My expectation as I arrived at the newly renovated and redesigned Concord Museum was that I would be learning about minutemen and transcendentalists. I was not wrong. I learned quite a bit about both—most notably through a minimalist, contemplative Thoreau exhibit, and a very effective multimedia presentation about April 19, 1775, and the first shots of the American Revolution. But this was not all. The museum has done an excellent job reinterpreting its existing collection to tell the story of Concord through a diverse cast of characters. The People of Musketaquid exhibit begins in the pre-contact era, and the new galleries on the nineteenth-century town highlight a broad range of people—more than just the transcendental celebrities.
The new galleries are open and airy, easy to navigate, with lots of natural light, and generally accessible. Though some visitors may want to go immediately to the April 19, 1775, gallery, they are...
University of California Press