Photo of National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California

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1 Main Street, Salinas, California steinbeck.org

The National Steinbeck Center opened in 1998, but it was years in the making. Through extensive research and work with the Salinas-based exhibit committee, National Steinbeck Center was created, using the handiwork of specialists such as Formations. The company developed written documents, concept sketches, exhibit drawings, audio/visual scripts, graphic and artifact reference books, and color and material boards providing vivid detail for the development of displays inside the building. Benchmark reviews by an exhibit committee, consulting scholars and focus groups helped the design team refine their documents.

Fabricating for Quality

To construct thematic displays and environments ranging from Old Town Salinas and Cannery Row to a Mexican marketplace and a World War II battle scene, fabricators and installers put in more than 21,000 hours. They used 240 gallons of paint, 25,000 lbs of lumber and a wide variety of authentic period objects, from turn-of-the-century children's books and a pre-war map of Italy to a 1910 Model T Ford. A bucket of bullfrogs, aromas of Cannery Row fish, and a genuine World War II machine gun were unique acquisitions to make the exhibits pop. No stone was left unturned--antique shops with blacksmith tools, farm equipment, period windows, and "hames and tugs," gear for hitching a work horse to a wagon or a play provided items that you now see inside the Steinbeck Center museum.