A Museum for Gallaudet University
Saturday October 18, 2008
It is hard to believe, but a college as old as Gallaudet University does not have a museum. Not yet, anyway. Today at Gallaudet University's homecoming football game, among the vendors was a table announcing the effort to establish the Gallaudet University Museum. Jane Norman, the future Museum's Director & Curator, told me that about six months ago, she had talked to the University's provost, Steve Weiner, about the idea of a museum for Gallaudet. A go-ahead was given.
 Gallaudet University Museum Flyer Photo © Jamie Berke (Larger size version) |
The goal is to open the Gallaudet University Museum in 2014, in time for the University's 150th anniversary celebration. Initially, the museum's artifacts will be located in various facilities around campus until there is a permanent home for the museum. A fund-raising effort has begun, and a Gallaudet University Museum Donation Fund has been established.
Contact information for the Gallaudet University Museum:
Gallaudet University Museum
Jane Norman, Ph.D., Director & Curator
Gallaudet University, Kendall Hall; Room 204
800 Florida Avenue, N.E.
Washington, DC 20002
Comments
Did she really say it has only been in the works for six months? I’m not sure that’s accurate.
Yes, I read an article about that in one of Gallaudet University’s publications, “On the
Green,” some time last winter or early spring.
I am very grateful to Jane for that because
a university for the deaf is so historic that it should have had a museum a long time ago
– the history is so rich if you would read the compendium history of the deaf in “When the Mind Hears” by Harlan Lane — all the way from Europe to the USA.
I would liken Gallaudet University to a living museum where people can come to the visitors center and take tours around Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, Model Secondary School for the Deaf, and Gallaudet University. People can come and walk through SLCC and see artifacts that shape Deaf education. Gallaudet University is an open museum.
A Gallaudet museum? Only places that are dying out have museums about themselves. I wonder why Jane Norman would commit herself to a museum if she believes in Gallaudet’s future? Apparently, she does not. But what surprises me most is Steve Weiner’s agreeing to the idea. I would think all his time, money and energy would go toward what Gallaudet needs to be for students of today and tomorrow — not on the past.