AMST 205 Homework Six

Greenbelt Museum Visit

Your assignment is to visit and report on the Greenbelt Museum in Greenbelt, Maryland. Greenbelt is one of three "green towns" built by the federal government as model garden communities for low- and middle-income families during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Greenbelt is of interest to architects, city planners, politicians, and social historians.

The museum consists of an original two story 1937 residential unit representing early Greenbelt, as well as two exhibit spaces located diagonally across the street in the Community Center, formerly the Greenbelt Center Elementary School, also constructed in the 1930s.

The house is located at 10-B Crescent Road and the Community Center is located at 15 Crescent Road. The museum is open on Sundays, 1-5 p.m. Admission is free.

Special tours can be arranged on Thursday, November 7, between 9 am and 5 pm and on Friday, November 8, between 1 and 4 pm. Please contact Dr. Jenkins if you plan to go on Thursday or Friday.

Greenbelt can be reached by UMD Shuttle Bus. By car, take University Boulevard East and pass the Beltway Plaza on the left. Take a left on Southway at the traffic light. Turn left on Crescent. The Community Center and Greenbelt Library will be on your right. Parking is available on the street or behind the Greenbelt Library.

Be sure to visit all three parts of the Greenbelt Museum. Think about and analyze what you have seen and write an essay that

1) Briefly describes the museum;
2) Analyzes how the museum is organized and what messages are communicated;
3) Evaluates the effectiveness of the museum; and
4) Interprets -- ie. gives your view of the meaning of the museum as a cultural artifact.

In addition, begin to think about designing an exhibit for Virtual Greenbelt. The exhibit may be theme driven or object driven. Is there any particular object or topic that attracts your attention? Ask yourself questions about the house, its layout and contents. Ann Denkler, the curator, will come to class on November 12 to suggest topics or areas that she would like help with.

For further information, visit the Greenbelt Museum Web Site.

SUGGESTED VIEWING

THE CITY - a 33 minute documentary film showing life in an old New England village, the overcrowded life in New York City, and life in a planned community (Greenbelt, Maryland). The film points out problems of city planning and describes desirable conditions of living in small, planned suburban areas.

The film was made in 1939. Directors, Ralph Steiner and Willard van Dyke; Music, Aaron Copland; Scenario, Henwar Rodakiewicz; Narrator, Morris Carnovsky.

It is playing on DIAL ACCESS in the Nonproint Media Services Division of Hornbake Library and begins every hour on the hour on channel 47, from November 3 - 9, 1996. If you miss it this week, you can ask to see it in the Library on your own. Dial Access Hours: Mon - Thurs 9am - 11 pm, Fri 9am - 7 pm, Sat Noon - 5pm.