Issue Date: May 29, 2005

Exhibitions

6 new museums you must see

From art to atomic artifacts, fascinating collections beckon.

By Kimberly Lisagor

With more than 15,500 U.S. museums celebrating everything from barbed wire to UFOs, there's no question that Americans love to pay tribute. As the world of museums continues to expand, the range of topics grows with it. Here are six new opportunities to appreciate our history, diversity and culture:

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Springfield, Ill.; alplm.org
"A pile of papers can come to life if the stories they tell are presented in a lifelike way," says Richard Norton Smith, executive director of this 200,000-square-foot facility. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the "Ghosts of the Library" show, where an actor posing as an apparition of a library curator uses special effects to tell the story of the library and its presidential relics. Museum visitors walk through a re-created history of Lincoln's life, from the one-room log cabin he grew up in to the box in Ford's Theater where he was assassinated in 1865. Exhibits like the Whispering Gallery, where recorded voices accompany historic political cartoons and newspaper articles, create a multi-sensory experience. "It's not enough to put you inside Lincoln's house," Smith says. "We're trying to put you inside Lincoln's head."

Museum of Russian Art
Minneapolis; tmora.org
Before you assume Russian art from the Soviet era means giant Stalin portraits and tributes to industrial workers, visit this new museum's exhibition "In the Russian Tradition: A Historic Collection of 20th Century Russian Paintings." The 50 paintings, from Moscow's State Tretyakov Gallery and the museum's own collection, demonstrate the period's artistic breadth and shut down politically driven misconceptions. "The relationship between the United States and Russia from World War I until 15 years ago at best would have been considered confrontational," says museum president Brad Shinkle IV. "There was limited opportunity and less incentive to seek out and promote exhibitions of the alternative culture." This museum is the first of its kind in North America.

Arab American National Museum
Dearborn, Mich.; theAANM.org
You'll find the country's first cultural institution dedicated to the Arab-American experience in this suburb of Detroit, center of the nation's largest concentration of people of Arab descent. Devoted to their history and achievements, the museum has two permanent galleries, two rotating galleries and a library/resource center. Highlights include a two-story interactive map of the 22 Arab nations, the "Contributions of the Arab World" gallery, and artifacts ranging from the sneakers of basketball star Rony Seikaly to the protective clothing worn by Antarctic geologist George Doumani, whose work helped prove the theory of continental drift.

Museum of the American Cocktail
New Orleans; museumoftheamericancocktail.org
In addition to showcasing cocktail memorabilia, like vintage drink shakers and Prohibition-era music and literature, this offbeat museum offers seminars (both in New Orleans and around the country) for aspiring aficionados of adult beverages. Upcoming topics include "Secrets of the Saloon" and "Tomorrow's Classics: Creating Your Own Cocktails." The sessions are hosted by "mixologists" from influential bars around the world, including museum founder Dale DeGroff, whose celebrated libation creations include the Pomtini and the Millennium Cocktail.

Atomic Testing Museum
Las Vegas; atomictestingmuseum.org
When testing stopped at the Nevada Test Site nuclear weapons testing facility in 1992, it became an instant relic of the Cold War era. Scientists have since worked to preserve and study its resources. The new Atomic Testing Museum, located just off the Strip, gives visitors a multimedia introduction to the emerging field of Cold War archaeology, including interviews with former test site workers. The Ground Zero Theater provides visitors with an eerie simulation of what it's like to watch a nuclear test explosion.

Sports Legends at Camden Yards
Baltimore; www.sportslegendsatcamdenyards.com
The basement and first floor of 149-year-old Camden Station houses this 22,000-square-foot tribute to baseball's Babe Ruth and other Maryland sports heroes. A major expansion of the Babe Ruth Museum (at the house where the legend was born), the new facility is two blocks away at Camden Yards. It contains more than 10,000 artifacts from the state's professional and college teams, including a kimono Ruth wore on a trip to Japan, and a charred baseball salvaged from the original Oriole Park, which burned down in 1944.