If you've read Schism #3 and Generation Hope #10, you probably noticed the Mutant History Museum. Since the X-Men have moved to Utopia just off the coast of San Francisco, they have been trying to win over the public's opinion on them and mutants. The X-Men even have a public relations person that handles their appearances in the media.

Mutants have long been hated and feared. There has been some acceptance, especially after the X-Men has been seen saving the city and the world time and time again. In general, the world still has its share of mutant haters.

To try to combat the fear and hatred, a museum was opened in San Francisco, dedicated to the history of mutants. The idea is to help tone down the anti-mutant hysteria. It's a bold move and does have some possibilities. Besides the concerns of safety for the building itself, there are other concerns with the idea of a Mutant Museum. Should the X-Men and mutants actually have a museum dedicated to them?

The mutant haters are bound to want to destroy the building. If not that extreme, it'd be a safe bet that it would get vandalized in some way. Assuming that wouldn't be an issue, maybe they could set up some sort of anti-vandalism technology to protect it, there are other serious concerns that need to be taken into consideration.

First of all, what items should be included? Besides just giving the history of mutants, there are several artifacts on display. Photos and such are harmless but something like a Sentinel head sitting behind ropes doesn't seem too...secure. What kind of security do they have? We are talking about the X-Men, who have access to advanced technology. One would hope they would ensure any items they included would be safely secured. Yet, how many times has the Xavier Institute been attacked? Even the Danger Room gained sentience (as Danger) and attacked them.

Another area we saw was a room dedicated to alternate timelines. This could be a hard concept for people to grasp. Should the general public be aware that they exist? In the room, there is a hologram recording of Rachel Summers. She talks about being from the future where mutants were put in concentration camps and mutants were hunted by hound mutants. Would this knowledge give people the wrong ideas? Would people try to push for the camps and try to revive the Mutant Registration Act?

Another question is what information would be presented? Mutants have sometimes been involved or responsible for bad things. Will the time Magneto sunk the Russian submarine be documented? What about the times Wolverine has killed or caused the deaths of innocents?

Who gathers up the items in the museum? We've seen Warren Worthington gathered a few things for X-Force's Cavern-X base. The X-Men never seemed too concerned with cleaning up after any battles they were involved in. Has Warren or the other X-Men been keeping items in storage all these years?

What about the identity of mutants? Above we see busts of Bishop and Cable. Bishop or Cable aren't really in the position to grant permission for their likeness to be used. There's also a picture of Wolverine from the Days of Future Past time. That might have been more of an easter egg for us but did Rachel really give the okay to reveal to the world she was a mutant hound?

Finally, how much interest would there be in a mutant museum? The X-Men might be winning over some of the public but it seems unlikely that the average person would openly support them. Again, there's the danger of the museum getting attacked at any moment. Would parents be willing to take their children to a high risk location? Would visiting the museum make a public statement that you're a mutant supporter? People might even wonder if people visiting the museum are actually mutants themselves.

The idea of educating people about mutants is a great idea in trying to get them to overcome their fears. People fear what they don't know. The problem is, seeing what mutants are capable of, the amount of raw power they possess and the destruction that tends to follow them, that idea might backfire. If people see the results of mutant battles and the persecution they've faced, they might be more sympathetic or their fears may simply get amped up.

As for the future of the museum, we'll have to see if the museum is still around after the events of Schism...

It will probably be destroyed, to be honest I never knew there was a Mutant Museum, kind of a cool idea.

Just saw that panel dedicated to "Alternate Timelines" and realized just how silly this all is.

It will probably be destroyed, to be honest I never knew there was a Mutant Museum, kind of a cool idea.

This aint't the DC universe, get rid of all that ****...

While on this topic, I'd like to point out that X-Force is the only contemporary team to have a non-mutant on it (Deathlok... LQTM), despite all of those early "X-men Promos" for the titleless X-men series (which isn't being reset like Uncanny is, oddly enough...) showing Blade, Spiderman, etc... guest stars in their own arcs. 
 
That said, I see no problem with this.  I'm actually sort of surprised that we don't see more of these kind of museums.  If Astonishing Wolverine and Spiderman, we see a wax museum with "Loser" Spiderman... I could definately see an Ironman/technology exhibit at a museum, etc. 
 
