Brunswick already has a museum dedicated to rail travel, but next year the city will be the temporary home to a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibit on the evolution of travel in America.
“Journey Stories” includes artifacts and interactive exhibits detailing travel during times of heavy immigration, migration and slavery, and even how Americans have traveled for vacations, according to Rebecca O’Leary, curator of the Brunswick Railroad Museum.
The 700-square-foot exhibit has five to eight free-standing kiosks and will be housed in the Kaplan building on Potomac Street, she said.
“Journey Stories” is presented through the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service’s Museum on Main Street Program.
Brunswick is one of five sites in Maryland that will host the exhibit as it travels through the state in 2012. It will be in Brunswick from Aug. 28 to Oct. 12.
O’Leary said the museum applied to host the exhibit as a way to unite Brunswick residents who may have been drawn to the city years ago because of the railroad with those who are newer to the area and living in Brunswick Crossing.
“They’re both journey stories,” she said. “Brunswick’s a really great fit for this exhibit.”
Brunswick is looking to prepare some activities to complement “Journey Stories,” O’Leary said.
One possibility is a driving tour of New York Hill around Park Avenue featuring houses built in the early 20th century from mail-order kits sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co., she said.
There will be no charge to visit the Smithsonian exhibit.
In a recent training workshop for host cities, one town of 900 residents reported that more than three times its population visited the exhibit, O’Leary said.
“We’re expecting a pretty large turnout,” she said.
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