Happy New Year!!
Well, over the holidays I visited the Titanic exhibition in Atlanta, and boy would I like to tell you what I think!
I had previously been to one of the Titanic Exhibitions (also in Atlanta, but at the Aquarium), and so this time around (after having taken the ethics class and writing my paper on the Titanic) I endeavored to carefully analyze the exhibit and its presentation of the artifacts.
While I will not be discussing the ethics regarding the salvage of the artifacts themselves, I will focus on the display information and the presentation of the story.
First of all, I was quite hesitant to attend due to the high admission price. At 24 USD a head, I didn't want to bankrupt my family if the trip became a family expedition! In the end, my mother and my aunt accompanied me, which provided me not only with great company, but also with differing viewpoints.
As we enter the exhibit we receive our boarding passes. My aunt and I are second class women, my mom is a first class woman. We automatically speculate that she survived, whereas we are unsure of our own fates. True to what I have read, the exhibit begins at the "conception" of the ship— all the way from the blueprints to its being furnished and ready to receive passengers at Southampton.
In this section, there are some artifacts which I consider are not quite as relevant to the exhibition story, as they do not have much to do with the conception of the ship. There are some rivets and the like which display how the ship was fastened, but overall, the artifacts here are just for entertainment value, and in my personal opinion, do not add much to the "story."
I also immediately notice that there is no mention of where these artifacts come from, although beneath each description, there is a catalogue number for the item (the last two digits of the year in which it was found followed by numbers), although this is not brought to the attention of the visitor until the very last section of the exhibit.
Much like I remember from the Aquarium exhibit, the visitor proceeds from this area into the Titanic, where there are explanations of the grandeur of the ship, the luxuries of first, second, and even third class, including the dining menus for each of these classes and some examples of the equipment needed to prepare meals for so many people. The room includes pictures as well as artifacts, and the artifacts displayed here are much more relevant.
In this section of the exhibit, the "Jewels of Titanic" are temporarily being housed. You enter a small room through a sparkly curtain, and immediately feel transported to a different world. The room is a velvety type of blue, and the lighting is dimmed. The 15 jewels are arranged in such a way to tell some sort of story: some are grouped by where they were found (both inside one bag, for example) while others are arranged for their attributes. There are charm necklaces and one "this be your lucky star" necklace among the collection of radiant sapphires, pearls, diamonds, and gold and silver earrings and necklaces, brooches and hairpins. There is also a pocket watch from a second class passenger, which, in all honesty, is terribly displayed as the silver plaque behind it reflects the light in such a way to make the watch only visible by squinting.
Overall, the joyous lively music of the first section of the exhibit followed by the elegant, clean music of the "interior" of the Titanic marks a stark contrast to the feel of the exhibit, providing the visitor with an experience of actually being back in the early 1900s. The more quiet and secluded Jewels room transports the visitor to a completely different atmosphere, one of awe, wonder, and melancholy.
Up to this point, the exhibit has dealt mainly with the first class passengers and accommodations, showing artifacts, pictures, and quoted accounts, while briefly detailing the second class and third class accommodations with some quotations and stories of families who were in each of these classes.
I will continue my thoughts on the rest of the exhibition in my next post, which I promise to post as soon as I am able.
Well, over the holidays I visited the Titanic exhibition in Atlanta, and boy would I like to tell you what I think!
I had previously been to one of the Titanic Exhibitions (also in Atlanta, but at the Aquarium), and so this time around (after having taken the ethics class and writing my paper on the Titanic) I endeavored to carefully analyze the exhibit and its presentation of the artifacts.
While I will not be discussing the ethics regarding the salvage of the artifacts themselves, I will focus on the display information and the presentation of the story.
First of all, I was quite hesitant to attend due to the high admission price. At 24 USD a head, I didn't want to bankrupt my family if the trip became a family expedition! In the end, my mother and my aunt accompanied me, which provided me not only with great company, but also with differing viewpoints.
As we enter the exhibit we receive our boarding passes. My aunt and I are second class women, my mom is a first class woman. We automatically speculate that she survived, whereas we are unsure of our own fates. True to what I have read, the exhibit begins at the "conception" of the ship— all the way from the blueprints to its being furnished and ready to receive passengers at Southampton.
In this section, there are some artifacts which I consider are not quite as relevant to the exhibition story, as they do not have much to do with the conception of the ship. There are some rivets and the like which display how the ship was fastened, but overall, the artifacts here are just for entertainment value, and in my personal opinion, do not add much to the "story."
I also immediately notice that there is no mention of where these artifacts come from, although beneath each description, there is a catalogue number for the item (the last two digits of the year in which it was found followed by numbers), although this is not brought to the attention of the visitor until the very last section of the exhibit.
Much like I remember from the Aquarium exhibit, the visitor proceeds from this area into the Titanic, where there are explanations of the grandeur of the ship, the luxuries of first, second, and even third class, including the dining menus for each of these classes and some examples of the equipment needed to prepare meals for so many people. The room includes pictures as well as artifacts, and the artifacts displayed here are much more relevant.
In this section of the exhibit, the "Jewels of Titanic" are temporarily being housed. You enter a small room through a sparkly curtain, and immediately feel transported to a different world. The room is a velvety type of blue, and the lighting is dimmed. The 15 jewels are arranged in such a way to tell some sort of story: some are grouped by where they were found (both inside one bag, for example) while others are arranged for their attributes. There are charm necklaces and one "this be your lucky star" necklace among the collection of radiant sapphires, pearls, diamonds, and gold and silver earrings and necklaces, brooches and hairpins. There is also a pocket watch from a second class passenger, which, in all honesty, is terribly displayed as the silver plaque behind it reflects the light in such a way to make the watch only visible by squinting.
Overall, the joyous lively music of the first section of the exhibit followed by the elegant, clean music of the "interior" of the Titanic marks a stark contrast to the feel of the exhibit, providing the visitor with an experience of actually being back in the early 1900s. The more quiet and secluded Jewels room transports the visitor to a completely different atmosphere, one of awe, wonder, and melancholy.
Up to this point, the exhibit has dealt mainly with the first class passengers and accommodations, showing artifacts, pictures, and quoted accounts, while briefly detailing the second class and third class accommodations with some quotations and stories of families who were in each of these classes.
I will continue my thoughts on the rest of the exhibition in my next post, which I promise to post as soon as I am able.
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