Taking inspiration from the Maine State Museum in Augusta, Maine, local D.C. blogger Richard Layman argued recently city leaders should seek to combine the failed city museum, downtown branch of the public library, and D.C. archives into one structure. I think the proposal sounds like a good idea. A shared facility could help each save on the cost of maintaining separate buildings, and the functions are mutually reinforcing: a visitor to visit one section will at least see and perhaps be tempted to visit another.

Like many schoolchildren in Maine I visited the Maine State Museum on school field trips in elementary school on several occasions. I don’t know if school groups from the area visited the City Museum before it closed, however compulsory attendance to any new museum could be an opportunity for area students to learn about D.C. history and also function to put a new museum on the map.

Although I remember the Maine State Museum as an effective if modest museum, their website could use an upgrade …