From Dioramas to Digital Dreams: When a Museum Becomes a Theme Park

For nearly a century, the Milwaukee Public Museum was known around the world for its “Milwaukee Style” dioramas — intricate, hand-crafted habitats that married science and art in perfect balance. Built from the 1930s through the 1990s, these exhibits weren’t just displays; they were immersive, truthful reconstructions of real ecosystems, shaped by field data, taxidermy artistry, and painterly depth. Each one served as both a teaching tool and a love letter to the natural world.

Beaver Pond diorama - currently not scheduled to be included in the new museum

The museum’s team of biologists, artists, and preparators — names like C.R. Porteus, Sam Barrett, Owen Gromme, George Peter and others — worked from detailed sketches, soil samples, and geographic notes collected in the field. The result was a uniquely Milwaukee aesthetic: warm, immersive, and scientifically precise. Visitors could stand in front of the Prairie River diorama or the Beaver Pond and feel the hush of the real outdoors — a kind of reverence that transcended time and technology.

The halls in the new building will call into play all of the visitors’ senses, by creating, as nearly as possible, complete environments. The sounds of wind, rain, native voices and bird calls, together with color, motion and odors, will whisk the Museum traveler on a magic carpet to far-off lands. Milwaukee Public Museum Annual Report 1960

Today, that legacy stands on the edge of extinction.

Under the new “Wisconsin Museum of Nature & Culture” banner, MPM, Inc. has embraced the vocabulary of “re-imagination.” Their promotional language promises “immersive zones,” “cutting-edge interactives,” and “digital storytelling.” But beneath the buzzwords lies a profound philosophical shift. Where the museum once focused on authenticity and stewardship, it now chases spectacle — transforming from a place of scholarship into a venue of simulation.

In many ways, this approach mirrors Disney’s famed “Imagineering”: blending narrative, architecture, and emotion to create themed experiences. But the comparison is troubling. Theme parks are designed to entertain; museums exist to preserve and educate. When museums begin borrowing from entertainment playbooks, truth becomes optional, and spectacle replaces substance.

A projection may wow an audience, but it cannot replace the real presence of an artifact or the aura of craftsmanship. When a diorama disappears, so does a tangible link to human skill, history, and ecological understanding. The “Milwaukee Style” dioramas were built to last a century; a digital wall may last only until its warranty expires.

This isn’t to say museums should never innovate. But innovation must serve integrity. Museums can modernize while honoring their heritage — as the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, and others have shown — by contextualizing legacy exhibits rather than erasing them.

The danger is not change itself, but amnesia: forgetting that these dioramas are part of our shared cultural DNA, owned by the public, built with public funds, and beloved for generations. To destroy them in the name of “re-imagination” is to misunderstand what imagination is for.

Milwaukee doesn’t need a theme park; it already has something rarer — a museum that once taught truth through beauty. The challenge now is to re-imagine responsibility, not just the exhibits.

Once crafted to teach — now programmed to entertain.

Let’s preserve the real wonder before it vanishes into pixels.

Reach out to your County Supervisor today to demand answers about the destruction of the Milwaukee Public Museum.Milwaukee County owns the museum’s building, collections, and fixtures — and the County Board of Supervisors has the legal authority and duty to protect those public assets. Under the 2013 Lease and Management Agreement, MPM, Inc. operates on behalf of Milwaukee County and must comply with County oversight and transparency requirements.

Legal Basis (Lease Citation)

From the 2013 Lease and Management Agreement between Milwaukee County and Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc.:

Section 3.1 – Use and Operation of Premises MPM, Inc. shall operate and maintain the Museum on behalf of Milwaukee County and in furtherance of the Museum’s public purposes.

Section 6.2 – Reports and Records MPM, Inc. shall provide to the County, upon request, such reports, information, and documentation as the County may reasonably require regarding the operation, maintenance, and use of the Museum and its collections.

Section 10.3 – County Oversight and Public Accountability The County retains the right to inspect, audit, and review the operations of MPM, Inc. to ensure compliance with the terms of this Agreement and to protect the public’s interest in County-owned property.

Summary

That language gives the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors direct authority to request information, demand compliance, and intervene if MPM, Inc. fails to uphold the County’s ownership interests or public trust obligations.

About Preserve MKE / Save MPM Coalition

Preserve MKE.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan civic group advocating for transparency, heritage protection, and accountability in publicly funded cultural institutions. The coalition seeks to ensure that County-owned assets remain under public stewardship and that decisions about Milwaukee’s history are made in the open, not behind closed doors.

SaveMPM.org is an affiliated research and advocacy initiative providing investigative support, document analysis, and public education services in defense of Milwaukee’s historic collections and cultural legacy.