DOWN HOME:
to the left of the lobby of the greensboro historical museum lies the DOWN HOME exhibit. it doesn't have its own room like the other exhibits but informational banners form an implied room. the exhibit highlights the history of jewish life in greensboro. there is a large timeline on the wall behind the exhibit featuring important moments like the first jewish school, library, textile mill, mayor, festival in greensboro, and so on. the banners around the outside discuss creating communities, keeping jewish faith, and putting family first. there's also a television with some sort of informational message on display in the space. the t.v. isn't the biggest and with the small size of the speakers and acoustics of the lobby space it's hard to hear the message. there were also some items in display cases such as a synagogue and an interactive kitchen that many found helpful however the help was short-lived. it was easy to move quickly through the space and there weren't many bright colors or any major attention-grabbing features there. the audio from the video caught my attention but only temporarily. i think that for the space to be more successful there would have to be more of an enclosure, sectioning the display off from the rest of the busy and sometimes loud lobby. the entire space-all the way up the stairs is open and the sounds travel far. it's understood that this exhibit is a traveling one, i just think there's a better way to make use of the space.
VOICES:
this was the main exhibit and, therefore, was the largest. i wondered if it would ever end but not in a bad way. honestly, i had no idea that greensboro's history was so interesting. walking in, i immediately noticed the wall of quotes. the following room was full of pictures of people in greensboro's history as well as some major points in greensboro's history. following that was a series of rooms that went from more guided and maze-like to more open and exploration-oriented. displays ranged from townlife to roads and railroads to farming, slaves, mining, factories, churches, hobbies, military, drafts, and so so much more. there was endless amounts of memorabilia and historical artifacts. much of the displays were interactive in some way. also noteworthy were the colors that led a viewer from one space to the next. it made the exhibit flow well. at the very end there was a map that had audio of different people speaking different languages. all were saying "hello, my name is ____ and greensboro is my home" in their native language. the map featured blocks that you could turn to see that quote written in the native language as well. it really brought the display from all of the history to the present and showed that greensboro is a huge mix of people and there is so much more history to be made.
POTTERY DISPLAY + PERIOD ROOMS:
the pottery displays were instantly eye-catching. this is mostly because their bright and earthy colors were housed in stark white-painted display cases. there were four total with a column in the center with an informational television in it-probably so that people would stop and spend time in the space instead of walking right through. most of the pottery was from the years 1923 through 1959. i thought this was crazy because they looked brand new! the t.v. program called them JUGTOWN ceramics and said that most were marked on the bottom with the symbol and the artist's initials. obviously i couldn't pick up a bowl to verify but i feel like that would've been pretty cool. there was information on the paint-glaze-kiln process which i found helpful for spectators to understand how these beauties were made.
the period rooms to me were captivating. i really felt like i stepped back in history and wasn't just looking at something in a glass case. i began to stick my head into the belle meade parlor when i noticed the sign that said i couldn't reach past the railing or an alarm would go off.
back to reality. all of the period rooms featured dark woods and heavy prints. there were prints on the floor rugs, the wallpapers, the pillows, and so on. also all of the furniture upholstery looked so luxurious and comfortable. almost worth setting off an alarm to touch. but not quite.
GATE CITY:
alright, i'm not going to lie, this one creeped me out. i've gotta be honest about that. as i entered the exhibit i was taken back in time to the hotel clegg, the main hotel in old gate city. it was full of information on what was going on at the time from theater shows to train schedules. there was also a telephone exchange room. i can't imagine working with all of those wires. no thank you. walking through the doors and out of hotel clegg i immediately felt like i was in the city...there was audio of people talking, the railroad, birds chirping, someone building something, and so on. there was a huge fake tree in the center of the city which may have had significance but i didn't pay much attention to. there was a pharmacy, a school, a steam fire engine place, a theater, and a hotel. each place was interactive and had lots of information. there were fliers and announcements from the time period posted up everywhere. but i've got to be honest...once i walked through the hotel and saw all of the cardboard cutouts and then realized that some places started TALKING TO YOU when you walked in i was instantly glad that i didn't go alone. regardless of my scaredy-cat paranoia, i definitely felt like i was in gate city (or a creepy haunted version of it) and so the museum did a good job of setting up what it was like back then. i'm sure it wasn't as bad as i just probably made it sound.
GIFT SHOP:
i definitely think that the gift shop reflected the museum and its displays. there were some old-fashioned games, dolls, etc that mirrored the HISTORICAL aspect of the museum. there was also pottery that matched the pottery on display. there was all kinds of north carolina memorabilia like books on birds and plants in NC as well as cookbooks from NC. there was plenty of information at hand about greensboro and north carolina and that definitely parallels the museum's goal.
