Newseum (1997-), Seven-Level, 250,000-Square-Foot Tribute to News, Reporters, and Journalistic History - Initially in Rosslyn (1997-2008), Now at 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW (2008-) in Washington, DC

[DonRocks]

File this away for future visits to the Newseum:

Online tickets are 15% off (substantial when you consider general admission is $24.95). Even at full price, this museum is worth the admission - I suspect attendance is dropping off, and it may not be around forever.

Also, the tickets include the "next day free" - useful for those (like me!) who quickly develop Museum Fatigue.

I went back for the second consecutive day yesterday, and I'm glad I did (I combined day two with a trip to the National Archives - nothing like strolling down the street to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, an original copy of the Magna Carta, and the Emancipation Proclamation. These documents aren't terribly beautiful, but just being in their presence is positively awe-inspiring).

Make sure to follow their suggested itinerary: Go downstairs to the bottom floor, look around (make sure to see the FBI exhibit down there), then take the extraordinary hydraulic elevators (the largest cars in the world, I believe) up to the 6th floor (where you can go outside onto a large balcony, giving you perhaps the best views in all of Washington, DC), and work your way down a floor at a time. Must-sees include the 9/11 exhibit, the Pulitzer Prize Photos exhibit (one in particular cut deeply into my psyche - a starving child, who collapsed on the way to a food-relief center in South Sudan, with a vulture just sitting there, waiting - do not click on this if it will bother you, and it might). The famous photo of South Vietnamese Police Chief Loan is there - believe it or not, he ran a *PIZZA PARLOR* in Burke, Virginia, called "Les Trois Continents," for fourteen years, until his identity was made known, and was forced to close down. (I couldn't believe it when I first heard this, but I verified it to be true.) There's a strong exhibit about the Kennedy family, in honor of JFK's 100th birthday, but I'm a little "Kennedy'd-out" of late, so I didn't spend too much time there). Also, there's a 100-foot-wide movie screen which I didn't get to see, but you should check on its schedule. And if you've never seen pieces of the Berlin Wall (which started going up the very night I was born!), they have the largest display of it in the Western Hemisphere, alongside an intimidating, three-story, guard tower. I'm probably missing a couple of things, but this list is a pretty good starting itinerary.

I remember so well when this museum was in Rosslyn (it opened there in 1997, and moved to its present location in 2008) - it was small, free, and really amazing even then - the outside portion was something people often stumbled upon by accident - but now it has had some serious money pumped into it, and is a major tourist attraction in DC.

[DonRocks]

"'A Slow-Motion Disaster': Journalism Museum in Talks about Possible Building Sale" by Peggy McGlone and Manuel Roig-Franzia on washingtonpost.com

[DonRocks]

17 minutes ago, Ferris Bueller said:

Not meant as a direct comparison in any way, but remember the DC Sniper(s) scare?  I remember walking into Toys R Us and as I approached the building, people all around me were dodging right and left (zig-zagging) through the parking lots.  Ducking down behind their cars as they filled them with gas.  I refuse to live like that.  

Absolutely I remember the DC-area sniper attacks, and I used to live not far from the Michael's in Seven Corners where an incident took place (there's a gigantic Home Depot in the same shopping center, and Fortune restaurant is there, too). I also feared getting gasoline - I distinctly remember crouching down to minimize the angles of danger, and/or getting back in my car as the gas was flowing - this particular memory was at a gas station on Leesburg Pike in Falls Church.

2050: "Daddy, what's 'gasoline?'"

If you're worried about getting to the Newseum before it closes, which I believe it will, there is a little exhibit highlighting the snipers. I can't remember where it is (though I can visualize it being against a western wall on one of the floors). If you go there, and take a reasonably comprehensive tour, you'll stumble upon it.

[DonRocks]

"Newseum Building To Be Sold to Johns Hopkins for $372.5 Million" by Sopan Deb on nytimes.com

Michael Bloomberg donated $1.8 Billion to Johns Hopkins last November (one of the most extraordinary scholastic donations in world history), and his contribution to purchase the Newseum building (he'll be contributing an unknown, but undoubtedly substantial, amount), will be a separate donation.

[DIShGo]

I will miss the Newseum.The out-of-town guests I have brought there really enjoyed it as well. The collection of Pultizer Prize winning photographs is one of the most powerful musuem exhibits I have seen.

[dracisk]

22 minutes ago, DIShGo said:

The collection of Pultizer Prize winning photographs is one of the most powerful musuem exhibits I have seen.

I'm sad it's closing. I'm not sure how many times I visited -- I think and hope it was more than once! -- but I do know that I agree about the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs. I vividly remember making my way through that gallery. A similar exhibit was the World Press Photo Exhibition at Dupont Underground. They did it in 2017 and 2018 -- not sure if they'll do it again. Several photos appear in both exhibitions (as repeats).