CRANE MUSEUM PAUSES LOCATION SEARCH

 

The Crane Museum of Papermaking has indefinitely paused its search for a permanent location and shifted its focus to a pop-up museum model.

The nonprofit organization searched for a location for two years but was unable to find one it liked. However, a successful pop-up museum last summer at Arrowhead got its leaders rethinking its operations.

It is currently unclear if it will reignite the search in the future, but at the moment, the museum's Director Jenna Ware is focusing on the summer season, educational programming, community events, and collaborating with other organizations in the area.

When Herman Melville's Arrowhead invited the Crane Museum to have a pop-up, Ware jumped at the opportunity because it had not had a long-standing display in a long time.

The Berkshire County Historical Society, which runs the Arrowhead museum, was very welcoming and allowed them to become available to the public quickly, Ware said.

The Crane Museum closed in the spring 2022 when the company, which makes paper currency including for the United States, upgraded its security operations.

The museum was located at 32 Pioneer St. in an ivy-covered stone structure dating from 1844 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was the rag room for the first Crane paper mills and hosted exhibits on papermaking and the history of Crane & Co. and the Crane family, and had an activity area for learning how to make paper.

But as Crane grew, so did its campus, and getting to the small museum of papermaking meant driving through the industrial operations, Crane Currency's Global Marketing Director Tod Niedeck said during a previous meeting.

The need to keep the materials secure means the adjusted security parameters are no longer allowing for visitors on the property.

This summer the museum hopes to hold multiple pop-ups at more locations throughout Berkshire County.

Depending on the location and host organization, the Crane Museum may be able to curate the pop-up to the history of that organization and space.

Herman Melville had visited the mills at Crane and wrote a story about the visit, and bought his paper at Crane to write his books, but Arrowhead didn't have tactile material to display, only documented evidence, said Ware.

To read the complete article, see:
Crane Museum Pauses Search for Permanent Location Indefinitely (https://www.iberkshires.com/story/74671/Crane-Museum-Pauses-Search-for-Permanent-Location-Indefinitely.html)

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