Stepping into a Time Machine

Out of all the museums, I choose the Western Reserve Historical Society.

I enjoyed our tour of the library; it was very interesting seeing how the counties grew. Our tour guide didn’t seem to leave anything out, and showed us how to use the different resources the library had to offer. She also gave us some fun facts to take home with us. After the tour I was very excited to find my grandpa on their computers.

If I were curator I don’t think I would change anything about the museum. All the displays were informational and fun to explore. However, if you wanted any additional information or had any questions, a guide was nearby. The only thing I would try to fix would be the leaky ceiling.

Since Akron and Cleveland depend much on their ecotourism for my final project I want to find a better way to attract more people to our lovely parks down in the Valley for my final project. It would also be fun to attack people on the paths and interview them.

University Circle Museums

I visited the Western Reserve Historical Society Museum and the Crawford Auto Museum. I found the Crawford Auto Museum most engaging, even though cars aren't exactly my favorite thing. It was really fascinating to see how much cars have evolved over the years, from very simple, frustrating to use, slow, impractical vehicles to the complicated, easy to use, and vital machines that they are today. If I were curator of the museum, the first thing I would do to make the museum better would be to organize the cars in a more chronological order. It would be interesting to see a physical timeline of how cars have evolved over the years, but instead, they were kind of strewn about the museum randomly. Many of the vehicles in the museum were probably made utilizing some kind of major Cleveland industry, whether it be steel manufacturing, or coal mining, or perhaps Sherwin Williams has a line of auto body paints.

The materials that were available for use in the Western Reserve Historical Society Archives were really a great resource. I was able to use the computerized census data to find information on my great grandfather and his family, when my grandparents on that side of my family had been dead for 30 years. The archival data available for use was very helpful in my understanding of the valley, and the surrounding region of northeastern Ohio. I learned the language that my great grandfather and his neighbors spoke in the home, what type of job was most popular, how long each had been a citizen, and many other enlightening pieces of information.

Voyages of University Circle

I thoroughly enjoyed our field trip to University Circle, I felt that this trip enriched us with a lot of information not just about the Cuyahoga Valley but instead the town that we actually live in. I must say I think it was very nice of the librarian to plan ahead of time with the pictures and information about Northfield Center.

After going to the Library I decided to go to the Crawford Auto Museum. I can say that I have been there before but it was such a long time ago. I definitely see the museum from a different perspective now as a driver (thank you power steering!) It is interesting to see all of the old cars and how we went from super huge cars to compact and efficient. Now automakers are just trying to go right back as many of them see how many passengers they can fit in their new gas saving SUV crossover. Another side note many of these old cars are made of materials that crushed very easily, while the amount of traffic was nothing near our time, if you were in a car crash chances for you were not good.

While at the museum I had the opportunity along with my brother of talking with one of the museum's workers. He was very knowledgable on the topics and different cars of the auto industry in Cleveland. One of the questions that we asked him was which one of the cars wast the most expensive in the museum. I cannot remember the model but it was worth approximately 1.2 Million Dollars. The Car was made right here in Cleveland. The reason it is worth so much is that it was built by hand of aluminum. It was only driven once by the designer to California and back and then placed in a garage. While in storage the designer decided to carry out his career in another business field with no further use or need for the car. Years late it was then donated to the Crawford Auto Museum which is where it still remains.

If I were Museum Curator for the Crawford Auto Museum I would not change much. One thing that I would change though is to incorporate more newer cars into the museum. Part of the exhibit that I enjoyed were the three Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep concept cars that were located in the downstairs. I think that having these models showed a more diverse collection rather than just all old cars. It also showed how far along that the cars have come since they were first created.

Another thing while touring the Auto museum that I noticed is how many of the cars were made right here in Cleveland. Most of these companies are not around anymore, but it mad me woonder how many extra jobs that was in our economy when those companies were open for business. They also all used American mad supplies in their automobiles. The steel came from cleveland etc. This is what America has lost in my opinion in today's cars and other products.
After visiting both the Auto Museum and the Library I bleieve I may do my project and relate it to the original CLeveland Auto Industry compared with the current one and the recession (yes Mr. Testa I said recession) that they are all facing.

Crawford Auto Museum

I liked looking around at all the different cars because I remembered seeing them as a kid, but now I can actually remember what they were. It was also neat to look at the history of the beginning of when car were first made, to now with size, motors, and everything else.

