Story Archives of 'Museums'

Today is September 11 - 9/11 - a date now connected in our collective memory to devastating attacks on a bright September morning seven years ago. This morning, members of victims families, survivors and student representatives read the names of 2,751 people killed in the World Trade Center attacks at the site where the Twin Towers once stood.

Solemn observances were held across the country, and ceremonies were also held in Shanksville, Penn., where United Flight 93 crashed. And at the Pentagon, where a memorial park with 184 benches and reflecting pools - one for each victim - was dedicated.

Seven years after Ground Zero became an informal monument and desitination for tourists, just how to re-build the site is mired in politics. Competing interests between the 19 public agencies, two private developers, 101 construction contracters and 33 designers, architects and consulting firms involved has made progress difficult.

Yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal calling for a total redesign of a nearby transit hub and for disbanding the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, set up to coordinate reconstruction. Still, plans for a National September 11 Memorial and Museum were revealed on Tuesday. And last week, construction workers erected the first steel column of the 9/11 memorial on the site where the north tower once stood.

According to the latest design, two of the surviving trident arches from the original Twin Towers will be used for the atrium pavilion of the museum, and waterfalls will cascade into two reflecting pools. But while those designs are unveiled to the public, less clear will be how the museum will choose to represent the events of 9/11.

Graham Rayman is a staff writer at The Village Voice. When he was a reporter for Newsday, he covered the September 11th attacks beginning that day and continuing for the next two years. He wrote that there are really two schools of thought when it comes to what the 9/11 museum should include: those who want to commemorate the heroism, sacrifice, and bravery of the rescuers, and those who want to remember the missteps and errors involving emergency response, building evacuation, and faulty construction, and take a lesson from that day. He joins Word of Mouth from New York.

Read Graham Rayman's article about the 9/11 museum in The Village Voice

(USAF photo by Denise Gould)

Tonight on the Front Porch we're going to ask the question: Just how much can we control how we'll be remembered after we die? We'll look at the life of art collector Isabella Stuart Gardner, who tried very hard to control her legacy. She burned many of her letters before she died, and she made sure that the museum she left behind could never be changed or rearranged. We'll also hear the story of a writer who thought his father left him no legacy – until he realized it was right in front of his eyes the whole time.

Isabella Stewart Gardner was well known at the turn of the 20th century as a wealthy, cultured, and flamboyant Boston art collector. She constructed an Italian villa known as The Gardner Museum that contains works by some of the greatest painters in the world. The theft of 300 million dollars worth of art work, including Rembrandts and a Vermeer in 1990 remains the biggest and unsolved art theft in history.

Author Patricia Vigderman made dozens of trips to the Gardner Museum; her goal was to understand exactly what kind of person Isabella Stewart Gardner was. The museum gives few clues. We're going to talk with Patricia Vigderman about her new book, The Memory Palace of Isabella Stewart Gardner.

We'll also hear from writer Joseph Dougherty about his father's legacy. The story comes from The Public Radio Exchange.

Museums around the world put their best pieces on display, but that's only a fraction of what they own. We're going to snoop the stacks and attics of some of our state's most treasured institutions to see what's going on behind the public art scene. And we'll get the skinny on the Currier’s latest acquisition. It’s a still life by William Harnett that was part of a contemporary art exhibit at Boston's MFA -- in 1883. Our guests include Susan Stricker, Director of the Currier Museum of Art; Tom Hardiman, Keeper at the Portsmouth Athenaeum; and Brian Kennedy, Director of Dartmouth's Hood Museum of Art .

A Royal Dessert, 1881, by William Michael Harnett

Jerry Beck says he created The Revolving Museum in Lowell, Mass. to foster a dialogue about art, the urban and natural environment, and social concerns in order to create a sense of community. He tells John Walters about the museum's growth and its grand plans for the future.

We meet Linda Marsella, teacher, entrepreneur, and founder of the Mariposa Museum. The museum is a celebration of multiculturalism that opened last year in Peterborough. It�s become a vibrant community center, with displays, workshops, and performances. Linda talks about the museum and her personal experiences with diversity as a teacher and traveler around the world.