What is a Museum?

What is a museum, in particular a history museum? The dictionary definition of a museum is “a place in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.” For many, it is a place of old, dead things, or in the case of art, beautiful and mind-expanding paintings and sculptures – where you walk around and see what used to be. But that isn’t what we envision for the Louisville Metropolitan Public Safety Museum. For us, the museum will be a place to show what used to be, as well as a place for the next generation to become inspired by the thought of going into public service and dream about what they can do to make that service even better.

The history of Louisville public safety is evolution, from the earliest days of volunteer firefighters racing each other to a scene and town marshals, and jails that were little more than hovels. There was of course no EMS as we know it today, just fellow citizens racing an injured person to a hospital, or perhaps home, where they would “call the doctor.” Civil defense only emerged in the 20th century, when dangers from outside the immediate community became real. All emerged for specific reasons, jails became bigger and more organized because the population grew and became more transient, police departments grew and new ones were established, because people began to spread out through the county. EMS developed as a profession as that same increasing population began to have more car wrecks, more accidents, more medical emergencies of all kinds, and the medical field recognized that early response saved lives. Civil defense morphed into emergency management, as the need for greater coordination between emergency services was understood, with the risk shifting from nuclear threats to floods and tornados. Telecommunications developed from police call boxes and fire alarm boxes to 911 and county-wide interoperable communications systems. All of the disciplines became more professional, with more and more training required, with still some room for volunteers as well.

Building a history museum is a journey, a journey that never ends because each day that passes becomes another day of history that must be remembered and preserved.

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”
– Winston S. Churchill

The first days

Welcome!