Although this monument is pretty firmly rooted in the land of e-pluribus-unum, and even more deeply, in the good old Lone Star State.
I have been meaning to make a trip up IH-35 to Austin with museums as the focus for some time, and finally decided that the last weekend of SxSW might be a good time to do it. I mean, South By hipsters don't frequent museums, do they? So the crowds should be minimal.
And, either because my cruel hipster generalization is true, or for some other reason (the nice weather?) there were no crowds in one of Austin's best museums: The LBJ Presidential Library, shown above in all its majestic hugeness.
At first glance, one might think that's 'way overdone. But, after a 2-3 hour visit, you realize that the guy really was in the middle of a lot of mid-twen-cen history, and maybe all those red archive boxes really are full of important stuff. And maybe it's not such an over-the-top structure after all.
On the right you can see the archives themselves, like the stacks at the British Library (you can see some nice photos of those here; wish I'd taken some like that on my visit!) My son and daughter-in-law, who were on the visit with me, provide some scale. That's a lot of archives!
While those rows and rows of the raw data of history aren't open to the public, the Library's staff has done a great job of putting up public exhibits that can show you pretty much everything you've ever wanted to know about this son of Texas.
The timeline on the main floor is a wonderful overview of LBJ's life, accomplishments, and missteps (although, to be a fair critic, it's pretty heavy on the accomplishments; but it doesn't ignore the missteps).
One of my favorite items was this letter from the Smothers Brothers, apologizing for some of their "satirical jabs" at him before he decided not to run for re-election in 1968. A very well-chosen piece of correspondence from those red boxes, it really brought a whole era—complete with its sometimes overly-strong feelings—back to life for me, as I was a big fan of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour but thought it got a bit strident in its later years. (I think if you click on the photo you'll see a larger version that's just big enough to read.)
It's a reflection of how absorbing the more detailed exhibits were on the other floors that I sort of forgot about my blogging obligations and didn't take any photos there! But if you visit the Library, you really should take them all in.
The place is definitely monumental...
...but it tells the story of a pretty much larger-than-life figure, my favorite Texas president (although I can't help but say that the competition is pretty weak). They've recently spruced up their exhibits and the place is definitely worth a visit. And it's a lot closer than London!
I'll be blogging over at Homeland Tourist about the rest of my Austin museum-ing and sightseeing. When I get that done, you'll be able to read about it here.
No comments:
Post a Comment