Take a look at the vision for a "History Center at the Golden Gate" on the website of the Presidio Historical Association, presidioassociation.org.
You remember that a contemporary art museum is planned by a wealthy art collector for the heart of the Presidio's historic Main Post? Lots of questions from the public about that, but the art museum comes with all the money and political clout needed to make it happen. Now, a group of people who have supported history at the Presidio ever since they opened Fort Point to the public over 50 years ago have stepped forward with a museum proposal for the Presidio's Main Post that makes a lot of sense. It sure looks good for the ordinary public who national parks are meant for. The big rub? These Presidio fans have no money. It will take the Presidio Trust, the Park Service, and wealthy donors to make this vision for an American History museum at the Presidio into a reality.
At the least, this proposal for a public history presentation on the 230 year old Presidio seems more fitting that an art museum or Disney Family Museum. But money talks, and money builds museums - even in a National Park.
You can make your feelings know about this idea of a history museum in the location planned for a contemporary art museum by a letter to Museum Scoping, Compliance Officer, Presidio Trust, PO Box 29052, San Francisco, CA 94129 or e-mail PresidioMuseum@presidiotrust.gov.
1 comment:
This is not a new idea. Even before the Army left the Presidio in 1994, a group of historians and museum people met to answer the question, "What institution would be worthy of the well preserved history and the magnificent site of the Presidio at the Golden Gate?" The answer was much like the History Center being proposed: explain our history here as the "bookend" to the Museum of Westward Migration in St. Louis and show how being at America's portal to Asia and the Pacific has made the Golden Gate region the center of America on the Pacific Rim.
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