THIS IS AMERICA - Unusual Museums

THIS IS AMERICA - October 7, 2002: Unusual Museums

By Jerilyn Watson

VOICE ONE:

The United States has thousands of museums. Some museums show large collections of art. Some show objects
about science or history. Other museums show collections of unusual things. I'm Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember. We visit some unusual museums on the VOA Special English program THIS IS

AMERICA.
((THEME)
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VOICE ONE:
Some museums in the United States have huge collections of interesting things. The museums of the Smithsonian

Institution in Washington, D.C., are a good example. But the United States also has some very different

museums.
Smaller places throughout the country collect and show one kind of object. For example, some museums exhibit 1
only medical instruments or different kinds of soap. Or, they present information about just one subject. Many
Americans visit these unusual museums every year.

VOICE TWO:

One such place is the Drug Enforcement 2 Administration 3 museum. It is in Arlington, Virginia,
near Washington, D-C. Its subject is a history of illegal drugs in America. People of all ages
visit the museum. But it is especially popular with school groups. The museum's exhibits 4
begin with the nineteenth century Opium 5 Wars. And, they continue to the illegal drug
operations in South America today.

One area of the museum shows a collection of objects used by people who take illegal drugs.
Visitors also can see a gun with diamonds on it. It belonged to a drug criminal.

There are pictures of famous people who used illegal drugs. These include musicians Jimi

A new exhibit

Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Both died after taking too much of the drug heroin 6.
explores the

connections --
Retired 7 Drug Enforcement Administration agents often show visitors around the museum. historic 8 and

modern -- between

They talk about anti-drug operations. They tell exciting stories of arrests they made.
the illegal drug
trade and

VOICE ONE:
terrorism.

A very different but equally interesting place is the Museum of Bad Art. It is in
Dedham, Massachusetts, near Boston. The museum has more than two-hundred
terrible-looking paintings.

Scott Wilson started this museum. He found the first painting for the museum
among unwanted objects on a Boston street. This place may be the only art museum
in America where officials are pleased when visitors say the paintings are ugly.
What exactly is bad art? It is hard to describe. But Mister 9 Wilson said he knows bad
art when he sees it.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

Artist: Unknown

VOICE TWO:

Several interesting American museums tell about health subjects. One is the Doctor
Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry. It is at the University of Maryland
in Baltimore. That is where the first college in the world to train dentists began. The
museum tells about the history of the medical treatment of teeth. Visitors can see
some frightening devices 10 that once were used to remove infected teeth. They also
can see sets of teeth made of animal bone. They were made for a famous American

- the first President, George Washington.
Most people do not consider a visit to the dentist their idea of a good time. However,
the director of the museum says he wanted to make the museum a fun place to visit.
He says he also wants to teach visitors about the importance of taking care of their
teeth.

VOICE ONE:

Another museum collects devices that help people hear. The Kenneth W. Berger Hearing Aid Museum is at Kent
State University in Kent, Ohio. The museum has more than three-thousand hearing aids from around the world.
They include old and strange devices. Some hearing aids were made to look like other objects. That is because in
the past many people did not want anyone to know they were wearing a hearing aid.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE TWO:

Don't worry, she's not real.
Some popular foods in America also have museums. One is the Jell-O Museum in
LeRoy, New York. Jell-O is the name of a popular American food that shakes when
you move it.

You mix the Jell-O powder with hot water to melt the particles 11. You add cold water.
Then you put the container in a cold place until the liquid becomes solid. Jell-O
tastes like different kinds of fruits. It also is the color of fruit -- red, orange, yellow

or green.

Jell-O was invented in eighteen-ninety-seven. The museum tells about the history of the product.

VOICE ONE:

Another unusual museum also tells about a popular food product -- mustard 12. Mustard
is a spicy 13 substance made from mustard seeds. People have added it to their food for
centuries.

The Mount 14 Horeb Mustard Museum is in Wisconsin. It has more than three-thousand
different kinds of mustard. There are mustards 15 from almost every American state and
from several foreign countries. The museum shows how mustard is made. Visitors can
taste three-hundred kinds of mustard.

VOICE TWO:

An unusual museum in Boston, Massachusetts, collects a very common substance. But it is not a substance that
you would want to eat. You would not want to have this substance inside your house, either. It is the Museum of
Dirt.

This museum has more than three-hundred small containers of dirt given by people from around the world. There
is dirt from famous people and famous places.

For example, there is dirt from Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee.
There is red sand from Nome, Alaska, containing gold. There is dirt from Mount Fuji in Japan.
And there is dirt from the Yankee’s baseball stadium in New York City.


The head of the museum says the dirt tells stories about the famous people and places where it was
found.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE ONE:

Speaking of famous people, a museum in Victorville, California, tells about the King of the
Cowboys and his wife -- Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. They were famous in cowboy movies and
on television during the nineteen-forties and nineteen-fifties. They helped keep the spirit of the

Graceland

American West alive.

Memories of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans crowd the museum. There are western hats and clothing. Letters and
records. Photographs. Popular Roy Rogers toys. Even Roy’s horse, Trigger 16, is stuffed 17 and mounted 18 in the
museum. It is one of the most popular things in the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum.

VOICE TWO:

Another museum celebrates the memory of two of the most popular television entertainers, Lucille Ball and Desi
Arnaz. The Lucy-Desi Museum is in Jamestown, New York. That was Lucy's hometown.

Lucy and Desi appeared in one of America’s best-loved television programs, "I Love Lucy." Millions of people
watched the program during the nineteen-ffties. Even today, millions of people watch repeated broadcasts of
these programs. The museum includes clothing and other objects of the famous couple.

VOICE ONE:

One museum has the world's largest collection of things linked to actor James Dean 19. The James Dean Gallery is
in Fairmount, Indiana. That is the town where Dean grew up.

James Dean was a film star in the Nineteen-Fifties. He appeared in only three movies: "East of Eden", "Rebel 20
Without a Cause" and "Giant." Each time he played a young man angry at the world. Many Americans remember
James Dean as a young man rebelling 21 against society.

David Loehr started the James Dean museum twelve years ago to honor 22 the actor. James Dean was killed in a car
crash in nineteen-fifty-five. He was only twenty-four years old.

VOICE TWO:

Another unusual museum is the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center. It is in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. It honors 23 actors who paint their faces and perform in the circus. Clowns also make people laugh at
other public events. Many clowns entertain sick children in hospitals.

The museum shows pictures and objects from the lives of a number of famous clowns. Perhaps the most famous
clown remembered there is Emmett Kelly. He performed for the Ringling Brothers circus. Emmett Kelly was a
clown for more than sixty years. He began in nineteen-seventeen. And he was still making people laugh with his
clown performance until he died at age eighty.

VOICE ONE:

If you visit one of these small and unusual museums you will not find huge crowds. But you will find people who
think these collections represent memories worth sharing.

((THEME))

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Shelley Gollust and Jerilyn Watson. It was produced by Cynthia Kirk. Our audio 24
engineer was Holly 25 Capehart. This is Steve Ember.


VOICE ONE:

And this is Sarah Long. Join us again next week for another report about life in the United States on the VOA
Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.

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