Famous Americans: A Directory of Museums, Historical Sites, and Memorials

RR 2014/239 Famous Americans: A Directory of Museums, Historical Sites, and Memorials Victor J. Danilov Scarecrow Press Lanham, MD and Plymouth 2013 xxxv+419 pp. ISBN 978 0 8108 9185 2 (print); ISBN 978 0 8108 9186 9 (e-book) £59.95 $95

Keywords Biography, Directories, United States of America

Review DOI 10.1108/RR-04-2014-0108

This 2013 directory of noteworthy American cultural sites does double duty as an encyclopedia containing brief descriptions of the lives and "accomplishments of 409 "famous" people memorialized in museums, historic sites and memorials". The book is written by Victor J. Danilov, a former director of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and the founder of the Museum Management Program at the University of Colorado. The entries, while brief, are informative and provide useful context for each site. Descriptions are grouped into 26 categories, including actors, aviators/astronauts, educators, explorers, outlaws, social activists and so on. Some figures, such as John Brown, the revolutionary abolitionist, have multiple associated sites. In Brown's case, there is a...