Times may be a-changing, but one Baltimore group sees continuing value in collecting, preserving and interpreting the area?s industrial and technological past.
“We exist to interpret the industrial history of Baltimore and the larger Maryland community,” said Roland Woodward, executive director of downtown?s Baltimore Museum of Industry, “particularly 19th- and early 20th-century industries ? many of which are no longer here ? that were largely responsible for the region?s dramatic growth.”
The nonprofit was established in 1977 as a mayor?s office initiative to preserve the city?s disappearing industrial heritage.
Included in the offerings are exhibits of Baltimore?s onetime leadership in the canning, paint manufacturing, printing, railroad, shipbuilding, metalworking and garment-making industries, many affording related hands-on experiences in skills such as oyster shucking, sewing, banking and financial literacy, urban planning and automobile fabrication.
“For some of our younger visitors, this is a glimpse of a Baltimore they?ve never seen. When manufacturing industries and heavy industries ringed the harbor,” Woodward said.
The museum is located in the former Platt oyster canning building, and hosts about 150,000 visitors a year ? including 80,000 schoolchildren ? has a staff of 35 and prides itself in school programs customized to complement area curricula.
“They?ve been very helpful,” said Baltimore?s Maree Farring Elementary School Principal Linda Brewster. “Last year, [the museum] came here and taught the classes. It?s a very worthwhile program.”
“The curricula in the state are so tight, it?s hard to find ways to fit the classic field trip in,” Woodward said. “But our staff here has been very creative making sure that every experience can be directly related to a curriculum requirement.”
Baltimore Museum of Industry
1415 Key Highway,
Baltimore, 21230
410-727-4808; thebmi.org
