A Geocaching Museum/Exhibit....Online maybe...

[+Snoogans]

One of the really cool things about the GPS Adventure Maze I visited in Redding, Ca. in 2010, was the little museum display of geocaching items that went along with it. I remember at GW7 they actually had a storefront geocaching museum that I thought was really cool.

 

At what point do we need a geocaching museum to preserve the more interesting aspects of geocaching history?

 

I guess we could start online until the real thing comes along. A pictoral museum is better than nothing. Maybe Groundspeak would be inspired to host a domain and then choose amongst the submitted photos of sig items, coins, and retired TBs along with their stories.... I think it should be a Groundspeak project, because if someone like me were to host a domain, it would be infrequently maintained and face it, for the most part geocaching history is the history of this site.

 

In case you were wondering the idea for this thread sprang from this post on the 20M to quit geocaching thread:

 

I would quietly donate my massive sig item, geocoin & pathtag collections, to Groundspeak for the maze exhibits and any future Groundspeak museum plans.

 

It has actually been on my mind for a lot longer. I actually have Groundspeak in my will to get my sig item collection if I were to die. It wouldn't mean anything to my family. My coins could be sold, but the sig items would probably get trashed and there is 9.5+ years of sig item history in my collection. I have some really cool stuff and many of the sig items are from cachers who have long since left the game.

 

What do you all think?

 

Would an online museum be of any interest?

 

Do you think there will ever be a physical geocaching museum?

 

What would the catagories be other than Sig items, Retired Trackables, Coins, the best of the best caches, a history of Groundspeak with a brief mention of the competing websites, GPS units from the beginning of geocaching until now, the Snoogans wing if the strange, bizarre, weird, and surreal, etc.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Snoogans

[+Snoogans]

I'd donate this to a museum...

 

I started a trackable called Special Delivery and handed it to 9Key in 2004 to start it off right since his wife was pregnant at the time...

 

When I started it off, it looked something like this:

 

After awhile she got clothes:

 

Somewhere along the way she was abducted and got an alien baby:

 

It made it to a cache just over 100 miles from my home and I asked to have it returned. It is one of my favorite trackables having traveled 12,600+ miles in 7 years and returning to me altered, but even more interesting than before.

 

BTW - I'd retire my refrigerator door TB to put it in a geocaching museum.....

Edited June 7, 2012 by Snoogans

[fendmar]

Are you taking donations?

 

[+Snoogans]

Are you taking donations?

 

 

Cool. I still have the 1995 model Magellan GPS 2000 I started caching with. I would certainly donate it.

 

BTW- I'm not starting a geocaching museum. I'm hoping to inspire Groundspeak to consider it, or at least on online pictoral museum, if they haven't already.

[fendmar]

Here's some more donations to the museum!

 

 

 

 

 

[+Lady Loki]

I could see something like that in the Field Museum in Chicago, actually. I think it sounds really interesting, and the pictorial museum in lieu of a physical one is a great idea. I'd love to know more about the history, especially stories from cachers in the field.

[+Dan2099]

It would be neat to see a monument or something about "great moments in geocaching history" like the first light post cache, or the dude who figured out a key holder works great on guardrails.

[+Snoogans]

I could see something like that in the Field Museum in Chicago, actually. I think it sounds really interesting, and the pictorial museum in lieu of a physical one is a great idea. I'd love to know more about the history, especially stories from cachers in the field.

Thanks.

 

Without more interest/submissions of pictures and stories, I'm guessing this idea will go dormant for awhile longer.

[+Shuckymomo]

Here's some more donations to the museum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Um, that last pic? Explanation, please!

[+LewisClan77]

It's the tunnel of light. A 2 mile long retired train tunnel that leads to the now archived ape cache.

[+SwineFlew]

 

Um, that last pic? Explanation, please!

Have to do with this cache.

[+Mudfrog]

Here's some more donations to the museum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Um, that last pic? Explanation, please!

 

The last pic is easy. But on the second, who is that in the dark blue shirt?

[+Mudfrog]

Oh nevermind, that's Jeremy. Didn't recognize him without the infamous hand gesture.

 

[+Snoogans]

Oh nevermind, that's Jeremy. Didn't recognize him without the infamous hand gesture.

 

 

There is a sub-subculture of Jeremeynians based on that famous picture:

 

Those are the folks that get plastic surgery to look just like Jeremy (president and founder of Groundspeak and geocaching.com) and go around signing "lesbian" in American Sign Language for some reason.

 

It's uncanny how close plastic surgery can come to making an exact duplicate.

 

Here are a couple of Jeremynians at a past GW....

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

How good a talker are ya? If you're really good you could get Team360 to donate the OCB... but I think you'd have to be really really good!

[+Snoogans]

How good a talker are ya? If you're really good you could get Team360 to donate the OCB... but I think you'd have to be really really good!

