Atlanta Forward readers responded to last week’s columns on the state’s proposal to spend $17 million on a state history museum in the old World of Coca-Cola building downtown. Here are some select comments:
historywriter: The Tennessee state museum gets oodles of downtown visitors, and the Alabama state archives is in the midst of building a whole new wing for galleries on Alabama history. Why? Why is a museum important? Because it unifies communities in a shared history, and provides a place to explore why that history is. The teaching of Georgia's history is in bits and pieces all over the state. Students learn about Oglethorpe, and then what? We rely on religion, politics and football to unify the state's heritage, but we're inviting new businesses and their employees to come here with their own histories and lack of our old history. We expect them to understand their new place in Georgia without providing any cohesive experiences that can be interpreted and shared by both old and new residents. If you want to build a greater state, reach out to new residents about what has made this state great, and bring residents throughout the state together in a more comprehensive understanding of themselves and their neighbors, a state history museum exploring the ideology that is Georgia is the best way.
Shamehia: Here's a radical idea: Instead of casting about for a way to dispose of $17 million in surplus money, return it to taxpayers in the form of a $17 million state income tax reduction.
Mary Elizabeth: Whenever there is a surplus of millions of dollars in state funds, I question why that money is not put into resources for public schools. However, I also believe in the long-ranged educational and intellectual development of Georgia's citizens of every age group. Having one central location for a state history museum, within walking distance of the grounds of the Capitol and Georgia State University, would add to that intellectual development in reality and in image. I can envision live concerts, especially on significant holidays, within the premises of the GSU campus or in the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot nearby. This centralized state museum could be educational and "fun" and would even broaden the average citizen's awareness of the value of understanding history to enrich lives.
Starik: I suspect that the version of history in a state-run museum would resemble the mandatory class in the school system: It would sanitize or ignore little embarrassments like the Two Governors period, Gene Talmadge, Lester & the Pickrick, Leo Frank, lynch mobs, the refounding of the Klan at Stone Mountain, etc. Georgia history has a ugly but entertaining side that would make for a good tourist attraction.
Road Scholar: I support the idea, but not at Underground Atlanta! It's a wasteland! Put it near those facilities at the aquarium. It would be an asset to the state and to Atlanta , especially when schoolchildren have class trips to view Georgia's history … something they do not know much about.
