Museum Day Picks 2021

Arizona historical museum

Smithsonian magazine has an annual tradition of celebrating Museum Day, and many museums across the U.S. join in by offering free admission that day.

Smithsonian visitor center
Visitor center for Smithsonian museums in D.C.

I had planned to tell you – before Museum Day – about a few participating museums I’ve visited in the past. But life is weird right now and I’ve pretty much lost all sense of time, so September 18 came and went before I realized I hadn’t posted this yet. I’m still going to tell you about those museums, though. There’s one in Indiana, one in Washington, and five in Arizona. While I posted a similar list ahead of Museum Day a couple years ago, a lot of those museums weren’t participating this year. So, on to the new list!

2 Museums I’ve Visited While Traveling

Lenape specialist Mike Pace demonstrates traditional crafts to young museum-goers.
Mike Pace, interpreter and specialist on Lenape life and culture. Photo via Conner Prairie.

Conner Prairie in Fishers, Indiana

This is a living history museum that I loved visiting as a kid! I remember candle-dipping demonstrations and sitting in on a lesson in an old-timey one-room schoolhouse. They’ve added a lot of things since the last time I was there (many years ago), like make-and-take craft activities, a balloon ride, and the Lenape Indian Camp, which explores what life was like for members of the Lenape (a.k.a. Delaware) tribe in 1816 Indiana. 

  • Regular admission $20/adults, $15/youth (ages 2-12). $2 off when you purchase tickets online.
  • Closed Mondays.
  • Storytelling series: Thursday – Sunday evenings, September 16 – October 2. Hear about Indiana’s early history from expert storytellers, including former assistant chief of the Lenape tribe Mike Pace, who helped create the Lenape Indian Camp experience. Separate admission required for the event series: $10/adult, $6/youth.
  • Prairie Pursuits: various dates. Workshops on traditional skills for teens and adults. Upcoming class topics include blacksmithing, woodworking, cooking, and pottery.

 

Guitars at Museum of Pop Culture (EMP) in Seattle
Detail of “If VI Was IX: Roots and Branches” guitar sculpture, Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle.

Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, Washington

The museum formerly known as the Experience Music Project (EMP) has an atrium devoted to constantly-playing music videos (“Sky Church”), a towering guitar sculpture (“If VI Was IX: Roots and Branches”), and galleries for Seattle legends like Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana, as well as exhibitions on sci-fi, video games, and fantasy genre archetypes. Housed within a striking building designed by Frank O. Gehry, MoPOP is located at Seattle Center, near the Space Needle.

  • Admission prices vary, depending on factors like when you’re going and how far in advance you purchase tickets.
  • Closed Wednesdays.

 

Duck pond in Papago Park
Papago Park, Phoenix

5 Arizona Museums

Arizona historical museum - desert cities exhibit
Arizona Heritage Center’s Desert Cities exhibit

Arizona Heritage Center at Papago Park in Tempe

An eclectic history of life in Arizona. On display are objects as varied as vintage vehicles, rock and mineral samples, maps, and re-creations of notable Arizonans’ homes and offices. There’s a new temporary exhibition (“Still Marching: From Suffrage to #MeToo”) on how Arizona women have worked to drive social change over the past century.

  • Regular admission $15/adults, $7/youth (ages 7-13).
  • Closed Sundays and Mondays.

Historical museum in Tempe, Arizona The permanent collection is grouped into themed rooms, like…

  • The People: Not only will you learn about the diverse groups that populated the Old West, but you can also read testimonies of people who saw the Phoenix Lights in 1997 and either did or didn’t believe they were UFOs.
  • WWII: Takes you inside a military barracks, Japanese internment camp, and a POW camp. Dark corners that should not be forgotten.
  • Desert Cities: Probably the most nostalgia-inducing area for those of us who grew up in Arizona, It focuses on the cultural changes in the Phoenix metro area during its post-WWII boom and includes an exhibit on local children’s t.v. show Wallace and Lladmo and an iconic statue from Bob’s Big Boy restaurant chain.

 

Vintage military plane
Via CAF Airbase Arizona Museum.

CAF Airbase Arizona Flying Museum in East Mesa

30,000 square feet of exhibition space devoted to the history of combat aircraft, plus a working maintenance hangar and active aircraft ramp. Located at Falcon Field Airport in Mesa, this is my pick for enthusiasts of old military planes and memorabilia. In other words, if you’re my grandpa, this is the museum for you!

  • Regular admission $15/adults, $5/kids (ages 5-12).
  • Closed Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.

 

Lehi AZ canal
Canal near the Mesa Historical Museum.

Mesa Historical Museum  in Lehi (North Mesa)

The Mesa Historical Museum is housed in what was originally a school, built in 1913 in the very oldest part of the City of Mesa as we now know it. There is a replica of the one-room adobe schoolhouse that came before it, antique farm equipment and other artifacts from the area, and a couple rotating exhibits.