If I was Jeff, I wouldn't sell or donate the magic beans. They are his free ticket to events across the pond and possibly as far away as Australia or New Zealand. He put it up on ebay for 7K a few years ago though. I don't think anyone bid on it.

[Moun10Bike]

We're actually planning to put together such a display for this year's Block Party! We're including most of the objects above (well, we were told we have to leave the tunnel where it is) along with some of the original Jeep Travel Bugs of various colors, the remaining APE container sent to us by Fox Studios back in 2001, et al. I'm going to try to talk a friend of mine into lending us the PotA prop that he took out of the Mission 9 cache when he was FTF.

 

I'd love for this exhibit to eventually have a permanent home. Groundspeak HQ would be a logical place to start.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I think it's a great idea...and it should travel with GeoWoodstock!

 

Groundspeak could ship it to GW each year and then it would return to The Frog Palace.

Edited June 12, 2012 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+Snoogans]

We're actually planning to put together such a display for this year's Block Party! We're including most of the objects above (well, we were told we have to leave the tunnel where it is) along with some of the original Jeep Travel Bugs of various colors, the remaining APE container sent to us by Fox Studios back in 2001, et al. I'm going to try to talk a friend of mine into lending us the PotA prop that he took out of the Mission 9 cache when he was FTF.

 

I'd love for this exhibit to eventually have a permanent home. Groundspeak HQ would be a logical place to start.

 

That's way cool. I hope that happens. I really did enjoy the little collection at the GPS Adventure Maze and I think the history of geocaching is worth preserving.

 

I'll donate a set of my coins and give you the pick of my sig item collection if you ever start a permanent museum at HQ. I've cached most of the US across 9+ years and I'd be proud to contribute any of the sig items you deem worthy of your project.

 

My 1995 model Magellan GPS 2000 is packed away somewhere, but I would dig it up if you wanted it. I found my first 175 caches with it.

[+Snoogans]

I think it's a great idea...and it should travel with GeoWoodstock!

 

I think that there could be several traveling collections and then GW could get a different one every year. It would also serve to keep the museum at HQ fresh and circulated.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I think it's a great idea...and it should travel with GeoWoodstock!

 

I think that there could be several traveling collections and then GW could get a different one every year. It would also serve to keep the museum at HQ fresh and circulated.

That would be cool.

[+Snoogans]

There could be a screen shoing how the website evolved in the permanent museum.

 

Here is what the website looked like when I started in 2003.

 

Link to a short lived thread on this subject from 2006...

[+Snoogans]

I think it's a great idea...and it should travel with GeoWoodstock!

 

I think that there could be several traveling collections and then GW could get a different one every year. It would also serve to keep the museum at HQ fresh and circulated.

That would be cool.

 

Yep any Mega that wanted one could pay the shipping, or Groundspeak could donate it as part of their support package whatever that may be.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Yep any Mega that wanted one could pay the shipping, or Groundspeak could donate it as part of their support package whatever that may be.

We (American Red Cross Disaster Services Technology) use Pelican cases with custom foam inserts to ship laptops, cell phones, satellite up-links and so forth into disaster zones where rough treatment is the rule rather than exception. The foam inserts allow excellent protection for any item regardless of shape, weight or delicacy. I've dropped a case of eight laptops off of a forklift without damaging anything, so these cases will certainly protect any geo-relics we might have in an exhibit.

 

After the initial purchase of a few cases it would just be shipping cost, and I can't see that being a major obstacle.

Edited June 13, 2012 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+Snoogans]

Yep any Mega that wanted one could pay the shipping, or Groundspeak could donate it as part of their support package whatever that may be.

We (American Red Cross Disaster Services Technology) use Pelican cases with custom foam inserts to ship laptops, cell phones, satellite up-links and so forth into disaster zones where rough treatment is the rule rather than exception. The foam inserts allow excellent protection for any item regardless of shape, weight or delicacy. I've dropped a case of eight laptops off of a forklift without damaging anything, so these cases will certainly protect any geo-relics we might have in an exhibit.

 

After the initial purchase of a few cases it would just be shipping cost, and I can't see that being a major obstacle.

Most sig items aren't that fragile from my experience, so a large pelican case could hold a pretty decent collection and handle the shipping well.

 

There are megas going on regularly all over the world now and there would probably be need for 3 or 4 traveling collections at the very least.

 

These collections would most likely inspire more donations. It could grow quite quickly.

 

Each item would need to be recorded and cataloged. It could turn into real work.... But that's what volunteers and interns are for right?

[Troutonthebrain]

Just hollow out our etrex legend! The thing is indestructible (though not that functional as a gps). One can spike it on a rock and no harm will come of it! :laughing:

[+Snoogans]

As soon as I get time (house guest coming today) I plan to post some pictures of my sig item collection. I have a nice collection of cards, wooden nickels, and hand made items from individual cachers all over the USA to share on the thread and hopefully one day donate to a Groundspeak Museum & traveling exhibits if that ever happens.

 

Does anyone else have pictures of the sig items they have collected?