Realizing a Great Idea: Creating the American Writers Museum
Realizing a Great Idea: Creating the American Writers Museum
October 2011
Who is your favorite American writer? Which literary genre do you prefer? What makes a great museum experience? These are the questions GW alumnus Malcolm O’Hagan, Doctor of Science ’66, wants answered. As founder and president of the nonprofit American Writers Museum Foundation, he’s on a mission to establish the first national museum dedicated to the history of American literature and American writers. Joining him in his quest is a group of Columbian College undergraduate English majors who, through internships with the foundation, are cultivating ideas for exhibits and helping to build the museum from the ground up.
“It was very exciting to join a project that is destined to grow into something substantial,” said senior Elisa Valero, who interned for the museum’s foundation over the summer after hearing about the opportunity through Professor of English and Director of the GW Medieval and Early Modern Studies Institute Jeffrey Cohen. “There was a sense of excitement about everything we did, and I felt like I was really contributing to the future of the museum.”
“Malcolm O’Hagan is a lover of books and great authors, possessed of a passion to ensure that future generations have the same access to literature that has been so important to him,” said Cohen. “Our GW students have, through him, the chance to work on something incredible: a museum that will last for generations, demonstrating to its visitors how important literature is to a life well-lived.”
Engineering a New Museum and Internship Program
The man behind the ambitious effort to create the museum is not an author, historian, or museum professional; rather, he is a career engineer and businessman. So what inspired O’Hagan to devote himself to taking literature off the page and into an experiential museum?
“Growing up in Ireland with its storied love of literature and music, I guess I came by my interest in it naturally,” chuckled O’Hagan. “I had visited the Dublin Writer’s Museum and was amazed that America didn’t have a counterpart.”
Though the United States is home to more than 17,500 museums devoted to various subjects from art and history to sports and pop culture, there is not a museum devoted exclusively to the history of American literature and American writers. Following his retirement in 2006, O’Hagan aimed to fill that void.
Over the next few years, he formed a national advisory council—which includes museum curators, authors, editors, and members of academia—and an executive planning team to lay the groundwork for the creation of the American Writers Museum Foundation. Meanwhile, he volunteered as a docent at the Library of Congress and audited a range of literature, poetry, and criticism courses in the Columbian College Department of English, where he struck up a friendship with Cohen, who was then chair of the department.
“When I formed the foundation in 2010, I spoke with Jeffrey about GW English students working as interns,” said O’Hagan. “I was impressed by how bright and engaged the students were when I took classes with them.”
Cohen informed his English students about the internship opportunity last spring, and the response from them was overwhelming. Over the past six months, eight interns have participated in the internship program.
“Every one of the students, without exception, has been really helpful,” said O’Hagan. “They have been involved, taking notes, conducting research, and finding content for the website from the moment they walk through the door.”
Among those students is junior English major Patrick Rochelle, who worked with fellow interns Caroline Bowman and Anna Currier on populating the website over the summer. “We wanted the website to be a place where people could go to find information about their favorite authors and their museums,” said Rochelle. “I also contacted author homes and museums to see if they would be interested in getting involved with the project as it begins to develop further.”
This fall, senior English majors Kelsey Grashoff and Matebo Fatunde are busy organizing a series of four brainstorming sessions—funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities—that will aid in the development of a detailed conceptual plan for the museum. One of the sessions will feature a panel of literary critics, anthology editors, and other people with a broad knowledge of American literature—including the commissioner of libraries in Chicago—to cultivate ideas for exhibits. In another session, the foundation is pulling in creative minds with expertise in museum design, media, movies, and cutting edge technology and multimedia to determine how best to present the material in an exciting way.
“This is the fun part. The ideas are endless for how we can keep the museum alive and interesting,” said O’Hagan. “We also have a ‘Share Your Ideas’ survey on our website. We want the museum to be designed by the future visitors and centered around what excites them.”
With the business plan in place, and growing interest from Chicago as a possible host city for the museum, the American Writers Foundation hopes to have the museum’s conceptual plan completed by the end of the year.
“People read for all sorts of reasons: escapism, fun, entertainment,” said O’Hagan. “The core of the museum has to feature the work of American writers and literature. And it has be a wonderful experience that stimulates a better appreciation of how important writing and writers are to our history and how they have shaped it.”
Photo: Malcolm O’Hagan works with intern and senior English major Kelsey Grashoff.
