The National RR Museum at Green Bay had an opening night reception for their new Pullman Porter exhibit tonight. They had an ad for it in Trains the last few months. The exhibit is pretty well done. They’ve restored Pullman Sleeper Lake Mitchell. Avalon Railcar in Milw did some of the work. Museum staff did some as well. They chose to keep the original fabrics on the interior. The exhibit is truly about the porters that worked the Pullman cars and how they advanced their wages, working conditions, and treatment over the years as they organized… which ultimately had an impact on the civil rights movement in the 40’s-60’s. They have the usual storyboards and artifacts outside of the car, but what’s cool is that they have 5 flat panel monitors w/ digital 3-D avatars that guide you through different parts of the car (i.e in different compartments.) Each on tells a different part of the story. During the introduction of the exhibit, the museum director explained that he avatar was based on an actual porter named Emanuel Hearst. Some of his family live in the Green Bay are and offered artifacts on loan as well as helped in the development of the avatars and the script for it.
It seems really well done. I think it will appeal to the railfan and non-railfan as it uses the car a bit as the backdrop, not necessarily the sole focus. They have a little sample of the pre-production avatar on the website for the exhibit. http://www.pullmanporters.org/ The version on the exhibit is more lifelike and 3D.
Its worth stopping by if you have the chance.
Stack