New Smyrna Beach Museum of History
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| Photos: http://www.nsbhistory.org/ |
120
Sams Avenue
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168
(386) 478-0052
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168
(386) 478-0052
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AT A GLANCE: Modern Museum
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Date of visit
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Saturday, January 12,
2018
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Parking
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Plentiful and free
street parking.
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Amount of time needed
to peruse exhibits:
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20 - 30 minutes hour
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Amount of time needed
for gift shop
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20 - 30 minutes if you
like books; else, 10 minutes
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The “must have”
souvenir
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Book: “A Land to Remember” by Patrick D. Smith
Note: If you don’t plan on being in the New
Smyrna Beach area, Barnes & Noble offers this book for $5.99 online. Buy it.
It’s not only a great story well-told; it’s a great way to learn
history through the eyes of early settlers.
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Online shopping
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No
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Kid friendly shopping
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Yes
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Kid friendly
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Yes
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Dress code
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This is an art town,
so dress tastefully. Sassy hats and
kicky sandals are welcome.
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Be sure to…..
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Give the docents a
chance to chat with you. You’ll come
away with information that most folks don’t have.
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Nearby/other
establishments to visit
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Walk the downtown
area: it’s not large. Pop in and out of art galleries at your
leisure.
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Walkability, general
downtown area / amount of traffic
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You will need a car or
other transportation to reach New Smyrna Beach. The downtown area is walkable.
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Safety, in terms of
type and number of crimes committed in general area
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Generally safe. Of course, practice the standard
recommendations of being aware of your surroundings and locking your
car. Lots of folks were milling about
when we visited, waiting for the arrival of antique cars. I can’t explain it, but boys and men enjoy
looking at engines, and all of the antique cars have their hoods propped open
to accommodate this.
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“Art is not a treasure
in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of
all living and creating peoples.”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
We made the 2-hour trip
north to visit the Atlantic Center for the Arts (http://atlanticcenterforthearts.org/),
an artist community located in New Smyrna Beach (NSB), Florida. This is an honest-to-goodness artist
cooperative / conservatory / commune for artists of all shapes, sizes, and
color. The trip wasn’t new to us, as we
previously made the long car trip months earlier only to find the Atlantic
Center for the Arts was temporarily and unexpectedly shuttered. This time, though, we checked their website,
as this would certainly keep us abreast of their events. Thus, with the website’s blessing, we headed
north. For 2-hours. The Atlantic Center was closed for a wedding
event. We hoped to salvage our trip with
a visit to their gift shop only to find the entire building stripped of
everything, save small round tables and chairs.
Perfect for a wedding; not so much for us. Disappointed, we left the artists to their
wedding event and tried to reclaim the day.
I wanted to see art and shop.
We motored to New
Smyrna Beach’s downtown area and found ourselves in the middle of a farmers
market / artisan market. Art and
shopping is good. The market ended
shortly after we arrived, so once again we tried recouping the day. Wandering through brought us to the NSB
Museum of History.
I’ll be honest
here: history museums are among my least
favorite types of museum. It’s not that
I don’t want to learn, because I do. I
have issues with the presentation of historical facts, since the majority of
exhibits entail verbose signage that detracts from, instead of adding to, the actual
message. There’s got to be a better way
to educate us than by boring us to death.
You know what else? We drove
quite a distance to see art work, and doggone it, there was none to be seen or
appreciated in this history museum.
Before I could stop it, a loud resigned sigh escaped my lips. No art.
No artist community. What a
wasted trip. I could feel dissatisfaction
and boredom making its slow creep over my shoulders and down to the soles of my
feet. Just about the time that I started
to hunch over and shuffle along, I heard a familiar voice urging me to take a
look at a particular display. Fine. Shuffle.
Shuffle, shuffle. Sigh.
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| One of the seven murals |
My attention was directed to some embroidered
art work displayed on a wall.
Finally! Art! Admittingly, I still wasn’t enthused. What was the big deal with this old and faded
tapestry? Bob gently and patiently
explained that this collection of seven embroidered tapestry were commissioned
during the Great Depression of the 1930s as part of the Works Project Administration,
Federal Projects Number One.
This
project encompassed the creative arts:
painters, writers, musicians, and sculptors, such as Jackson Pollack,
Georgia O’Keefe and Diego Rivera. (http://www.history.com/topics/works-progress-administration)
and brought these inventive and imaginative souls under the umbrella of
federally sponsored art. Great. Thanks, Bob, for the art history lesson. So, I stood there for a bit, unsure of what I
was supposed to be seeing.
Again in an understanding
way, Bob asked me a dreadfully innocent question: “Don’t you recognize these?” No, I don’t. Why should I? This time, Bob let
out an audible sigh. I admit that art often
has to smack me in the face. Bob knew
this was one of those times. I didn’t.
“Don’t you remember the murals in your high
school’s auditorium?” he asked in an indefatigable tone. I spent a goodly amount of time in that
auditorium, being President of the Drama Club, and this was a dreadfully
innocent question about memories from my old stomping grounds. Finally, yes.
I remembered. I pondered why I
was asked that question; why was it important?
Here’s why: the three murals in
Dondero’s auditorium was part of the same Federal Works Project that sponsored
the seven murals in the NSB Museum of History (https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/royal-oak-middle-school-murals-royal-oak-mi/,
http://www.wpamurals.com/royaloak.htm). I finally understood the connection between
this ole’ history museum and my past experiences. I was smacked in the face with these
tapestries, and once I absorbed that connection, my eyes opened to the personal
juncture of history and art.
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| Murals in Dondero's auditorium |
With a spring in my
step, I approached the Museum’s gift shop.
As expected, it was small.
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| This is almost the entire gift shop |
Also
as expected was the splendor of book titles.
In my travels, I’ve noticed that some of the most unique and exceptional
books selections are in a history museum’s gift shop. This small gift shop further buoyed my
spirit.
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| "A Land to Remember" is a great way to learn Florida's recent history |
Book lovers can easily spend 30
minutes browsing through tomes, and even non-readers will stop and read titles. One of my favorite books about Florida is “A
Land to Remember” by Patrick D. Smith.
It enlightened my knowledge of past and contemporary Florida in an
easy-to-read book. Many of the public
school in Florida include this book on their “must read” list. I also picked up some insider information
from a docent who followed me into the gift shop: Patrick D. Smith is scheduled to appear at a
book signing in a few weeks, right here in the NSB Museum of History. We may or may not attend. I’d love to, but NSB is inconvenient for us.
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| Branded coffee cups |
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| Puzzles which reflect Florida's vibe |
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| What a great selection of books! |
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| Branded wearables |
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| Historic photos |
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| More branded wearables and historic maps |
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| This gift shop also sold some fun stuff for the Foodies in your life |
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| Mustards and Marinades for sale |
I repeat the quote I
used at the beginning of this blog, spoken by former President Franklin D.
Roosevelt:
“Art is not a treasure in the past or an
importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and
creating peoples.”
Something
else that Roosevelt believed was that:
“America’s artists, by
inventing a national iconography, had a role to play in the way their country
negotiated the Depression.”
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| This placard is displayed near the murals. |
It appears that FDR had
a broader mindset then me when it came to the arts. Thank goodness. I believe that we have a richer culture
because of it, and a two hour drive is worth it.
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