If I was curator of the Auto Branch of the Museum I would probably make the space between where the people can stand bigger. Doing this would make the preservation of the car to a more original state. I would also disable the car horn so that people (not mentioning any names) or group would not be a disturbance to others in the museum.

While trying to raise funds with donations and such, the museum has to balance their spending on the different exhibits. People that come to museums like this are cutting out certain things on their budget. This would be something simple but easy to not spend on. So in a future look, the income of the museum will slowly start to go down. The exhibits will become the same for so many years, especially since some of the cars are on a lease.

When we were in the library I probably should have been looking for things to do a project. Instead Jeremy and I looked through some files to see if we could find who used to live in our house. We ended up not being able to find anything, but it was neat to look at the materials that we had access to.

Since I really wasn't looking for anything on my project at the library. I think I've found what I am going to do while at the Crawford Auto Mueseum.

Western Reserve Historical Society

I ended up not being able to stay the full time for this field trip. So I just ended up staying at the Western Reserve Historical Society.

I really enjoyed the tour we got. Everything I will need for my final project is at the Western Reserve Historical Society. They have a ton of old pictures of industrial structures and they have books on how those structures were created.

For my project I wanted to create new bridges in place of old falling down bridges but I want the brand new bridges to look how they would of in the 1930's or other later dates. The lady that gave us our tour really helped me with finding information. She showed me how to us their database to look up pictures, books or other materials that can be very useful for my project.

If I was made curator I would not change much. I would just make it more eye appealing.

I do plan on going back to work on my project a lot. The Western Reserve Historical Society has just about every resource I could need for my project.

Lienne's University Cirle Trip

I visited the Western Reserve Historical Society on our Friday, January 23 field trip.

The tour of the library was a good way to learn how to use one of the many resources available for our final projects. It seems to have all the information on the Valley and the surrounding areas since the 1800s.

The other part of the museum was the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum. It had many exhibits and historical information. It has something for every age group. If I was made curator, I would make the exhibits a little more eye catching because the informational parts were boring to look at weren't fun to read.

The censuses from the different years painted a picture of what the neighborhoods of our community looked like in that time. This helped me understand how different businesses that came either helped or weakened the economy or how they grew our community.

For my final project, I wanted to do a "now and then" of the Valley. I also wanted to tie in the new park coming in by Mustill Store and how this could affect the future of the area. I wasn't able to spend too much time working on my final project because we ran out of time, but I am planning on using the pass to come back and use the abundant sources available there.

University Circle Museums: Friday, January 23

-- Cyrus Sethna --

I chose to visit the museum portion of the Western Reserve Historical Society after our tour of the library.

I found the tour of the library to be very complete and through. The lady who gave us our tour certainly knew about what the library had to offer in terms of content and equipment available for visitors to utilize. I was strongly reminded of the time I spent last summer as a volunteer at the National Archives except the WRHS library is obviously smaller and contains different sorts of materials.

The museum portion of the facility contains the Crawford Auto and Aviation Museum as well as something that resembles a house with old furniture, clothing, and items from days past with some sort of local connection.

I found the materials as presented to be very interesting and they illuminated some historical details that I would not have been able to otherwise infer. I feel that if I was a visitor with little or no knowledge of American or local history, then I would certainly be learning a lot. It was most exciting to see things that we had all ready learned about through previous readings or trips.

If I was made curator of the facility, I do not believe that I would make substantial changes except perhaps to properly drive home the point that small children should not climb on the cars.

I did not conduct significant "archival work" in the library, I merely glanced at the facility and looked over the holdings. I do not have any family roots in the area as I am a first-generation American, my parents both immigrated from abroad.

I am interested in looking at the decline of Cleveland/ Akron and their failure to rebound like their rust-belt sister cities. So I believe that articles written about the steps that places like Pittsburgh have taken compared to what Cleveland/ Akron have done would be helpful. All though, I'd love to be able to heap most of the blame upon the decrepit leadership on Jackson and Plusquellic.

University Circle Museums

Visiting the Historical Society and the Botanical gardens was a very fun experience for me. The Botanical gardens I always enjoy, more so in the summer because of the outdoor plants though. The Historical Society, on the other hand, I have never been to. I was very surprised by what the lady that worked there had to say and show us. I thought it was neat how they have records from people living in the area all of those years ago and how we are still recording at all today. It amazes me that someday people will look back and see how we were living and what was important to us in our time.

