SCHAUMBURG, IL -- The Museum of the Middle Class, featuring historical
and anthropological exhibits addressing the socioeconomic category
that once existed between the upper and lower classes, opened to the
public Monday.
"The splendid and intriguing middle class may be gone, but it will
never be forgotten," said Harold Greeley, curator of the exhibit
titled "Where The Streets Had Trees' Names." "From their weekend
barbecues at homes with backyards to their outdated belief in social
mobility, the middle class will forever be remembered as an important
part of American history."
Museum guests expressed delight over the traditions and peculiarities
of the middle class, a group once so prevalent that entire TV networks
were programmed to satisfy its hunger for sitcoms.
"It's fascinating to think that these people once drove the same
streets as we do today," said Natasha Ohman, a multi-millionaire whose
husband's grandfather invented the trigger-safety lock on handguns. "I
enjoyed learning how the middle class lived, what their customs were,
and what sorts of diversions and entertainment they enjoyed. Being
part of this middle class must have been fascinating!"
During the modern industrial age, the middle class grew steadily,
reaching its heyday in the 1950s, when its numbers soared into the
tens of millions. According to a study commissioned by the U.S. Census
Bureau, middle-class people inhabited great swaths of North America,
with settlements in the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific
Northwest, and even the nation's urban centers.
"No one predicted the disappearance of the middle class," said
Dr. Bradford Elsby, a history professor at the University of
Pennsylvania. "The danger of eliminating workers' unions, which had
protected the middle class from its natural predators for years, was
severely underestimated. We believe that removal of the social safety
net, combined with rapid political-climate changes, made life very
difficult for the middle class, and eventually eradicated it
altogether."
One of the 15 permanent exhibits, titled "Working For 'The Weekend,'"
examines the routines of middle-class wage-earners, who labored for
roughly eight hours a day, five days a week. In return, they were
afforded leisure time on Saturdays and Sundays. According to many
anthropologists, these "weekends" were often spent taking "day
trips,"eating at chain family restaurants, or watching "baseball" with
the nuclear family.
"Unlike members of the lower class, middle-class people earned enough
money in five days to take two days off to 'hang out,'" said Benson
Watercross, who took a private jet from his home in Aspen to visit the
museum. "Their adequate wages provided a level of comfort and
stability, and allowed them to enjoy diversions or purchase goods,
thereby briefly escaping the mundanity."
Many museum visitors found the worldview of the middle classwith its
reliance on education, stable employment, and ample pensions difficult
to comprehend.
Thirty-five Booker T. Washington Junior High School seventh-graders,
chosen from among 5,600 students who asked to attend the school's
annual field trip, visited the museum Tuesday. Rico Chavez, a
14-year-old from the inner-city Chicago school, said he was skeptical
of one exhibit in particular.
"They expect us to believe this is how people lived 10 years ago?"
Chavez asked. "That 'Safe, Decent Public Schools' part was total
science fiction. No metal detectors, no cops or dogs, and whole
classes devoted to art and music? Look, I may have flunked a couple
grades, but I'm not that stupid."
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