crush on Eleanor Roosevelt, and the idea of sitting down to talk books and big ideas with her is enormously appealing - and that's just what this looks like.





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