INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — This month, crews began installing artifacts and exhibits at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri.
The museum has been closed since July 2019 while it undergoes a $30 million renovation, or as the director calls it a “re-imagination.”
So far, the museum is still on track to reopen in the fall, despite the coronavirus.
Director Kurt Graham said most of the heavy construction, including building a new main entrance, is done, and crews are now bringing artifacts out of storage and installing them in their new, permanent homes.
Monday, crews moved a French 75mm cannon and caisson from World War I. Truman was the only president to see combat while serving in the Great War.
Graham said the war artifacts will be part of a new, immersive display that includes a video so guests will be able to hear the sounds cannons made while looking at the real thing.
Graham said Truman learned how to be a leader while working as a captain in the Army during the war.
“It was like something clicked in his mind that he understood from that point on people would respond to him,” Graham explained. “He knew how to work with people and he hadn’t necessarily known that prior to that time.”
The cannon and other items are so large there is barely enough space to move them down the hallways. In fact, Graham said construction crews waited to install some doors and frames until after the artifacts moved from storage in the lower level to their new exhibits.
Graham says installing artifacts in their new homes is one of the final steps before reopening the museum.
“We want to get the public in as soon as we possibly can. As soon as it’s safe for them, obviously, from a health perspective and also when [the remodel] is done to the point it’s a finished product and people will see something amazing,” Graham said.
He’s optimistic the museum will reopen in late October to mid-November.
