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HERE WAS A TIME—AND NOT SO LONG AGO, EITHER—
WHEN THERE WERE NO MUSEUMS IN THE WORLD. AND
NO DIORAMAS, EITHER.
The first use of the word diorama referred to an enormous dou-
ble-sided painting on linen that could be viewed through a small
hole. Using tricks of light, the painting would appear to change
from day to night, from storm to calm. This, the first diorama,
attempted to show us nothing more ambitious than a regular
day. After the yen for the building-sized magic cabinets died off,
the diorama would become the name bestowed on the realistic
whole achieved by the combination of perfectly taxidermied
specimens and expertly painted backdrops. These, like the Ake-
ley Hall of African Mammals at the American Museum of Natu-
ral History in far-off Manhattan, aimed to make the viewer feel
in every way possible as if they were in the wild viewing, in some
candid pose, a real animal. From there, the diorama evolved into
the purview of elementary school students and science fairs,
dusty old displays on smudged glass.
The Miracle of America Museum in Polson, Montana, is a con-
founding puzzle. If it is a museum, then what is it a museum of?
And if the displays planted across the MoAM's 4.5 acres and
contained in its more than 40 buildings aren't dioramas, then
what are they? Is the sprawling compound, loaded high with
one man's treasures, really a miracle? Yes, indubitably. The
photos by RICK SZCZECHOWSKI text by NICK MITCHELL
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