If you live in Cleveland, you probably know that we like to brag about our wonderful museums. From the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to Cleveland Museum of Art to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to Cowan Pottery Museum here at Rocky River Public Library, Cleveland has quite a few museums to explore and celebrate.
If you’d rather acknowledge International Museum Day by visiting farther flung museums, or you just don’t want to leave your home, check out virtual tour options offered by so many wonderful museums: the Louvre in Paris, the Met in New York, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, and our own Cowan Pottery Museum. More and more museums are putting virtual exhibits on their websites, for anyone in the world to enjoy.
But maybe you’d rather just read about museums, real or imagined. Fortunately, there’s plenty of options there as well!
Nonfiction
The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser
Documents the unsolved theft of twelve masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, tracing the research of the late art detective Harold Smith while recounting the author’s own forays into the art underworld.
Curators: Behind the Scenes of Natural History Museums by Lance Grande
This beautifully written and richly illustrated book is a clear-eyed but loving account of natural history museums, their curators, and their ever-expanding roles in the twenty-first century.
Surrounded by Art: Panoramic Views of America’s Landmark Museums by Thomas R. Schiff
Beautifully composed panoramic photographs that showcase the iconic interiors and exteriors in the great museums and cultural institutions of the United States from a singular visual perspective.
Fiction
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort – she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In an inspired restaging of Daphne du Maurier’s classic Rebecca, a young curator finds herself haunted by the legacy of her predecessor.
Imaginary Museums: Stories by Nicolette Polek
In this collection of compact fictions, Nicolette Polek transports us to a gently unsettling realm inhabited by disheveled landlords, a fugitive bride, a seamstress who forgets what people look like, and two rival falconers from neighboring towns.
-Linnea
Read it or Weep 