Bruce Firchau is immersing himself in a yet-to-open museum honoring basketball history in the state of Illinois, so he wanted to do his homework on what makes for a successful museum in a broader sense.

He scoped out a wide variety – even a museum dealing with shipwrecks – as he sought innovative ways to bring history alive.

“The one thing [the successful ones] all had in common was they all had great oral histories,” Firchau said. “And I thought the window of opportunity was closing.”