On August 13, Project on Civic Reflection senior research associate Adam Davis led a civic reflection discussion at a planning meeting in Chicago of Museum on Main St. Funded by the U.S. Congress, Museum on Main St. joins the Smithsonian, state humanities councils (in this case, the Illinois Humanities Council), and rural museums across America in partnership. The program brings major exhibitions and excellent educational programs to Americans in rural areas, and allows rural museums to demonstrate the ways in which they have enriched small town life.

The planning meeting was attended by about 20 participants, representing museums throughout Illinois, who will be putting together exhibitions on the theme "Journey Stories". Participants discussed two poems that explore this theme, "Poetry of Departures" by Philip Larkin and "A Journey" by Edward Field. Davis observes that listening to many different perspectives on the two poems provided a fruitful context for the participants' discussion of their own challenges in presenting objects that will elicit diverse reactions from museumgoers. The exhibitions are scheduled to debut in 2009. For Museum on Main St. tour dates and locations in Illinois and other states, click here.