Since exiting corporate life, I’ve worked at three very different museums, one devoted to Saratoga Springs, another to cars and a third to horse racing. The thing that ties them together is the commonality of the human experience, though in different guises. In each, there’s a faith in something vitally important, a village, a machine or a sport. Each features perseverance and grit, usually in the face of astonishing adversity. For Saratoga, it was war and privation. In the development of automobiles, there was constant failure, injury and death and then starting over. In thoroughbred racing, greed, public adulation and condemnation were a roiling stew. If you look hard enough, each of the museums gets at those stories. The best ones tackle difficult topics head-on; the FDR Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY, is a perfect example. I have two favorite museums for the same reasons.
© 2024 John Oliver
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