USS Midway Museum's 20th Anniversary Series: Exhibits Department

Welcome back to Midway's 20th-anniversary blog series, where we highlight a specific Museum department every month, looking back at the department’s early days and the developments it has experienced over the last 20 years.

Today, our seventh article in this series dives into the development of Midway's Operations Department.

While the arrival of the USS Midway (CV-41) was the culmination of more than a decade’s effort, having an empty ship pier side in San Diego in 2004 was an urgent challenge for the museum side of the enterprise. 

The Exhibits Department stood up immediately after the ship’s arrival, and the first challenge was facing the reality of a tiny budget. Fundamental items like signage could not be outsourced, and it took the generosity of the local Hewlett Packard office to gift the museum the use of a printer plotter just two months before opening.

The next challenge was determining a tour route through the ship that could be spruced up enough to be worthy of the visit and could safely accommodate visitors. Ultimately, this comprised touring a largely empty mess deck, hangar deck, flight deck, and bridge.

A saving grace in the beginning was the adoption of a self-guided audio tour. Still a novelty in the museum industry in 2004, audio tours were new territory for the staff, but the selection of Antenna Audio permitted the enhancement of our meager exhibition content by providing a “theater of the mind” approach with a music overlay and sound effects supplementing a professional narration. The audio tour approach was so popular that other museums from across the country soon contacted the department for more information on how it could improve their own guest experience.

The museum’s burgeoning financial success permitted somewhat more robust exhibit budgets in the following years, coinciding with the steady expansion of the tour route to encompass more of the ship. This included improved graphics, the first use of mannequins, simulated foodstuffs, and even artificial aromas to complement the extended audio tour upgrades.

Soon, guests were enjoying a tour route that stretched from the fo’c’sle in the ship’s bow to the laundry at the stern, and from an engine room to primary flight control (PriFly) in the island.  By 2007, the growth potential for exhibits allowed for the hire of a professional exhibits developer. He, along with a new team of volunteers, facilitated enhanced management of an increasing array of displays and exhibit items, as well as now having sufficient personnel on board to convert more spaces for new displays and exhibits.

Development of the first phase of exhibits on the tour route concluded in February 2015 with the opening of the Battle of Midway theater in the forward hangar bay.  The Exhibits Department was then merged with Guest Services to form the present Operations Department.

After further adjustments in the aftermath of the COVID crisis, exhibits now boast a team of more than 30 passionate volunteers, known as purple shirts, who devote their various talents to building and maintaining the extensive range of exhibits displayed across Midway.  Under the supervision of the director of operations, Mark Berlin, and exhibits manager, Bill Coleman, exhibits is now capable of clearing, cleaning, converting, and installing the most sophisticated of exhibits in spaces untouched since Midway’s decommissioning in 1992.

Additionally, state-of-the-art exhibits can now be custom-designed in close collaboration with leading exhibit design agencies from across the nation. In 2024, Midway opened its most complex new exhibit called “Midway's Engineers:Service, Sacrifice and Everyday Life,” which is focused on the aircraft carrier’s engineering department.

The exhibits aboard Midway have come a long way in 20 years but the potential of ever-changing technology, matched with the expanse of the ship, under the expert tutelage of the department’s leadership and volunteers, will mean that a visit to Midway will always be a highlight for anyone’s stay in San Diego.