That said, an actual Sentinel Head feels me with unease.. even if it is an old version, it is still a semi-autonomous AI.

"Alternate timelines"
XD

Just saw that panel dedicated to "Alternate Timelines" and realized just how silly this all is.

No and neither should gays, blacks, women, jews, or any other minorty group. 
 
Sarcasm 

Yes, Mutants a like an oppressed group.  They would get a museum, but it should be filled with stuff room known history in their world, not stuff the readers know about like the Purple cloak the evil white Beast had on in an alternate time line where Beast turned white and evil and had an army of Nightcrawlers and was resurrecting Jean Grey.   But if this museum is dedicated to mutants, then yeah, in the real world I think Mutants would get a museum.   In the comic, is it a mutant museum or an X-Men museum?  Is it for the public or on Utopia for fellow mutants?
If this was a public thing that anyone can go into and walk around:
Their museum would have a section dedicated to mutants who fell in defense of mutant rights like Banshee, Thunderbird, Jean Grey, Moira McTaggert, etc.
There would be a wing about the Legacy Virus.  (and its cure)
There would be photos of Genosha, and Magneto from when he was ruling it.
Photos of Mutant Labor Camps like the one Wolfsbane was in (right?).
replicas and scaled models of things like Sentinels and those mutant power suppression collars (or where they just from the cartoon?).
pictures of, maybe a wing for, the X-Men and Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters.
Pictures of Mutant Rights Protests and Rallies, political debates, etc.
part of the exhibit would be about the Cure found in the comics recently.
Maybe a wall depicting heroes and famous people who are mutants.
many other things like that, things for public viewing.
Maybe show how mutants and humans can live together in harmony with pictures or something of human friends like Moira McTaggert and other non mutants who have sought Mutant Rights.
 
If this was something just for mutants living on Utopia:
It should be Sentinel replicas, not inactive one, but wax sculptures or something.  There should be those mutant suppression collars (or where they just in the cartoon?).  The Original X-Men Uniforms maybe.  Maybe Photos of Magneto from when he was ruling Genosha, photos of the mutant labor camps.  Maybe busts of mutants who died defending mutant rights like Banshee, Jean Grey, etc. (Fallen Friends).
And since this was started by the X-Men maybe class photos of each team, like how the JLA take roster photos every time the team changes.  So we get the originals, we get the originals (Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Jean, Ice Man, Xavier), then we get the 2nd version (Colossus, Wolverine, Banshee, Thuderbird, etc.) 
Maybe a bio for them as well, like Wolverine (from X-Men to Avenger).
They could have a hall of enemies too, since this is an X-Men thing.  Wax statues of enemies like Apocalypse, Mojo, Sentinels, Magneto (?), Mr. Sinister, Senator Kelly, etc.  
There would be a special room of the museum for Charles Xavier, who started the X-Men. 
Their "Alternate Reality Wing" should all be hearsay stuff.  Maybe even mention its hear say, unless one of them from the past actually saw it.  Busts of mutants who claimed to be from the future are understandable.  But photos, no.  Artists renderings of future events, sure.   But probably not.
Maybe a wing for Working with Non-Mutants, like teaming up with Spider-Man, Moira McTaggert, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, etc.

Now is this a museum for the X-Men or mutants? 

Actually, this would be cool.  The JLA have their trophy room, the Titans have a hall of fallen titans.  Why can't the X-Men have a museum of their history.  Sounds fun.  Something I want to see more of.
 
 

Plus it would be so cool to actually see this museum at Disney Land!
I am waiting for this now.

It will probably be destroyed, to be honest I never knew there was a Mutant Museum, kind of a cool idea.

i think it is a cool idea

definalty strikes me as a great idea..  smiles all those non mutants walking round   watching their heads explode with everthing they didn't know :)

The X-Men of old school days, maybe, but they have degenerated into a pseudo-terrorist amoral para-military unit, I mean back in the day when Wolverine was the most bloodthirsty of their ranks, maybe I could see this, but members like Gambit, Sabretooth, Emma Frost, Magneto, Cable, Marrow, Deadpool (for a nano-second), and even Cyclops as of late, dont exactly scream a group of peaceful mutant rights activists anymore.

