Best Titanic Museums
Mary's husband, John Joslyn, was the co-expedition leader for the 1987 Titanic Expedition, the first to recover and restore artifacts from the ship’s wreck site. Mr. Joslyn assembled the best scientists and salvage experts available. This was the team that brought up, among other priceless artifacts, the small, aft Grand Staircase bronze cherub, (not to be confused with its larger brother from the forward GSC that is the subject of our work). The team collaborated with the distinguished French Institute for Research and Exploration of the Sea (Ifremer) to reach Titanic’s final resting place in the North Atlantic. Nautile, Ifremer’s deep-diving submersible, plunged to depths up to 12,500 feet and completed 32 deep-sea dives—the highest number of dives for any televised project. Mr. Joslyn's television production, “Return to the Titanic…LIVE” (1987) was viewed by over 22 million households in the US alone.
Mary Kellogg-Joslyn is most charming and was extremely kind to me. Titanic staff member, Roy and I had just finished hanging the large clock that you see in the photo flanked by gift shoppe staff members, Deborah and Cindy. Immediately Mrs. Kellogg-Joslyn had ideas and suggestions for how the clock should be lit to its best advantage. I was impressed! Before her current career, Mary had worked at CBS where she was the executive director of marketing and programming for 10 years before moving to The Walt Disney Company. She became the executive Vice President of television for Disney and held this position for 20 years.. How fortunate for Titanic enthusiasts that she decided to bring to bear her valuable years of experience and expertise to the creation of these museums! One of her responsibilities with Disney was the Regis Philbin show. When the Branson and Pigeon Forge venues were completed, Mr. Philbin came out for the opening of each of the museums to help 'launch' them to the public. I sure miss Regis on TV, but was glad to catch his recent interview on "Larry King Now."
I also had the pleasure of meeting Paul Burns, the artifacts curator for the Branson and Pigeon Forge Titanic Museums. What a nice guy! He is responsible for literally hundreds of original Titanic artifacts in the two museums and does terrific and important work with these priceless historical items, yet remains so humble. I look forward to spending time with Paul again in the future.
The artifacts and exhibits are world class, such as the actual violin and case of RMS Titanic's heroic bandleader Wallace Hartley. Mr. Hartley and his band kept playing until the bitter end in order to elevate the morale of the passengers. I am proud to have our museum quality replicas at both Pigeon Forge, TN, and also the Branson, MO museums.
These outstanding venues are highly recommended visitor experiences for the whole family. Don't miss out! What a great thing to do this spring or summer. Ticket info:
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