Our Museum of Tomorrow
The world’s first known museum opened in ancient Mesopotamia around 530 BC. For the next 2,500 years, all museums had one thing in common: They were located in buildings. Museums traditionally were physical things, bricks-and-mortar museums. That changed in the late 1990s, when the first virtual museums opened. “Virtual” means something that does not exist physically, in the real world. Virtual objects are not real. They are experiences created by computer software and hardware to simulate actual objects and experiences. You’re visiting one of the newest of this new genre of museums. The Dunkirk-to-Dunkerque Heritage Center is a virtual museum, a “wired” museum, an online museum. Instead of physical objects in “collections of collections,” digital museums have high-resolution images, videos, text and other information displayed on your computer monitor or mobile device.
Our Virtual World
These museums are part of a whole world of other virtual experiences. We have virtual mail. Yup, that’s email. There are virtual stores, virtual libraries, virtual music collections, virtual wallets and purses, virtual banks. Many of us even have virtual editions of ourselves. Think of your virtual identity on Facebook, Snapchat, or LinkedIn. Oh, my! This virtual world has so many advantages. With its virtual museum, for instance, the Dunkirk-to-Dunkerque Heritage Center hosts visitors from around the world. There are no lines. Our patrons can arrive any time of the day or night. They can peruse, study, explore, and marvel at their convenience. No tall people blocking your view of the videos. And no worries about finding time to visit, getting wet in the rain or cold in the snow. Forget about traffic jams and no-parking signs.
Not Really Real
But online museums cannot match — yet, anyway — the total experience of a physical museum. Patrons can interact with physical displays in more ways: It’s not just the memorable hands-on tactile experience, but the full body immersion. Call it “spatial immersion.” Really being there helps people become emotionally and intellectually invested in a narrative. For most people, visiting a physical museum is a special occasion. Indeed, it may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for out-of-town museums. The impact is much greater. And walking through those physical doors expands our awareness. For the Dunkirk-to-Dunkerque Heritage Center, that could mean opening your eyes wider to the past, and applying the past to the future as a micro-activist.
Our Other Self: Bricks & Mortar
Here’s a peek at our vision of the Dunkirk-to-Dunkirk Heritage Center’s bricks & mortar other self, combining the attributes of a museum, a visitor center, and a point-of-interest. We see a physical location in Dunkirk, N. Y. Why? Because that’s where the “Second Miracle of Dunkirk” happened. The name “Dunkirk” also is important. It will allow the museum to coat-tail the popularity of Christopher Nolan’s 2017 film, “Dunkirk.” And it will coattail the trend toward “film tourism.” That’s when Hollywood films, TV shows, and even commercials inspire tourists’ travel plans. People experience locations in a movie or TV show and want to visit there.
Q: So where is this “Dunkirk, N. Y.?” How do you get there? Are there enough visitors/patrons for this to make sense?
A: It’s a great venue, in the heart of Chautauqua County, a vibrant summer holiday mecca that has been termed the “premier destination for leisure learning opportunities in the Eastern U.S.” Dunkirk, N.Y. is a city of about 12,000 on the southeastern shore of Lake Erie. It’s a short drive from major population centers such as Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Pittsburgh. These metro areas already account for thousands of summer visitors. Dunkirk is on Exit 59 of Interstate 90, the main east-west road in New York State. The exit offers a complex of hotels, restaurants, and shopping that includes major name-brand outlets such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and K Mart, as well as entertainment.
Q: What’s the physical museum’s mission?
A: The same as the virtual museum.
Q: What happens to the virtual museum?
A: It gets a host of enhancements to make its content mirror the physical museum. The physical museum’s gift shop, for instance, has an online counterpart, enabling long-distance ordering of tee shirts, maps, books, videos and other merchandise sold to visitors in the physical museum. The virtual museum also takes on new roles in publicizing the physical museum with updates on its hours of operation, tour times, special events and other information.
Q: Your social media presences on Twitter and Facebook, and the Dunkirk-to-Dunkerque YouTube channel. They would help in that work, driving traffic to the physical museum?
A: Correct.
Q: What’s that about being different by combining features of a traditional museum and a visitor center/point-of-interest?
A: Visitor centers are at ground-zero. They connect to a historic or cultural site. Visitor centers explain and interpret the local or regional historical facts. The goal is to give visitors an overview of what happened. Museums go further, with a broader and more comprehensive treatment of the topic. Our museum will tell the story of Dunkirk’s relief programs for Dunkerque, Poland, and Anzio, Italy, and the bigger picture. That means “the Miracle of Dunkirk;” the Battle of France in World War II; the civilian devastation in the War’s aftermath; how Dunkirk’s people-to-people relief programs impacted the spread of Communism, fostered the Marshall Plan, and President Eisenhower’s People-to-People program.
Q: OK. But that’s ancient history. What does this mean for people today and tomorrow?
A: Knowing history is good in itself. We can learn from the past. And the Dunkirk-to-Dunkerque Heritage Centers — virtual and physical — have an ultimate mission that’s as current as tomorrow: To use the past to inspire individual people in the smallest of communities to embrace micro-activism.
Q: Micro what??
A: Margaret Mead, famous in the 20th Century, had the best definition of micro-activism: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” That is exactly what happened in Dunkirk, NY. Dunkirk-to-Dunkerque may have been the world’s first and most successful examples of micro activism.
Q: What are a few highlights that you envision for the physical museum?
A: One is universal design, offering an environment that can be accessed, understood and enjoyed by all people regardless of age, size, ability or disability. The Center will be accessible, usable, convenient, and a pleasure to use. Everyone benefits from this approach. Second, The Center will foster a sense of awe and wonder, engaging children and adults in ways that encourage continued learning about The Center’s core topics after visitors have left. This is especially important for embracing micro-activism, and considering alternative, non-government, and ways of making the world a better place. Third, The Center will emphasize hand-on exhibits and experiences, with a rich assortment of exhibits, videos, oral histories, audio clips, dioramas, artifacts, and World War II-era military equipment.
Q: What kind of military gear?
A: Well, exterior displays of iconic WWII weapons would create those “Oh, WOW!” moments for passing traffic: Like an M4 Sherman tank, a White M-3 Half-Track, an LVT-4 Landing Vehicle. How about a British Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire or a Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 like those in Operation Dynamo?
Q: You mentioned a museum gift shop. That’s one of our favorites.
A: You’ve got a lot of company. Museum stores are very popular. They’re a key part of the guest experience. T-shirts, pencils, posters, refrigerator magnets, sweats, kids’ toys and action figures, coffee mugs, tote bags, and other items are useful. They also enable visitors to remember and continue enjoying the visit long afterward. Other items, such as books, maps, and videos, actually enhance and enlarge the educational benefits of the visit. Postcards and gifts purchased for friends and relatives, serve an additional function in helping to publicize the Dunkirk-to-Dunkerque Heritage Center and market it. Our gift shop stock will, of course, connect with The Center’s collections. We also will feature exclusive, hard-to-find items from France, Poland, and Italy. The store will be online, as we mentioned, and also on the road. We will take the shop out of the museum to fairs and markets to publicize The Center.
Q: Who will own the museum?
A: The same non-profit institution as the online museum. The Internal Revenue Service has determined that the Dunkirk-to-Dunkerque Heritage Center is a 502(c)3 non-profit educational institution. As such, donations are tax-deductible. We also are incorporated as a non-profit in Virginia, home of the co-founders, one of whom is a Dunkirk, NY, native.