Titanic at MPM

It's been awhile since I last talked about the Milwaukee Public Museum so today we're doing that.

Yesterday I got to see the temporary Titanic exhibit. When they first announced that they were getting a collection of Titanic artifacts I thought 'Oh, that's nice' and managed to not be as excited as some of my friends. I hadn't counted on their ability to put these things into a context and it turned out to be quite the moving experience.

Yes, I said moving. Let it go.

As you enter, you're given a replica boarding pass with information regarding a specific passenger on it. I was traveling 3rd class. This does make a difference.

The first sections deal with the construction of the ship and why certain decisions and declarations about the ship were made. A large model of the vessel is available for examination and there is actual silent (probably newsreel) footage of the construction. I found this to be fascinating. For some reason it never occurred to me that footage like that would still exist.

After this you move into a section that houses reconstructions of a 1st class and 3rd class room. 1st class is opulent, even by today's standards. 3rd class is spartan. Actors in costume filter through the exhibit and my longest interaction with one occurred here as an Irish gentleman asked if I was a 3rd class passenger as well. When I confirmed that, we had a lengthy conversation about the bunks in our room, who inhabited them, how funny watching the drunk fellow getting into the top bunk was, etc. Much of it was information found on the exhibit walls but presented well. It was fun.

Next came the Grand Staircase. I clung to the edges of the room as the lady within appeared to be a 1st class passenger and I didn't want to get caught out sneaking around 'up there' by her.

What? I was playing my character.

A host of personal effects comes after, information on the restaurant menus, a recreation of the gathering space, information on the boiler room, all lit in ways to echo the mood of the space and with the appropriate sound effects, music for the common areas and the sound of the engines in the boiler room.

Then the ice looms near. The lighting darkens. The air grows cooler. The iceberg hits and you're 'in the ocean'. The room is lit by the stars. A wall of ice tries to simulate the cold of the water that night. I could barely press by hand to it for a minute without yanking it back. I couldn't imagine being immersed in that cold.

The next room is 'under water', the salvage site. Items are presented as they were found under water, with pictures of the site to prove it. The lighting ripples to simulate the 'under water' feel. The highlight is a two ton section of the actual hull. I sat and stared at that for awhile.

More personal stories are shown in the next hallway. A light from the ceiling maps out the size of a lifeboat.

In the final area, there are more effects. A large wall contains the passenger list and who survived the sinking. My passenger, the one on my replica ticket, did not. A few brief sections detail ship sinkings in the state and then you're in the giftshop.

I spent an hour and a quarter in there. I look forward to returning.