The lady at the Historical Society mentioned that they work with Hale Farm and I thought it would be useful to look up information about the lives of people there and apply that to my project. Also it would help me to contact Hale Farm again and talk to them about interpreters teaching students how to role play as the people who lived at Hale Farm. I think this will expand the education of students on the history of the valley as well as teach them better public speaking skills. Being an interpreter could be a great experience for students.

In regards to the Botanical Gardens, if I were curator, I would make use of more of the empty space in the lobby and around the gift shop for plants. The desert area was nice and the rain forest area was very pretty. I like how they raise butterflies and release them in the rain forest setting. I liked seeing the birds there too. If I a curator there I would probably expand and create a larder indoor plant exhibit so people will stay longer in the winter. If there were more rooms with different environments, people might walk around more and go back and forth between the rooms instead of just meandering through one way only without going back to previous rooms.

Botanical Gardens

I went to the Botanical Gardens for lunch and to explore around a bit (and I got to talk to the head of horticulture or something to that effect and I got the contact info for two people to work on my project!) and I greatly enjoyed the experience.

I liked that you had to go through the first main exhibit (the desert environment) to get to the second (the rain forest environment). The rain forest exhibit had a stairway (or an elevator, but I decided to get my exercise and take the stairs) that led up to a second level where one can look out and see the top of the plants and a few more butterflies that were fluttering around. I personally liked the way the museum was laid out and wouldn't change much, though there was one room (and Anna can attest to this) that was rather dark and it was right after a very light room, so I couldn't really see where I was going. I managed though...the room wasn't too big and there was only one way out and nothing really to walk into or trip over. So perhaps, if I were curator of the museum, I might put a small light in that room. :]

In talking briefly to the women involved in the environmental education (I think that's what their business cards said), I got some great ideas for a project. I might do something on the carbon footprint of Cleveland or Botanical Gardens specifically, since they said that the glasshouse would be getting a "green roof" and they also suggested I could write about the environmental impact the plants themselves are making on local environment and such. I'll be looking into this topic a lot more and I'll definitely be doing an interview or two in the next two months!

University Circle Museums

I liked the gardens i always like seeing all the cool plant life they have there and the butterflys and birds are cool even tho there setup is better in the summer it was still cool. ( even though some people dont enjoy plants cough *cyrus* cough) =P


The Exhibits there are the spiny desert which is filled with cactus and a lot of other desert plants, and the rain forest exhibit which is my favorite because of all the animals and insects. the layout of the building made it easy for you to be your own tour guide it was one thing after another it was a fun experience to go there if i could change it any way i would make more exhibits on the inside so that in winter people can get to see the greatness of the gardens and not freeze outside trying to observe the huge outside setup but otherwise i wouldn't change a thing i loved the gardens and the way it is set up my favorite was the rain forest exhibit



to be honest i dont know gow to really relate the gardens to any thing that i have gone to to other then the parks that we went to and i really dont know i am going to base my project on yet maybe some of you guys could give me some tips on what my project can be based on so comment me and help me out

Friday the 23rd

I don't know about everyone else - but I had a fun day - I was rather surprised by this I must admit...I have of course been to all these sites already, and was thinking it would be more of the same, but I really enjoyed making use of all the documents at our disposal at the library...I looked up my grandmother and grandfather's lineage which was very enlightening, found out that my grandfather is from Yugoslavia...all this time - up until Friday - I thought he was from Czechoslovakian - my family has had it wrong all this time...that was my ahh haa moment of the day.

Word cloud

In the spirit of art, here's a word cloud generated by the most frequently occurring words on this blog... wow! How's that for one of your teachers?

Stan Hywet Collage

So I finally got around to getting these pictures home and online, and now I'm sharing them with you all. This is from the Stan Hywet trip (hence the title) and I ended up taking the huge house as an opportunity to do my weekend picture-taking for Photography (the project was to make a collage out of something, as you can see). Enjoy!


Stan Hywet: Snapshots by ~ob0eplayer4life on deviantART

For another version of this (where all the pictures are black and white but I've tinted a few of them like pink and blue), go here:
http://ob0eplayer4life.deviantart.com/art/Stan-Hywet-B-W-Tinted-106427455