  • Regular admission $7/adults, $5/youth (ages 6-17).
  • Closed Sundays, Mondays, and major holidays.

  SMOCA

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) in Old Town Scottsdale

SMoCA is an art and event space with a permanent collection and exhibitions in the areas of contemporary art, architecture, and design. It’s part of Scottsdale Civic Center, along with Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, City Hall, Civic Center Library, and a bunch of restaurants and bars centered around a 21-acre park.

  • Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and major holidays.
  • Regular admission is $10/adults, free for anyone 18 and younger.
  • Pay-What-You-Wish admission on Thursdays and the second Saturday of each month.
  • Timed-entry reservations are now required for all admissions – even free tickets.

 

Tempe History Museum Concert
Spooky Kool Band concert at Tempe History Museum.

Tempe History Museum at Rural and Southern in Tempe

  • Always free (not just on Museum Day)!
  • Worth checking out if you’re in the neighborhood or going to a concert or lecture there.
  • They are gradually re-starting performances, including some outside in the Museum courtyard.
  • Closed Sundays and Mondays.
  • See their collections online.

 

 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 

A post shared by Stephanie Liebold (@stephanieliebold)

Big Boy Trains with a Big Fanbase

Steam engine

Big Boy No. 4014 is a 78-year old Union Pacific locomotive that’s currently touring the Southwestern U.S.

Train cars

It was part of a series of 25 extra-large steam engines built between 1941 and 1944, and it’s one of the only two still in operation.

Steam engine “Big Boy No. 4014”

This particular Big Boy was sitting in a museum in Pomona, California when, in 2013, Union Pacific decided to buy it back, restore it, and get it running in time for the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad earlier this year.

Panoramic view of steam train

When we heard it was making a stop in Tucson, we decided to stop by there as well.

Old rails in parking lot

I think they may have underestimated the number of train enthusiasts in Southern Arizona. We certainly did.

Steam engine with a crowd of onlookers

The normally quiet roads surrounding the depot were choked with lines of cars waiting to get in – and then out.

Traffic at train depot entrance

It was cool seeing the train, even though we weren’t able to get in to see the displays inside. One of the rail cars has been turned into kind of a mini museum. The line to get in stretched about half the length of the train, and we were out of time.

Experience the Union Pacific train car

I wondered about the stories of the people who had made the trip there. Had they traveled far? Did they have a connection to the Big Boys? Or a passion for all steam locomotives? Or, like us, did they just happen to live in Tucson and think it would be an interesting thing to see?

Union Pacific Big Boy engine No. 4014

Whatever their reasons, Big Boy No. 4014 certainly has plenty of fans, and I hope it rolls into town again.


Steam train engine
Photo of Big Boy No. 4014 – without the crowds – via Union Pacific.

– More Steam Train Info –

George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center in Phoenix

GWC high school quilt in Phoenix

During Phoenix Art Detour,  my friend Anne and I wandered into the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center.

Carver Museum in Phoenix

The building had been a high school for African American students from 1926 to 1953, which I didn’t even know about until we stumbled across it. I guess I had assumed that, since the Phoenix population didn’t really start booming until the ’60s, maybe we had just skipped the whole segregation thing. Unfortunately, that’s  not the case.

MLK painting at GWCMCC

However, Arizona did desegregate its schools a year before Brown v. Board of Education mandated it nationally. The Carver High School closed, and the students were integrated into other high schools.

GWCMCC

In 1986, four Carver alumnae formed Phoenix Monarchs Alumni Association, an organization to preserve the building and turn it into a museum and cultural center. They were eventually able to purchase it, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

drums and sculptures

The George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center is now open with a mission to honor African and African American heritage, arts, and culture.

african craft

The Phoenix Monarchs Alumni Association continues to raise funds to upgrade the space and offer additional programs and exhibits.

violin

George Washington Carver

In front of the museum is a statue of its namesake, scientist George Washington Carver, holding one of the peanut plants he was famous for studying.

quilt

We explored the first floor and saw artwork like paintings, sculptures, and a quilt made by students who had gone to school there.

antique sewing machine

portrait

There was a room with vintage typewriters and sewing machines.

Another one had what looked like African artifacts and traditional craft, like masks, drums, and beaded gourd instruments, as well as contemporary paintings, and a violin.

Vintage typewriters

Outside of Art Detour week, I think a volunteer guide is usually there to provide context and answer questions, because a lot of the items weren’t labeled. The museum had a work-in-progress feel, as funds are still being raised to improve the building and exhibition space. It will be exciting to see it transform!

 

GWCMCC


More Info on the Carver Museum

Vintage Travel Posters

vintage travel posters

I stumbled across all these 1930s Swiss and Italian travel posters online that are up for sale at an auction house in Dresden, Germany.

