Last year, the Oriental Institute, having tried getting by with the abbreviation "OI," finally changed its name to the inclusive if wordy "Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa."
This Sunday, the Museum of Science & Industry, or MSI for short, officially changes its name to the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.
One door opens, another closes.
"We are thrilled to announce our official new identity," wrote Brianna Wellen, communications specialist at the — for a few hours yet — Museum of Science and Industry.
They can't be too thrilled. The new name was bought for $125 million by Florida financier Kenneth C. Griffin back in 2019. I wish the five-year delay represented reluctance by the MSI brass to recast themselves in tribute to a right-wing greedhead who fled Illinois for the more welcoming political environment of Florida. But given the place's responsiveness on non-naming matters, like bomb scares, it's probably just characteristic foot-dragging. A newlywed announcing she's taking her spouse's name in five years would be suspected of lack of enthusiasm.
To me, "Griffin" echoes with the shriek of fear heard from Chicago expats who sit at keyboards in the Sunshine State and exult over each new strong-arm robbery in Uptown.
Though I'm not broken up by the name change. First, because the future KCGMSI has bigger problems. If you've ever visited a proper science museum, such as the Science Museum in London or the Exploratorium in San Francisco or the Ontario Science Center (all of which muddle forward without plutocrat branding), you realize just how far from the mark we fall here.
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I always considered MSI a museum of what museums looked like in the 1950s.
ReplyDeleteI wish things and places weren't named by committee. Why didn't Chicago rename Lake Shore Drive "DuSable Drive?" It's short, rolls off the tongue (alliteration!), and
respects an important historical figure. "Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive" doesn't work for me.
Because the city wanted to have its cake and eat it too — mollify those demanding symbolic breadcrumbs, while not roiling the change-averse too much.
DeleteLast visit to the MSI (sorry!) was in 2011...wasn't my father's MSI anymore...or even mine. Too many bells and whistles. Cost a bundle to see the train and the sub, which are FINALLY out of the harsh Chicago weather...they were literally rusting away. Have no plans to ever go back.
ReplyDeleteMaybe my one visit to the Exploratorium in '96 was affected by the fact that I had just gotten off the plane that afternoon. I was absolutely fried, after a 14-hour shlep from Cleveland. Big delays in Detroit and in Dallas.
My wife was able to get us into a lavish private party at the museum, in the evening, because she was in San Francisco on business. After drinks and dinner, we had the run of the place. And I have NO memories of either the party or the museum.
All I wanted to do was to go back to our hotel room and sleep. Mainly so I could ride on all the Muni streetcar and trolley bus lines the next day. Which I did. And also on the following day.. And on the day after that.
I won't refute your disappointment with MSI's exhibits, but take umbrage with your reaching to other cities to name a "proper" science museum. Chicago is home to six (SIX!!) science museums, which are part of an extraordinary science sector here that local media basically ignores entirely. I love the small Int'l Museum of Surgical Science but it's with MSI as being more of a science "center" than a museum as they are not involved in research. However, the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, and Notebaert Nature Museum ALL have PhD researchers on staff doing real science research, and have collections eagerly used by researchers from around the world. Yes, they are all named after rich benefactors too, because nonprofits are forced to rely on philanthropy given how our economy is run. But a little respect for Chicago's science research museums would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteYes yes and yes as always--but let's not look so askance at the legacy exhibits Neil! The Colleen Moore Fairy Castle should really take up the entire central rotunda.
ReplyDeleteI still have the 1949 guidebook to the dollhouse. Bought it as a kid, in 1958, for fifty cents. It's amazing what's inside. Some of the miniatures came from the Vatican. There are electric lights...and running water.
DeleteHow many other legacy exhibits have survived all the changes? The heart is gone, and Main Street is now a private lounge for members only. Everyone else can just suffer until their feet finally give out. Are the fetuses still on the wall? And are the chicks still pecking each other to death?
Thanks (or not) Grizz. Forgot about those. Seems the fetuses on the wall could start a war these days.
DeleteI worked at the Museum a couple summers during the 50s. I believe entrance was free in those days, which was reflected in the paltry wages we received. Got to see the Queen look up at the Spitfire hanging from the ceiling. And I enjoyed the exhibits, which seemed cutting edge to me: there was a primitive electronic game of battleship; and a demonstration of microwaves popping corn right off the ears with the kids scrambling for the kernels and eating them right off the floor; and of course the hearing exhibit where whispers were amplified and mysteriously transmitted down the hallway. The legacy exhibits are still a big draw, I believe.
ReplyDeleteToo bad Rosenwald doesn't get much credit for a lot of the good things he did. While Griffin, in my opinion, is just making a fool of himself, begging for attention.
john
Comisky Park, Sears Tower, Field Museum. Case closed.
ReplyDeleteThis story is a bit overblown. Griffin LEAVES Chicago for business reasons but leaves his name behind. He does not change the identity of museum as "science and industry" that part will never go away... unlike Willis trying to erase the Sears identity of the it's original builder. I kinda doubt locals are going to start calling it just the Griffin museum. Tourists are clueless regardless. And really, what's a nonprofit to do on receiving its largest single gift ever?? I don't think it's reported who offered the name change .... did Griffin demand it as a condition of making the gift? Or did the museum simply have no other way to say thank you to someone they knew was no longer a local? They really didn't have many or any other options. You can't just do nothing. This is really a nonstory IMHO
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