The Museum of Everyday Life facts for kids
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| Established | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Location | Glover, Vermont |
| Founder | Clare Dolan |
The Museum of Everyday Life is a unique museum located in Glover, Vermont. It was started in 2011 by Clare Dolan. This museum has a special goal: to show how amazing and important the simple, everyday things in our lives truly are. It wants us to appreciate the small details we often overlook.
The museum is set up in a 70-year-old barn on Clare Dolan's own land. It runs on an "honor system." This means visitors turn the lights on when they arrive and off when they leave. Instead of buying a ticket, people are asked to make a donation if they wish.
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What is the Museum's Philosophy?
The Museum of Everyday Life has a "philosophy department." This part of the museum creates articles and ideas about how people connect with everyday objects. They also think about how museums can best show these items. These writings are given to visitors for free.
The museum's thinkers, including Clare Dolan and guest artists, research ideas for new exhibits. They also help create materials that explain the museum's mission. Artists and thinkers can even apply to stay at the museum for a few weeks to help with research and new projects.
The First Manifesto
The museum has a special document called the "First Manifesto." This paper explains why the museum exists and what its main ideas are. It helps to remind everyone that the museum's purpose is to celebrate the ordinary things in our daily lives.
Performances and Shows
The Museum of Everyday Life also has a performance group. This group creates special shows that explore how humans connect with regular objects. They put on parades, tell stories with pictures (called cantastoria), and perform with tiny puppet theaters (called toy theater).
The group is proud of making many different kinds of shows. They use old traditions but can perform almost anywhere, from small indoor spaces to large outdoor areas. The Museum of Everyday Life often works with the Banners and Cranks festival for these performances. Clare Dolan is also a co-founder of this festival.
Exhibits and Collections
The main part of the Museum of Everyday Life is its exhibits. Some collections are always there, while others change with the seasons. The museum gets a lot of help from people in the community, artists, and fans to create these exhibits.
They often ask for donations of items to display. They also need volunteers to help set up new attractions and take care of the existing ones. While you can arrange a guided tour, most visitors explore the museum by themselves. Remember to turn the lights on when you enter and off when you leave!
As of October 2020, a new exhibit was called 'Frayed Knot: the human art of tying and untying'. This exhibit showed many different ways we use ropes and knots. It included everything from shoelaces to stitches used in surgery. It also looked at interesting ideas, like how friction helps knots stay together. It even explored how we use knot-related words to describe feelings, like having "knots in our stomachs."
About the Founder
Clare Dolan is the person who started The Museum of Everyday Life. Before this, she worked for 12 years with a group called Bread and Puppet Theater. She still helps them with their shows and museum exhibits.
Now, Clare Dolan travels and gives talks about her work with the Museum of Everyday Life. She is also a full-time nurse. In addition, Dolan helped start and organize a traveling festival called Banners and Cranks, which features storytelling performances.
