This Belongs in a Museum

Continuing with yesterday’s presidential theme, today is the 40th anniversary of LBJ’s death. He was only 64 years old, which is insane because he looked about 75 when he was JFK’s VP about 15 years before. He was actually only 9 years older than JFK. Crazy, man. But I guess people looked older back then for many reasons: life was harder, health care wasn’t as good, people were eating less preservatives…I don’t know.

Anyway, let’s get to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin, Texas. It’s located at the University of Texas and houses everything you’d expect to find in a presidential library; 45 million pages of historical documents, 650,000 photos and 643 hours of his recorded telephone conversations (the one where he orders better-fitting pants because “the crotch, down where your nuts hang - is always a little too tight” is obviously the greatest thing a U.S. President has ever done). Between 2011-2012, a multi-million dollar redesign took place and many of the exhibits were updated. Since it re-opened to the public last month, one of the highlights is the joke-cracking LBJ robot.

Apparently the robot has been part of the museum since 1997, when it was donated by the Dallas department store Neiman Marcus, which no longer wanted it. The robot used to lean against a fence dressed like a cowboy (here’s a video of the pro-war comedian) with the sound of sitcom canned laughter, except that shit’s real, yo. His jokes were all recorded at official state dinners. Well, the museum felt the ranch setting never quite fit (just like LBJ’s pants) with the five cleaned-up versions of jokes he tells. So robotic LBJ was stripped of his western wear and now wears a suit, while standing at a podium in front of political cartoons. It’s all so funny! Hahaha! But don’t worry LBJ still tells the same five jokes. Phew.

(Image Source)

At Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, you will find the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. For nearly 40 years, Curator David Pilgrim has collected what he calls “racist garbage”. It is his belief that “forms of intolerance can be used to teach tolerance”. The museum displays a wide variety of artifacts, including cartoons, figurines and advertising, that depict the history of racist portrayals of African Americans in everyday American popular culture. The traveling exhibit “Hateful Things” samples the museum’s 4,000 pieces and has made its way around the state of Michigan as well as at other various colleges and universities.