Carter museum to get $10 million upgrade

Former President Jimmy Carter smiled more broadly than usual Thursday, announcing plans for a $10 million renovation of his presidential museum in Atlanta.

Carter told a crowd gathered at the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, including dozens of schoolchildren on a visit, that he hoped the new, interactive exhibits would encourage visitors to get involved in public service or the type of work the Carter Center is known for —- relieving poverty, working for democracy and eradicating disease.

“I hope that Atlanta will become much more attuned through the presidential library to what’s going on in the world,” Carter said.

Patrick Gallagher & Associates of Maryland is the designer. Gallagaher also is designing the proposed Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, and his work can be seen in the Smithsonian Institution, the D-Day museum in France, and the Wuxi Science Center in China.

The museum will close April 27 and reopen Oct. 1, Carter’s 85th birthday. He has raised about $7 million for the project privately.

Carter jokingly told the children that if they knew anybody with an extra $3 million, send them his way.

Technology has changed decisively since the museum was built in 1986, Gallagher said. The new displays will incorporate new technologies, which will make artifacts and displays more flexible and easier to change. For instance, the museum will include a virtual archive room. Visitors can select a box of documents created during a particular event and read on a computer screen thousands of pages of related documents, if they care to delve that deeply.

Near the exit will be a virtual map of the world, where visitors can see media about everything the Carter Center is doing around the world.

“That says the story doesn’t end here,” Gallagher said. “Their work goes on.”