Living-history museum gets makeover

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

The living-history museum in Ohio’s capital that previously showed what life was like in the 1860s is jumping ahead three decades after its first makeover in decades.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Ohio Village visitors this season will find that life depicted there has advanced to the 1890s.

Megan Wood, director of museum and library services for the Ohio History Connection, says the organization recently completed commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, marking a perfect time for a new era at the museum. She says they’re looking to keep the experience fresh for visitors.

“So the war is over, and we started to look at making a transition to keep the experience fresh and also to have fresh conversations with our visitors,” she said.

The change was in the works for more than a year and the 1890s were chosen because of its parallels with modern debates about immigration, labor and civil liberties. The decade also played host to great technological advancement.

The conversion cost the History Connection about $75,000, Wood said. The village opened in 1974 and was converted into a living-history museum in 2002. It was closed except for special events from April 2003 until June 2012 as a result of budget cuts.