Interpretation and preservation...a personal and very long winded observation

First, I need to admit I'm playing catchup on what is going on with the Friends. After becoming very active with the Friends and RGRPC after I retired in 2000, some things made it less than fun so I found other things to keep me busy in my retirement, like chasing steam in China. I even let my Friends membership lapse.

But now there seems to be more activity in the C&TS museum/interpretation area, and I'm once again getting interested in contributing in some way. As my recent posts indicate, I am very focused on the C&TS as a museum, and in its ability to teach people about what railroading was all about when it was the major connection most small towns had with the rest of the world.

The Friends seem to be making a lot of progress in this area. Their strategic plan shows the museum function as numero uno among their strategic priorities, and the acquisition of the Dorman collection may have been a watershed in their museum oriented priorities. I have had several recent telephone discussions suggesting the museum activity is attracting some (new) people who are focused on things like organizing and cataloging the historic collection. And initiatives with the Commission about a "visitors center" suggest some serious activity that presumably is related to interpretation of the railroad. And the docent program is a long standing effort in that area.

At the same time the bulk of what I see on the Friends website still focuses on the traditional preservation activities that they are so good at. For example, I could not find a work session activity that was focused on interpretation.

I'm left with the impression that the ship is turning, but very slowly, which is not unreasonable or to be unexpected. The bulk of the Friends membership, and therefore its leadership, are basically hands-on preservation people who have created a world-class preservation program.

The obvious (to me) conclusion is that more of us who are interested in the museum/interpretation side of the "business" need to become more active. But there still seems to be some question as to where the handle is on the football, who do we contact, and what are the activities we can contribute to, especially since many of us are thousands of miles away.

But I like what I see so far.

JBW



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2007 11:09PM by John West.