I had intended to quickly share some of my favorites, but then I got curious about some of the places pictured and ended up doing some research/getting sidetracked. So I have a little extra backstory for some of them.

 

Pilatus poster

Pilatus Bahn, Luzern – Pilatus Railway, Railway Chemin de Fer, Lucerne, Switzerland poster by Otto Ernst, c. 1930.

At first glance, I thought this was the same mountain railway (funicular) I’d posted about previously, Gelmerbahn, but it’s actually Pilatusbahn, which is on a different Swiss peak about 40 minutes away. Different sources claim each one to be the steepest cogwheel railway in Europe, so that may be where my confusion came from.

Pilatus - Esel Kulm Bahn

Anyway, I found a 2009 photo of Mt. Pilatus that was taken from almost the same angle as the poster – you can even see the little red funicular making its way down the hill (on possibly-the-steepest-grade track in Europe).

 

Genua und die Italienische Riviera – “Genoa and the Italian Riviera,” lithograph, 1931.

Are there palm trees in Genoa? I wouldn’t have guessed that, but I’m not going to verify that right now. This post has sent me down enough rabbit trails already! (Yeah, more are on the way, I just rearranged the post to spread them out a bit.) For now,  I’m going to refrain from even doing an image search.

 

summer in Switzerland poster

Leuchtender Sommer – Beschwingte Fahrt. Die schöne Schweiz – Zürich poster “Bright summer – Lively ride. The beautiful Switzerland.” by Augusto Giacometti, c. 1930.

This design is such a departure from your typical travel poster. Instead of focusing on a scene from a city or landscape, it’s just a close-up of a slightly abstracted, watercolor-y butterfly.

I also love that you can see slight creases in the paper. Someone must’ve folded it up at one point. I wonder what they did with it after that-? Did they put it in their pocket and take it home? I’m sure they’d be shocked to know it would eventually be unfolded and put up for auction.

 

Verona poster

Verona – Verona, Italy lithograph, c. 1930.

I found out that the structures depicted here are the Arche Scaligere, tombs of the Scaliger family, erected while they were still in power.

Arche scaligere, verona, italy

The coral-ish colored wall reminded me a bit of something from Venice. And, it turns out that Verona was, in fact, conquered by the Venetian Republic in 1405, just a few decades after the Arche Scaligere were completed.

 

Brescia tourist poster

Brescia – Brescia, Italy lithograph by Vincenzo Alicandri, c. 1930.

Speaking of Verona, Brescia was actually part of the same kingdom for 50 years or so, until it fell under Venetian control, shortly before Verona itself did.

See what I mean about rabbit trails? I didn’t know any of this before I started wondering about these posters.

 

Swiss Railways poster

Schweizerische Bundesbahnen – Swiss Railways poster by Emil Cardinaux, c. 1930.

I’m starting to think that all the trains in Switzerland are red, which isn’t a bad choice. Bright red looks fantastic against those alpine greens and blues!

 

Roma poster

Roma – Rome poster by Virgilio Retrosi, c. 1930.

The building with the horses on top is Il Vittoriano, a monument to the first king after Italy’s unification. The monument was completed in 1925, so it would’ve been new when this poster was made.

It seems like you can see Il Vittoriano from all over Rome. Even though it’s far in the background, look how large it still looms in this photo we took from the Palatine Hill overlooking the Roman Forum!

 

Davos travel poster

Davos für Sport und Gesundheit – “Davos [Switzerland] for Sport and Health” by Otto Bamberger, c. 1930.

This one might be my favorite. I just love the illustration style, and I can almost feel the cool mountain breeze. It looks like a nice spot for a picnic.

Which of these posters do you most wish you could just step right into? Leave me a comment, while I go google palm trees in the Italian Rivieria.

Forum in rome


Images:

August 2018 Photos: St. Mark + Dr. Seuss

Geisel library quote

We were in Italy a year ago, and I’ve been thinking about the trip and the stories I still want to tell.

Venice - San Marco

The Lion

I recently posted a photo of the bronze winged lion that towers above Venice’s main square, Piazza San Marco.

Because the mythical creature is the symbol of St. Mark/San Marco, who is the patron saint of Venice, it has come to also represent the city itself. (And you can spot winged lions all over the place!)

***

Geisel library quote

The Lorax

Anyway, the other August photo I wanted to share is a panoramic shot from inside the Geisel Library in La Jolla (San Diego).

It’s a glass wall covered with facts about Theodor Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) and the history of the unusual building.

Geisel library

My favorite part was this quote from The Lorax:

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

Piazza San Marco in Venice

When you think about it, that sentiment about caring enough to take action is oddly in line with something St. Mark (quoting Moses) wrote:

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”



 

Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space