I wish this was real.

mutant museum would be sick I would love to go in to that!

I think the general idea of a mutant museum is cool, because in real life museums and exhibitions are important ways for minorities to familiarize themselves to the majority. A museum displaying the history and struggles of mutants does seem like a good peaceful way of raising mutant awareness (I can't believe I typed that) in a world that still doesn't quite understand what mutants are and what they are going through.
 
However, some of the items on display seem rather risquée. The sentinel head, for instance, conjures up rather violent and dangerous images, so I'm not sure how good is that for selling the idea that mutants come in peace. It's like "Yeah. We did this to a friggin' giant killer robot. Guess what we can do to you?" I know that the sentinels are the ones who attacked and terrorized mutants and not the other way around, but I still don't think that drawing attention to the destructive potential of mutants is wise, considering how hostile the atmosphere is right now in the Marve universe.
 
The alternate timelines room looks also like a security hazard. Is this really the kind of information they're ready to share openly, even though they take the risk of revealing crucial information about the (potential) future for someone who might abuse it? Is the world ready to hear that it seems very possible that they're all heading towards an apocalyptic war between humans and mutants? Are individual mutants really willing to share so much information about themselves to the general public? This has bad PR written all over it.

it would be enertaining...

I just find it amusing how no-one's really cared that Rachel Summers has been stuck in space for years but they found the time to dig up old interview footage and her old costume. 
I like the idea of the museum, but not the Sentinel head and "Alternative Timelines" section.

I'm suprised the general human population know enough about the X-men to put it into a museum.... I thought have of the crazy stuff they did was mind wiped, in space, secret, in the savage land, etc etc

It's not a true museum of an oppressed minority without a depressing documentary that makes all other groups feel bad, everyone knows that

A section about people and mutants who have died defending mutant rights, a special room about Charles Xavier and a hall of mutants of historical and political importance

Cool idea. They deserve a museum but I don't think that is what they should get. If something happens and people start fearing the X-Men again it's just going to get destroyed.

 In the Marvel Universe mutants are considered a race, so its kinda like asking do African Americans deserve a museum.

X-Men museum is a perfect target for any mutant hate group. I won't bet that it can last a year.

This would almost be akin to the Museum of Tolerance here in Los Angeles that devotes itself to depicting the plight of Jewish victims of the Holocaust.  In a way I see it as a good thing in that yes it will educate the public and possibly bring mutants into the folds of society all the more.  The thing is I can also see such a museum as singling out mutants as a group and putting them into the spotlight all the more, which can in a way be counter productive, for what happens then when the bigots and haters begin to learn of the museum's existence and ransack it through and through?  Being a lover of history myself I can see a mutant museum being a good idea...but as a social concept I also see it as a veritable pandora's box that can bring problems as well.  Considering that mutants already have problems to begin with then, maybe its not so bad an idea.  Then the question would just be devoted to how much of X-Men/mutant history would be revealed, for if the general public knew everything, there's no telling what people's reaction would be.  Food for thought!

I had no problem with it until the "Alternate Timelines" nonsense.

Oh, now you've awoken the historian in me.  Let's dust off the old dissertation...
 
Pierre Nora has a concept called "sites of memory" (les lieux des memoire) where he argues that places like museums are necessary ways that groups or cultures define their own legitimacy.  to create a history of yourself is to declare that you are important enough to be remembered.  we have all sorts of examples in the US of groups that were once feared or devalued or (possibly) conquered now having museums commemorating their importance, for example the Museum of the American Indian and Holocaust Museum in DC or the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.  They offer a chance to recognize that these groups are integral to a shared existence, and they also let people within those groups define community across time by saying "I existed then, I exist now, my history and I are important."  it seems reasonable to me to assume that in the X-Universe, where mutants have stood in for fifty years as the "feared minority," that they would eventually follow Nora's pattern of creating a museum for themselves to serve the exact purpose.  we existed then, we exist now (albeit to a reduced degree thanks to the Scarlet Witch), our history and we are important.
 
what I find most interesting is the way continuity affects this concept of a mutant museum.  the X-Men don't age much.  Cyclops was one of Xavier's first students, but he's been a dude in his mid-30s or so for about 40 years.  how do characters that never age in the books, which would suggest that they don't have as much of a distant past as a perpetual "that just happened," have a museum dedicated to their days of yore?  oh, I smell a blog post coming on.  where's my copy of Fabian...
 
quick side note: I finished with my PhD almost a year ago, the culmination of about 6 years of graduate study, and that is the first time any of that information has been of use to me.  if anyone needs me, I'll be in a corner, crying and reading comic books.  thinking about life decisions.

