California is one of the largest and most diverse places in the world, so making it the central theme of any museum is quite a difficult task.
Luckily, the Oakland Museum of California more than lives up to the challenge.
With a location that takes up three stories and nearly four city blocks, it is easy to see why the museum has been one of Oakland’s most popular destinations since 1969.
The museum is divided into four separate galleries with rotating collections that showcase the state’s many attributes.
The current collection includes separate buildings devoted to artistic and historical artifacts that date back over 200 years.
Historical pieces encompass nearly every cultural segment of California’s diverse population, from the Asian Americans who helped build the railroads to the protestors that shaped the Civil Rights movement.
The art wing is also very eclectic with pieces that range from stained glass to prisoner-made paper creations and a life-sized replica of a houseboat.
Unlike most museums, the Oakland Museum of California offers visitors many opportunities to interact with the exhibits.
Unique displays allow patrons of all ages to experience the museum using all five senses, including smell.
With the help of buttons, visitors can send a blast of air that smells similar to the flowers and trees that John Muir wrote about in his journals.
The museum encourages a hybrid of education and old-fashioned fun by sprawling various materials throughout the rooms specifically meant to be played with—such as papers to draw on, keyboards to make music, a sound effects studio and a stop motion photography machine where you can create your own animated film.
Patrons are even encouraged to literally become part of the museum by adding their sketch using an iPad-like device that displays what they drew inside a framed screen alongside traditional paintings.
The incorporation of these personalization techniques to the Oakland Museum of California’s already thorough collection perfectly embodies the state’s one-of-a-kind character.
