Sitting on bookshelves and under bedtime blankets around the world, Dr. Seuss's books hold a timeless beat in the hearts of children and parents alike. And now, a new museum celebrates the stories that millions who still recall lines from Hop on Pop, Green Eggs and Ham, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! love: namely, a Dr. Seuss Museum.
Opened on June 3, The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum combines never-before-seen artwork, interactive exhibits, and the history of the real Dr. Seuss—Theodor Geisel—in his boyhood hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts. As the Associated Press reports, the first floor of the museum "features games and climbable statues" of characters like Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat," and displays of Geisel's childhood bedroom and his grandparents' bakery and brewery. Up on the second floor, visitors can see artifacts from Geisel's home and studio in La Jolla, California, including his extensive collection of bow ties.
"This museum is about visitors encountering the creatures that sprang out from Ted Geisel's imagination—Horton, the Cat in the Hat, the Lorax, Sam I Am—that got kids excited about reading, which was really his preoccupation later on in his career," Kay Simpson, president of the Springfield Museums complex, told AP.
While geared toward children, the museum also carries a modicum of controversy, in that it leaves out the history of Geisel's controversial art—in particular his depictions of Japanese people and his World War II-era propaganda. As The Atlantic notes, Geisel took on Hitler and Mussolini in his magazine work, but his portrayals of Japanese and Japanese-Americans was "something many believe he tried to atone for in his later books."
Even so, Richard Minear, an expert on Geisel's wartime work and the author of Dr. Seuss Goes to War told AP that Geisel's later work, including Horton Hears a Who!, attempted to atone for Geisel's treatment of the Japanese.
"Any other city in the country would be salivating to have a museum for a world-renowned author like Dr. Seuss," he said.
The newly minted Seuss museum joins the likes of the Springfield Science Museum and the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts as part of the Springfield Museums, a collection of five museums and the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden in downtown Springfield, which are all included in one admission.
The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission costs $18 for adults, $12 for seniors and college students with IDs, $9.50 for children ages 3-17, and children under 2 can visit for free.