On Wednesday evening, SAA held a reception at the new Public Vaults exhibit of the National Archives. While one highlight/amusement was definitely the idea of drinking juice and eating cookies in the Rotunda, mere feet from the charters of freedom, the entire museum experience was interesting and interactive. Walking through the exhibit, I felt as though I was discovering new information (which was probably the intent), and I saw lots of archivists touching things and using the interactive displays. One of my favorite parts of the exhibit was an enlarged cartoon depicting the life cycle of a record, which was actually really funny. I really wish that I had taken a picture– serious bonus points to anyone who can find it for me!
The company that designed the interactive display sections (Second Story) has some demos online that might be of interest– National Archives Public Vaults Exhibit (use QuickTime to view). In particular, I found the immigration records display to be very interesting, but I did see a lot of archivists watching early videos of presidents (think George Bush at the age of 5), as well as video of amusing presidential anecdotes, which seemed a bit like a blooper reel.
I think that after the Rotunda, I saw the most archivists hanging out in the gift shop. Nothing like having a bunch of archivists in town to get the cash registers ringing at the National Archives– there were a lot of souvenir t-shirts and coffee mugs leaving the building.