Great Lakes Naval Museum Looks to New Quarters

Story by JO1 Douglas Mappin
NAVINFO MW Det 113

Great Lakes, Ill.—Museum curator Therese Gonzalez sits at her desk greeting newcomers to the Great Lakes Naval Museum.  Since 1997 the museum has sat on the south corner of Naval Station Great Lakes.  The unassuming brick building houses the remnants of memorabilia representing the many decades of history of the training camp. Its collection, largely donations of generous citizens, ranges from photos of Sailors training to uniforms from WWI and WWII eras.

For Therese Gonzalez, curator of the collection since September 2001, the work of the museum is somewhat changing its focus, gearing up for changes projected to take place sometime in the near future.  The current museum, housed in building #___, has roughly 2,000 square feet.  It current layout has nearly every inch covered with displays, but if current plans proceed that will all change.

“We are currently in the planning stages of building a new museum,” Therese Gonzalez said.  “Our foundation is putting plans together to begin a $20 million dollar fundraising drive to build a new 35,000 square foot facility (15,000 for the exhibits themselves).”

Our museum’s main focus is the life of the recruit during boot camp,” said Gonzalez.  “We have a large selection of WAVES memorabilia and uniforms.”

A large portion of the museum’s collection is the result of donations.  As the collection has grown the need for more space has become apparent.  Like most museums, the current exhibit is laid out in a fashion that permits a regular rotation of the museum’s collection, but with the building’s limited space Gonzalez feels it is getting more and more difficult to display more of the history of the training center. 

The museum’s location also presents a problem.  With the current security status, the public at large cannot visit the museum.  The largest numbers of those visiting the museum are the family members of the recruits during graduations.

“Currently, we average about 3,000 visitors a year. We figure that attendance will dramatically increase with the new museum and location,” said Gonzalez.  “With roughly 50,000 graduates annually, we could conceivably see 100,000 visitors if we had a more suitable facility.”

Current plans hope to relocate the new museum just north of NSTSC Great Lakes’ main gate.  Placing the museum outside of the base could help boost the attendance of the museum. 

Plans for the new museum are high tech.  The new museum will be interactive with the focus on what our Sailors are learning today.  The new facilities will use have video of recruits explaining what they are learning and how they are trained. 

While looking to the future the museum will also look to the past. 

“One section will show the evolution of the Navy’s uniforms,” Gonzalez said. “We will also focus on the differences in training, ship types, and changes in the barracks and in the sailors themselves.”

The new design has the museum divided into nine sections,” she said.  “It will illustrate training our recruits go through, seamanship, small arms and weapons training.  In addition the museum will have conference space, more storage and office space.”

One advantage (with a new location) will be that we can more readily give access to the general public.  While we already give tours to the boys and girls scouts, Sea Cadets, and other veteran groups, we will be able to do so much more in the new facilities.”

The new location will provide excellent access, allowing the public to see how Sailors train. 

“We will continue to operate on a year round basis,” Gonzalez said.  “In addition we can provide better services to the public as a result of having new facilities.  Of course, the hardest part comes first.  Our foundation must raise 20 million dollars to start the process.”