I think they deserve a museum. It's time that humans recognize all thats been done for them regardless of of the hatd they have for mutants.

WAIT A MINUTE! Civilians still hate the mutants? I thought Second Coming was supposed to allow the X-men to become public figures. They've fought beside heroes that are loved by civilians COUNTLESS TIMES. They've saved the world on multiple occasions. We've had our racist disputes in the real world, but in 616, the people should be happy. If mutants saved US multiple times, i think wed find it in our hearts to let them be. Look at us now, racism exists but in small forms. There are many different nationalities, genders, and views. I don't see why the Mutants shouldn't already be accepted. Its ridiculous. OH BUT I FORGOT! Nothing matters at Marvel. Meaning someone can die and it'll get reverted in a couple months or so. No longer than a year. Unless you're Jean Grey. So they could do an event that revolves around (and i use this term lightly) "redeeming" mutants but then revert it to what it once was when the arc is over. They've run every other corner of Marvel into the ground, and it looks like X-men is next. The Runaways, The Hulk, Ultimate Universe, Cosmic Universe and now X-men is next. Stupid ideas. Ugh. I blame Matt Fraction and Joe Quesada. 

Jewish people are disliked in many places (my GF was born in Russia, it runs strong there), there are still Jewish museums and holocaust memorials etc all over the place.
 
No reason that mutants would be any different.

I like the idea. Rather than gain acceptance for all mutants, it should benefit the X-Men and the mutants who make the choices to affirm and work with society. The X-Men deserve their good press - they've earned it. But it shouldn't be used as a way to communicate some idea that all mutants are good, because all of them aren't, and there are psychopathic mutants just as much as there are criminals and super villains. 
 
And at this point, via Reed Richards and various excuses given for mass collateral damage in the wake of superhuman battles, I think many average citizens have heard or been exposed to proof of alternate dimensions, timelines and realities. 

great article! 
 
It will be interesting to see which of these theories will actually take place 
 
IMO, the musuem is a good idea, but maybe don't reveal such 'advanced' information such as alternate timelines. Or, who was a hound or not. You could say there were mutants who tracked down other mutants in "difficult" times. But not WHO did it.  

In regards to the Sentinel head? They probably hollowed it out and its just a shell, Kind of like how we display Military vehicles outside of ROTC buildings and the like. All show. no go.
 
The Rachel Summers hologram is a neat idea, once Rachel comes back from space it has the potential to be an issue.
 
The Future Timelines room I don't have a problem with, most people have no where near the capacity to use or even understand the tech it would take to try to screw with them. Most supervillians aren't just gonna take a leisurely stroll through the Mutant History Museum for ideas, their already busy plotting and you gotta figure it would be a little noticeable for the likes of Sinister or Mojo to be walking around in public.
 
That being said, I wish this was real so I could visit!!

No and neither should gays, blacks, women, jews, or any other minorty group.  Sarcasm 

I like the idea

Just because the Nazi's were bad people doesn't mean that we should ignore their stuff in museums.
Museums are generally places to acknowledge history.  If I go to a WWII museum, I'm not a Nazi sympathizer, am I?

I think they deserve a museum. I mean really the government and society have put them through so much hell, that a museum of some of the incidents seems only right.

It would be pretty weird to see yourself in a museum and even weirder to see that their are alternate timelines.

How the hell would the museum know about any alternate timelines in which the sentinels or apocalypse have taken over?

ABSOLUTELY

The idea is nice but it wouldn't work in the comic universe. Having a museum would only bring into the light the horrible horrible inconsistencies that exist within the comics. How do you show a history of something when they seemingly don't age?