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Newseum recreates Tim Russert's office
WASHINGTON (AP) - October 7, 2009 The office will be reassembled to look as it did June 13, 2008,
the day Russert died of a heart attack at age 58 while recording
voiceovers for his next show at NBC's Washington bureau. The
exhibit at the journalism museum opens Nov. 20 and will remain
through 2010.
"After Tim's death, it became very clear to us that Tim really
hit a nerve with a wider swath of people than you would ordinarily
think for a journalist," Charles Overby, the Newseum's chief
executive, said Wednesday. He noted Edward R. Murrow is the only
other journalist who gets such prominent treatment.
"That shows the plateau on which we think Tim sits," he said.
Russert, who served on the Newseum's board of directors, was
bureau chief for NBC News in Washington and began hosting "Meet
the Press" in 1991.
His office was "very homey, very much reflects his wide array
of interests," including politics, religion, family, music and his
beloved Buffalo Bills, said Newseum exhibits director Cathy Trost.
About 300 books filled Russert's bookshelves, next to Uncle Sam
figures and autographed baseballs.
Newspapers, magazines and research binders cluttered his desk. A
drawing done by his son, Luke, at age 7 was close by.
A wooden sign at the front of his desk carried a special message
for his staff: "Thou Shalt Not Whine."
"It ranges from the professional to the very personal," Trost
said of the items to be displayed.
NBC is donating the office furniture to the Newseum, and
Russert's family is loaning the museum many of his belongings.
Overby said visitors will probably be surprised by all of the
nonpolitical things in Russert's office that showed he was a normal
person. The exhibit also will include snippets of Russert's
biography and career as a newsman that propelled "Meet the Press"
to the top of the ratings.
"There are many journalists in Washington who are respected,"
Overby said, "but not many who are both respected and liked across
the country."
The Newseum opened in a new home on Pennsylvania Avenue near the
Capitol in 2008 and drew 700,000 visitors in its first year. A
smaller Newseum in Arlington, Va., closed in 2002.
