Map of All 35,000 Museums in the United States Reveals Empty Region

Not everyone lives near institutions.

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Not every region in the United States has a lot of museums to share cultural history. This is very evident if you look at this map created by Washington, D.C.’s Institute of Museum and Library Services(IMLS). They plotted the country's 9,000 public library systems and its 35,000 museums on two maps to show which regions are more densely populated and which aren't. It is the most comprehensive database of U.S. museums ever created.

The maps show that an area that includes southeast Oregon, northern Nevada, and southwestern Idaho is pretty desolate. The only institution for hundreds of miles is the George M. Benson Memorial Museum in Princeton, Oregon--and the project was pretty inclusive. The compilation included art museums and galleries to aquariums, historical societies, and zoos.

“There’s always that joke that there’s a Starbucks on every corner,” IMLS statistician Justin Grimes said to Atlantic Cities. “But when you really think about it, there’s a public library wherever you go, whether it’s in New York City or some place in rural Montana. Very few communities are not touched by a public library.”

[viaArtinfo]

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