What an excellent experience! We did a nice 15-20 minute Poe-tour through the museum that exposed us to all the high-tech exhibits. Then we were free to explore on our own.
It is such a pleasure, so informative, and chockful with so much to do that after two hours, I left only from hunger. In those two hours, I'd learnt about history of American writers, created bookmarks with my favorite authors and novels, heard snippets of James Brown and Nina Simone singing, seeing first lines in writers' own handwriting (Joyce Carol Oates, Marilynne Robinson, and others...), typed on old-school typewriters, stamped and posted my family's immigration history....
Oh! I could go on. I only wish I lived in downtown Chicago so I could visit this museum everyday. Can y'all please give me a job?