Ella Sharp Museum

Ella Sharp Museum
Jackson Exhibit
Overall Ella Sharp is an art and history museum. The exhibit I went to was the one on Jackson history. It is one of three permanent exhibits in the museum. The Jackson Exhibit was about the history of Jackson Michigan area from “pre-history to now (circa. 1980’s). It took me a good bit of searching to find the exhibit label. Partially because I thought the label should be near the main entrance to the exhibit and larger than a 9x11 piece of paper. But once I did find it mentioned how there are many empty buildings because of progress and Jackson and this exhibit are always progressing, (as mentioned above this exhibit has not changed in as long as I can remember.)
The exhibit starts as a wide corridor opening
Because lots of the stuff needs more clarification that it actually has. Many people myself included would be lost with how little information they have about the stuff in their collection. Also they seem to be lacking stuff from the early history so it seems scarce in the corridor but in the main room it is all jumbled all together in a mishmash of innovation and progress related stuff. I would recommend this to people who are interested in a brief synopsis of Jackson’s
To start with I already mentioned the car and the ease to touch and to get in yes they probably have cameras on it but it is still possible to get in. Also the short rope guard rail can easily be reached under by little kids or even adults especially how close the artifacts are to the edge of the platform. Some of the objects easily accessible are dangerous like sharp rusted metal which is not good in a normal circumstance would be good to have near children but right in arm’s length right under the rope is a bad idea. I would say they don’t have the budget to put in a case because some objects are in glass cases but it easily can be hung on the wall more out of the way. They have clothing that I saw little kids playing with one of the coats which looked to be a 1920’s mink coat. That should be more protected than just sitting in the museum where anyone could touch it. My next problem there is one problem all the display cases are full except one on the physically challenged women the case is bare and looks almost thrown together last minute but my other problem with the display they have a Michigan flag in it but it was just shoved in the display like it was balled up and thrown in and left where and how it landed. The other side of this display also had a problem yes it is still a simple fix but it is still a proble for a display in a dim room that the light bulbs had burned out