Museum Muse: NYC Adventures & Inspiration

The final step in earning my Masters in Museum Studies was a two week seminar in New York City. It was an intensive experience indeed, with all the stress of travel plans and preparations- not to mention mastering the subway system! But it also meant two weeks packed with museum visits, some I was familiar with having grown up just an hour north of the city while others I had known of but never got around to visiting on my own. There were also some I had not been aware of at all including, surprisingly, a living history museum right on Stated Island! Naturally, the focus of the program was on how to grow and improve as a museum professional with a particular focus on providing quality and engaging visitor experiences and you can read about some of my reflections on those topics in the “Other Writing” page on my website or follow this link. But I simply can’t visit a museum- let alone so many- without also thinking about the incredible stories that their displays contain. So here I will share some of my more author-minded reflections on the trip.

In fact the inspiration was strong even before setting foot into a single museum. The hotel I found was actually a building dating back to 1841 called Incentra Village House. The building preserved much of its historic character. With just a little imagination (temporarily ignoring the modern conveniences that had been worked into the space) I could imagine myself as a 19th century lady staying in a respectable little boarding house. The atmosphere definitely put me in the mind of my gilded age historical fantasy Changing Times, which although I have now taken a pause on that story it was my main WIP at the time of the stay which worked out well. The memory of walking up narrow staircases, old fashioned traveling chests in the hall, and a charming little fireplace in my own room will most likely weave their way into the story setting. There is so many little details that can be discovered when an author gets the opportunity to immerse themselves into the experiences of their characters. The details and insights don’t even have to be apparent in the immediate moment but just by existing in those spaces or trying that activity the memories get filed away in our writer minds to come back again when the story needs it. The immersive experienced continued during the class’ visit to the South Street Seaport Museum. The neighborhood around the museum really had an old-fashioned New York City feel with its cobbled street and tall, flat fronted brick buildings with rows of chimneys along their tops (even if said chimneys stretched past telephone/power lines and some modern store names on the signs over the doors). I would have to do more research into the exact period but if I had to guess it probably is 1800s-early 1900s architecture style but with my particular interest in 18th century I couldn’t help but wonder if some bits of colonial New York have hung on in this waterfront area. Both Incentra Village and South Street Seaport truly felt like little time capsules tucked away amid the fast paced and ever modernizing New York City. For historical fiction authors writing stories taking place in locations that have continued to be inhabited and developed into the modern era it can be easy to simply assume that they will just have to rely on old artwork and descriptions. Which certainly are important tools for getting settings and descriptions to feel real and true. But if the city that has been characterized by fast paced, modernizing metropolitan culture can still have these traces of what once was it is definitely worth taking the time to really walk the streets and get a feeling for the atmosphere- you’ll never know what little treasures you might find.

Finally perhaps the most surprising find of the seminar was that, despite my passion for living history museums, I had been totally unaware of the existence of Historic Richmond Town. Located in Staten Island the museum has worked hard to preserve many of the buildings and objects that shaped Staten Island’s history. Starting out as dedicated volunteers going door to door asking if people had farm tools or other family heirlooms they were willing to donate it has become a haven for the remnants of the past that might otherwise have been swept away in the tide of progress and city development. They not only relocated historic buildings to their new safe haven but even worked to recreate the structures that would have been home to many of the Indigenous people of the area who built thriving communities long before the arrival of Europeans. Because of its nature as a localized collection of any artifacts- small or large- it creates an interesting mixture of time periods as one walks along Historic Richmond Town’s streets passing homes and school rooms from the colonial era to 19th century businesses. Inside, like all living history museums I love so much, they bring to life the stories of people who walked the same stairs and cooked over the hearths recreating as closely as possible the places they would have known in generations past.