Art museums, history museums, National Park museums and anything in between, have become my favorite pastime. Years ago, I thought museums of any kind were just boring and an excuse to just waste a day looking at once was. However, as a twenty year old, I believe museums are the greatest places on Earth. The ability to be able to see parts of history or generations of art, on display, is something that many take for granted.
My love for museums began when I came to WPI. As a WPI student, you can visit the Worcester Art Museum free of charge at any day or time they are open. At first, I didn't think too much of it and visited during my fall break freshmen year with a friend. Walking into the museum, it was absolutely astounding the beauty of a place only a few blocks away from my campus. I wandered the halls of artwork and realized how amazing museums truly can be.
At that point, I was hooked. Whenever I have a chance to go to a museum, I do. I visit the Worcester Art Museum easily a couple of times a term. Whenever I see my boyfriend, we normally go to at least one museum each visit. I, not only, have learned so much about the whatever subject the museum is about, I got to see the effects first hand. For example, I went to the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, a museum of medical history, where I got to see pieces of Albert Einstein's brain but also see how a skull looks when a bullet has gone through it. These are things you don't see on a daily basis.
National Park museums can be even cooler because most of the time, there is a museum and an actual historically accurate building you can walk through. Luckily for me in New York there is the Schuyler Mansion National Park where you can walk the halls that Angelica and Eliza Schuyler (for Hamilton fans) walked through while also seeing pieces of history in a building across the lot. Also in New York is the FDR Home in Hyde Park. At this location, they had a massive collection of FDR items from canes to Presidential election pins in a museum while also allowing visitors to walk through his home, finally seeing his and his wife Eleanor's resting place. All of these locations not only allow you to see pieces of history but allows you to become involved in the history as well, walking the halls of people who shaped our country.
Overall, museums are a place that allows me to take a step back from the present time and either enjoy the colors of art or the previous times of people in history.
