Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums: Stories and Memorable Moments from People Who Love Museums

“presents a smorgasbord of museum options and, through words and imagery, suggests the potential opportunity for an enjoyable, interesting sojourn.”

Bob Eckstein’s new book, Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums: Stories and Memorable Moments from People Who Love Museums, highlights 75 museums across the country. The author’s skills as a cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist guide this distinctive and lively approach to the subject. This idiosyncratic book kindles interest in museums among those who may avoid a trip to the museum at all cost.

The first point of curiosity is the author’s criteria for choosing the featured 75 museums out of the whopping 38,000 in North America. That paring down is a tall order indeed. Eckstein’s criteria “was based on historical significance, community importance, level of enjoyment and the beauty of their collection and architecture.” 

The 75 selected museums are grouped into the following categories: Academia & Science, Culture, Encyclopedic, Fine Arts, Historic Homes, The Human Condition, Natural History & The Great Outdoors, Planes, Trains, Automobiles & Ships, and Miscellany. The reader may be unable to resist coming up with a personal scorecard.  This reviewer, an avid museum goer, has only visited 22 of the 75 museums highlighted.

In his Introduction, Eckstein recounts a personal childhood anecdote that underscores the inspiration for this book. If you have children, it is easy to relate to that family trip, a vacation perceived by the children to be filled with fun and frolic, but viewed by the parents as a “teaching vacation.” What family hasn’t endured the push pull between the kids who just want to have fun and the parents’ agenda to impart knowledge? The author does note that today this scenario may be somewhat mitigated by the fact that museums have evolved and now have broader appeal. According to Eckstein, “there is a museum for everything and everyone” and “exhibits today often include interactive and engaging technology.”

Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums: Stories and Memorable Moments from People Who Love Museums has lively, colorful watercolor illustrations. It does not present as pedantic. Each of the 75 museums has an introductory page containing the museum name, location, year established, and a concise description of the layout and collection highlights. The watercolor renderings are overlaid with personal anecdotes, reflections, and quotations from visitors, museum staff, journalists, attendants, artists . . . These vignettes convey a sense of intimacy making the reader feel as though the story is being received directly from the storyteller.

Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums is a fine way to initiate the uninitiated. It presents a smorgasbord of museum options and, through words and imagery, suggests the potential opportunity for an enjoyable, interesting sojourn.