The Missouri Museum of History

Apr 26, 2012 -

It was a drive and a half to get to the Missouri Museum of History from downtown St Louis and then back home again, so I’m glad that it was definitely worthy of a detour. This giant building is housed on the edge of the grounds where the 1904 World Fair was held. The museum has many free exhibits and sometimes has pay ones. Today’s $10 museum exhibit was Missouri and the Civil War. That sounded interesting, but I was pretty exhausted by the time I got to the museum and I wasn’t sure I’d have the energy to do it justice so I decided to skip it.

: The museum is on a lovely boulevard lined with historic beauties…

: … and modern atrocities

: Missouri Museum of HIstory

: close up of the museum sign

: gorgeous ceiling and a statue of Thomas Jefferson

: this was a listing of all the plants brought in for the 1904 World’s Fair

: entrance to the 1904 World’s Fair exhibit

: lovely desk

: the desk was created in Chinese fashion, but had drawers to suit Western tastes

: the Woven in Time exhibit

: love this!

: about the shawl and skirt set

: my camera actually recognized that the image in this tapestry is a face

: about this tapestry

: This is a replica of the Spirit of St Louis; you’ll have to go to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in DC to see the real one. I have. :)

: About Hunger & Resilience exhibit

: this man, Martin, sounded a lot saner than he looks!

: text about the exhibit Hunger and Resilience

: Marian is a teacher in Texas who experience hunger as a child

: all the photos had a box like this; you put on the head set and pressed the button to hear the person tell his or her story

: more detail on the replica of the Spirit of St Louis

: more detail on the replica of the Spirit of St Louis

: And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time — TS Eliot

: more information about the Currents exhibit, saying that it shows that our basic concerns do not change over time

: Currents was the exhibit about historic St Louis

: Did you know that Missouri comes from a word that means canoe?

: Charles Dickens’ description of the Mississippi

: Jeannette Forchet was a free black woman who was widowed twice.

: Description of where Jeanette Forchet had her home in 1766. There is a replica of her house beside this map and inside there is a narration of the inventory made of all her worldly goods. This narration is in FRENCH!!!!!!

: this replica of a burned building symbolizes the perils 19th century St Louis experienced

: explanation of where water came from in 19th century St Louis (hydrants that spewed very muddy water)

: copy of someone’s water license (late 19th century)

: St Louis water was very murky (Mark Twain said it had an acre of dirt in every tumblerful!). The city got a modern water purification system just before the 1904 World Fair