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This is your museum. And it was theirs too. We’re celebrating the museum’s birthday with some famous quotes from extraordinary people: Kurt Vonnegut, Booth Tarkington, and Mildred Compton all admired and experienced this extraordinary place. They believed in the museum’s impact on the city, the neighborhoods, and the families that fill them.
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Kurt Vonnegut wasn’t shy in taking pride in the city. He once stated to a North Central High School audience, “All my jokes are Indianapolis. All my attitudes are Indianapolis. My adenoids are Indianapolis. If I ever severed myself from Indianapolis, I would be out of business. What people like about me is Indianapolis.”
The Kurt Vonnegut we know and love was actually a junior. His father, Kurt Sr., was an architect and board member to The Children’s Museum, and naturally, Kurt Jr. frequented the grounds too. Kurt Sr. also designed the museum’s first logo, Sidney the Seahorse.
As a child, Kurt Jr. was a camper in the museum’s Prairie Treks--a camp for boys that taught natural studies and artifact excavation. The treks would end around the same time Kurt Jr. would go off to fight in WWII, and twenty-some years later, Slaughterhouse Five would captivate audiences.
Vonnegut passed away in 2007, but his pride for this city, this museum, and its people remain. It’s reciprocated, and therefore, never forgotten.
If you’re interested in leaving an impact like Kurt and his father did, learn more about our Extraordinary Transformations Campaign here.
