Milwaukee Public Museum

Milwaukee Public Museum
Established 1882
Location 800 West Wells Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 United States
Type Public museum
Collection size 4.5 million[1]
Visitors 500,000-600,000 annually[1]
President Dennis Kois
Owner Milwaukee County
Website www.mpm.edu
Logo of the museum

The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) is a natural and human history museum located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The museum was chartered in 1882 and opened to the public in 1884; it is a not-for-profit organization operated by the Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc.[2] MPM has three floors of exhibits and the first IMAX Theater in Wisconsin. Admission is free to residents of Milwaukee County on the first Thursday of every month and to Milwaukee County jurors at all times.

History

The German-English Academy

MPM was one of several major American museums that were established in the late 19th century. Although it was officially chartered in 1882,[1] its existence can be traced back to 1851, to the founding of the German-English Academy in Milwaukee.[3] The Academy's principal, Peter Engelmann, encouraged student field trips, many of which collected various specimensorganic, geological, and archaeological in naturewhich were kept at the Academy. Later, alumni and others donated various specimens of historical and ethnological interest to the collection.

By 1857, interest in the Academy's collection had grown to such an extent that Engelmann organized a natural history society to manage and expand the collection. Eventually, the collection, which had come to be informally called "The Museum", grew to exceed the Academy's ability to accommodate it. August Stirn, a city alderman and member of the national history society, obtained legislation from the state legislature for the City of Milwaukee to accept the collection and take the measures necessary to establish "a free public museum".[3]

Early years

"A Sense of Wonder" in the first floor lobby, done in the style of the early museum

The newly formed Board of Trustees hired Carl Doerflinger to be the museum's first director and rented space to place exhibits. The Milwaukee Public Museum opened to the public on May 24, 1884. Doerflinger placed emphasis on using MPM's exhibits for study and research as well as for public education, until he resigned in 1888. He also urged the city to purchase land on which a building could be constructed to house both the museum and the Milwaukee Public Library; the new building (at 814 W. Wisconsin Avenue[1]) was completed in 1898.[3]

In 1890, Carl Akeley, a taxidermist and biologist noted as the "father of modern taxidermy" completed the first complete museum habitat diorama in the world, depicting a muskrat colony.

Henry L. Ward, hired as MPM's fourth director in 1902; previously, the museum had focused solely on the natural sciences: this was changed when Ward began the creation of a History Museum.[3] To further this goal, Samuel A. Barrett, the recipient of the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by the University of California, to head an anthropology-history department.

Akeley's muskrat diorama

Barrett later succeeded Ward and led the museum through the Great Depression of the 1930s. Barrett made use of the Works Progress Administration and other New Deal programs to keep the museum running and to create employment beyond the previous basic staff.

Modern history

Construction on MPM's current building was begun in 1960 and completed in 1962. The current site is at 800 W. Wells Street,[1] a block north of the old Museum-Library building, still the home of the Milwaukee Central Library, which continued to house exhibits until 1966.[3]

A controversy over new admittance fees imposed on non-city resident visitors led to the jurisdiction of the museum being transferred away from the City of Milwaukee and to Milwaukee County.

In 2006, charges were filed against former museum chief financial officer Terry Gaouette, following the revelation that the museum was several million dollars in the red, a fact that allegedly had been hidden for years via illegal money transfers.[4] Gaouette pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of falsifying a financial report,[5] and his CPA license was restored in 2010.

In 2010, the Milwaukee Public Museum welcomed new director Jay B. Williams, formerly of PrivateBank. As part of his mission, Williams has focused on fundraising. By instituting changes to improve repeat traffic,[6] Williams hopes to prove the longevity of the Museum and solicit funding similar to past contributions from the Northwestern Mutual foundation and Bradley Foundation.[7][8]

Exhibits

The Milwaukee Public Museum houses both permanent and traveling exhibits.

Permanent exhibits

The new "streetcar" entrance to the Streets of Old Milwaukee

The first major exhibit in the current Museum to be completed was "Streets of Old Milwaukee", which opened in January 1965. It is one of the more popular exhibits in MPM, and it is estimated that several million people have visited it since its completion.[9]

Currently, MPM holds seventeen permanent exhibits:[10]

The buffalo hunt in the North American Indians exhibit
A life-sized Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops in The Third Planet

Special exhibitions

The Milwaukee Public Museum also hosts special travelling exhibitions which are only available for viewing for limited times. One of the most famous, and popular, in recent years was Saint Peter and the Vatican: Legacy of the Popes, a travelling exhibition which made three stops in North America, the last of which was at MPM in early 2006. The exhibition featured 300 works of art from the collections of Vatican museums.[11]

In 2010, the Milwaukee Public Museum hosted Mummies of the World. The exhibit was the largest temporary exhibit and housed over 150 human mummies.[12] Exhibition highlights were a Peruvian child that dates 6,500 years and is one of the best preserved mummies ever found and Baron von Holz from the 17th-century Germany whose mummified legs still reside in his boots.

In 2011, the Museum hosted Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt. The exhibition is organized by National Geographic and Arts and Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities and the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM).[13] Many of the exhibits artifacts were discovered underwater in the Mediterranean Sea. Patrons will view two 16 ft tall colossal statues along with 150 Egyptian artifacts.[14]

The Museum hosted Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from December 2012 to May 2013. The exhibition was organized by National Geographic, Premier Exhibitions, Inc. and Arts and Exhibitions International (AEI) LLC.[15] Real Pirates tells the true story of the Whydah, a real pirate ship that sank off the coast of Cape Cod nearly 300 years ago. Visitors step aboard a replica of the actual ship and see hundreds of artifacts from the only authentic pirate ship ever discovered in U.S. water, such as treasure chests of coins and gold, jewelry, and weaponry.[16]

Research and collections

The Hebior Mammoth on display in the atrium

Totaling 4.5 million artifacts,[1] research and collections at the Milwaukee Public Museum include:

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Behm, Don (May 25, 2015). "Milwaukee Public Museum taking stock of current digs and future needs". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  2. MPM Mission Statement
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Oestreich Lurie, Nancy
  4. Umhoefer, Dave (2006-10-12). "Former museum official charged". Jsonline.com. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  5. "The Irony: Terry Gaouette Could Easily Be Characterized As One Of The Milwaukee Public Museum'S Biggest Benefactors". Charity Governance. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  6. Schultze, Steve. "Milwaukee Public Museum director starts with details". article. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  7. "Sponsorship". Sponsorship letter. Milwaukee Public Museum. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  8. Held, Tom. "Bradley Foundation to Give 300,000...". article. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  9. 1 2 The Streets of Old Milwaukee
  10. MPM Permanent Exhibitions
  11. Saint Peter and the Vatican: Legacy of the Popes
  12. "Area museum is only the second venue to feature traveling collection". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  13. "Special Exhibitions | Milwaukee Public Museum". Mpm.edu. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  14. Ritka, Jesse (2011-07-12). "Cleopatra Exhibit Coming to Milwakee - TODAY'S TMJ4". Todaystmj4.com. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  15. "Special Exhibitions | Milwaukee Public Museum". Mpm.edu. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  16. "Justin gets an inside look at the museum exhibit "Real Pirates"". FOX6Now.com. 2012-12-17. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  17. Ramde, Dinesh (2008-07-09). "Milwaukee museum unveils woolly mammoth skeleton". Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  18. Conover, Emily (July 26, 2014). "Milwaukee Public Museum's vast egg collection gets protection upgrade". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved October 30, 2016.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Milwaukee Public Museum.

Coordinates: 43°02′27″N 87°55′16″W / 43.040744°N 87.921095°W / 43.040744; -87.921095

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