The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch reopens Thursday afternoon following a $20 million renovation.
Museum director Thomas Schwartz says the renovation created a new way to view the lives of the only Iowa-born president and his wife. ““We create immersive scenes where we actually put you in a particular scene in the lives of Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover.”Schwartz says.
He says the new exhibits are a sensory experience. “Each gallery has its own color palette, its own soundtrack, its own set of props and tactile experiences, and some even have scent pots,” he says. Herbert Hoover Foundation president Mundi McCarty says its main mission is to draw visitors into the whole life of the 31st president, including his decades of global humanitarian work.
“Four years of Herbert Hoover’s 90-year life were as president of the United States, and while presidents are very important people, we have to remember that he was a global humanitarian,” McCarty says.
aim The museum’s opening ceremony will include several special guests, including Hoover’s great-grandchildren and Belgian diplomats.
(By Eliza Billingham, Iowa Public Radio)