Museum on the move: An in-depth look at the Milwaukee Public Museum’s transition to a new location
CBS 58 MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) will open the doors to a new museum, the Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin, in 2027. While there is excitement surrounding a new location, there are feelings of nostalgia surrounding the current space.
“I think the community should be very excited about this next evolution,” said Madeline Anderson, the director of communications with MPM. “Your museum, Milwaukee and Wisconsin, is in very good hands.”
CBS 58 spoke to MPM visitors about the possibilities to inspire a future generation with a new building. While some visitors were excited about something updated, some visitors also shared disappointment about losing the place they’ve visited for nearly six decades.
Milwaukee Public Musuem
“I just really like the location, I’ve gone here probably since I was 3,” said Lydia Sanchez. “I go here a lot, so it’s going to be sad.”
“We just like the memorabilia here, just the aura of it, so hopefully that same feeling that we had here transfers there,” said David Cladis.
As people across the city have all sorts of emotions surrounding the move, CBS 58 took the concerns from the public directly to museum leaders.
Why does the MPM have to move?
Milwaukee Public Museum
The current building on Wells Street in Milwaukee was constructed in the 1960s. Anderson said the space has about $100 million in deferred maintenance. Ceiling leaks, burst pipes, and poor conditions threaten priceless collections.
“Milwaukee County just doesn’t have the funds to be able to fix up this building, maintain it annually and also pay for collections care,” Anderson said. Collections are the specimens and artifacts that come from all around the world and all periods in time dating back to the age of the dinosaurs even before the dinosaurs. They are in jeopardy because this building is falling apart.”
In 2022, Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted 14-4 to give the Milwaukee Public Museum $45 million to help build a brand-new building.
The Milwaukee Public Museum was chartered in 1882. Prior to its home on Wells Street, the museum had other 2 homes, including the building on Wisconsin Avenue which later became the Milwaukee Central Library.
“The museum has moved multiple times. We have always kept that spirit of innovation and immersion,” Anderson said.
How is MPM moving items out of the current building?
MPM has more than four million items in its collections and they are owned by Milwaukee County. These items will be moved to the new museum building or to offsite storage. MPM is currently in the process of carefully packing collections items in preparation to move out of the current space.
“We are taking so much care with each and every item,” MPM Collections Move Project Manager and Registrar Sara Podejko said. “When you are moving objects, it is a time of danger for them. You can have breakage and things. We have from the smallest little plant spores all the way to large pieces of sculpture all the way to large pieces of sculpture. You have to pack those differently, you have to move those differently.”
Before packing could begin, MPM team members inventoried all items. Each object has received a barcode that will accompany the item and, when scanned, will bring up all of the digital data associated with that object.
“This was a monumental undertaking.” Podejko said.
What will happen to the Streets of Old Milwaukee?
Streets of Old Milwaukee
MPM’s beloved "Streets of Old Milwaukee" exhibit, which opened in 1965, will no longer exist in its current form when the museum moves. Considered the “spiritual successor” of the current exhibit, a new walkthrough exhibit called "Milwaukee Revealed" will exist inside the Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin.
“It will be all about revealing unknown stories and unexpected facts about this city,” Anderson said. “It’ll feel very similar as it’ll be a walk through city streetscape of Milwaukee. There will be building facades and houses lining the street, it’ll be set at that magical hour of dusk.”
PreserveMKE, a nonprofit with a platform aiming to "Save the Museum," has created a Facebook group called the "Streets of Old Milwaukee Club" with over 12,000 followers. Members share photos of the current museum and express sadness over the decision to move almost daily.
“It’s just not being handled with the gravitas that we think it should be,” Cori Huston with PreserveMKE said. “The European villages, the dioramas, that essentially is going to be a different museum than we have. I do not believe that is what the public asked for.”
“We have our own team, our curators, our collections staff, designing and writing the story lines for these exhibits. We’ve also hired the best of the best in the world when it comes to exhibit designs and exhibit storylines and also construction,” Anderson said. “I know change is hard, but I think we should certainly embrace and be grateful that we are doing everything we can to preserve and improve this institution for the next generation.”
Milwaukee Revealed renderings
Milwaukee Revealed renderings
MPM created a Facebook video explaining what will look different. You can read more about "Milwaukee Revealed" here.
What will happen to the current exhibits and items on display when the MPM moves?
MPM is known for “Milwaukee-style’" dioramas, originally created by Carl Akeley back in the 1880s, providing a realistic experience for the viewer.
“The tricky part, for a lot of these dioramas, the backgrounds are painted actually onto the walls of the building,” Anderson said. “It would be impossible to remove them because they are built onto these giant curved walls in this building.”
Within the current exhibits, there are collections items and non-collections components. Non-collections items include things like fake plants, mannequins, painted backgrounds, built-in storefronts and many more examples that have been created to put the collections items into context for visitors.
The Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin will feature collections items as well as non-collections components. Many of those components will be custom-made for the new museum. However, MPM will also repurpose some of the exhibit components from the current building in our new exhibits and are still determining which of these items will be on display.
Scott Bush with PreserveMKE believes each part of the current dioramas is a part of the city’s history.
“They are part of the culture in Milwaukee, and that would be a great loss to our community to lose all of this art,” Bush said. “That was invented here. Museums all over the world studied the Milwaukee-style. Why would we be destroying that here? I find it very sad and very unusual.”
Anderson said the dioramas in the new museum will have updated artistic elements, but the main part of the exhibits, the collections items, will be preserved.
“I think the public, rightfully so, doesn’t understand that distinction,” Anderson said. “There will be a mix of backgrounds in the new museum, but they will certainly be created by artists and still feel very artistic.”
MPM and Milwaukee County have developed a process for the disposition of the non-collections items and fixtures not moving with MPM. Anderson says the goal is to find new homes for items not moving to the new museum, which may include everything from fake food and other props currently on exhibit to office furniture. Items inside could go to other county buildings like the Milwaukee County Zoo and the Mitchell Park Domes. At the end of the process, personal property of MPM will be sold via public auction.
How will people react to the new museum?
Assistant Archivist Michael Barrera with the Milwaukee County Historical Society showed CBS 58 documents from MPM they have in their own collection.
As someone involved in the preservation of historic work himself, Barrera said he is cautiously optimistic and excited to see the new museum.
“It’ll be generating its own history,” Barrera said. "There will be generations of Milwaukeeans' kids who aren’t even born today who are going to grow up going to the new museum, hopefully loving it there and developing their own sense of nostalgia.”
“Nostalgia is a powerful feeling. Come, experience what you experienced as a child, and then, get ready and excited to have your inner child explore the new museum,” Anderson said.
MPM and Milwaukee County have created a Frequently Asked Questions page on their website about the move you can find here.
