Harry Needham (Tel 776-8612) wrote:
>
> G'Day Carolyn (and others interested in this subject);
>
> The North Carolina History Museum, some years ago, shut down completely, while
> their old building was torn down and a striking new one built in its place.
> They bridged the gap by instituting a VERY aggressive program of outreach,
> especially in educational programs. My impression is that they had the whole
> state waiting for the new museum to open! Contact Martha Tracy at (919)
> 715-0200 (voice) or (919) 733-8655 (fax) for details.
>
> The Canadian Museum of Civilization shut down for (as I recall) more than a
> year while their spiffy new building was being constructed. A major problem was
> that they were accommodated in a variety of premises (14 or so, over a VERY
> wide area). One of the major problems when they all got together was
> re-integrating the people. For information on what they did in the interim,
> contact:
>
> louise.dubois(at)cmcc.muse.digital.ca or sylvie.morel(a)(same address).
>
> We are planning to build a major addition to our public building. At the same
> time, we will gut the galleries that take us from prehistory to the end of the
> First World War and make major improvements to our Second World War gallery. We
> will probably have to close the building for the ten most "quiet" months of the
> year to do this, and we will do the three projects simultaneously.
>
> Our plan is to open our collections and research building, on the other side of
> the downtown core, six days a week, through the construction period. For the
> past several months, we have been rearranging the big pieces of kit into large
> thematic "exhibits", which will simplify and enhance this strategem (one of our
> problems is that various countries keep giving us tanks and guns and such,
> which makes us continually rearrange things!)(but we're NOT complaining!). We
> will move our educational programs to the same building and move more
> aggressively on outreach - electronically, travelling exhibitions, loans
> program, etc. And, on the while, mount an accelerating PR campaign to build
> expectations for the biger and better museum.
>
> Hope this is helpful. Best regards to all at MoV.
>
> Harry Needham
> Director, Programmes & Operations
> Canadian War Museum

NC museum of History did not close the "old museum" while the present
museum was being constructed.  For most of construction, the old site
was still open for visitors. It eventually closed but very close to the
opening of the new museum.

The building wasn't torn down.  In fact, it did and still does house the
Offices of Cultural Resources.

I was Senior Designer for The North Carolina Museum Of History during
this time.  And during the new construction, I visited the "old"  museum
exhibits many times during my tenure as designer while designing
exhibits at the new museum structure.