Client
Boy Scouts of America
Project description
The Boy Scouts of America’s National Scouting Museum spent its early days, from 1959-1979, next to its national headquarters in New Jersey. But when the BSA moved its headquarters to Texas in 1979, they couldn’t find a location nearby to accommodate it. Its large collection, valued at $7 million, was packed up and moved into storage.
Eventually, a special committee voted to reopen the museum in Murray, Kentucky and hired Darwin Kelsey to run it. Kelsey brought in Michael, and they embarked on a years-long project, finally opening the new National Scouting Museum in 1986.
The project was not without its challenges, not least of which included a ballooning budget. The team was determined to integrate the BSA’s dusty collection into a modern, hands-on museum setting. Robots, multimedia installations, and interactive spaces garnered attention when the museum finally opened in 1986.
Date
1985-1986
Location
Murray, KY
Discipline
Exhibits, Facilities and feasibility plans, Technology and media, Graphics and identity
Exhibits include: A Scout Is, All Hands, Boys Will Be Boys, Camping Tool Table, Faculty Auditorium, Faculty Lobby, Founders Gallery, Gateway Park, Murray the Robot, One Scout Day, Opening Invitation (1986), Pinball History Wall, Rockwell Paintings, Scout Around, Theater, Sign In, Stepping Back, The Compass, The Way We Were, Values Theater
Known collaborators: Fred Raab, Madeleine Butler