Museum Monday

Museum Monday: Games of Chance at SFO Airport

December 11, 2016Harriet BaskasArt, Exhibits, Gambling, Museum Monday, Museumsairport museums, Games of Chance, SFO airport, SFO Museum

If, by chance, you’ve got some time before or between flights at San Francisco International Airport, you’re in luck.

That’s because the SFO Museum has just kicked off a new exhibition featuring more than sixty examples of early gambling devices, including the first automatic payout, three reel slot machine.

According to the exhibition notes, at one time San Francisco was a hotbed for these types of games:

“In no part of the world did gambling take place so openly and on such a large scale than in San Francisco during the Victorian era. The city’s residents were largely pioneers or one generation removed from those who risked all to relocate and gamble on a new life in the West. San Franciscans wagered in nearly every possible manner, including horse races, sporting contests, card games, wheels-of-fortune, and impromptu barroom arguments on every conceivable subject. At the beginning of the twentieth century, more than 3,000 machines operated freely, enticing customers from busy sidewalks into the saloons and cigar stores that proliferated throughout San Francisco. “

The devices on display range from very early models that rely on simple clock mechanisms and a payout by the bartender to automatic slot machines with elaborate carved-wood, cast-iron, or painted-aluminum bodies – and each was designed to part a person with a small bit of their money.

All the objects in this exhibit (and all photos used here) are courtesy of Joe Welch American Antique Museum in San Bruno, California and will be on display at SFO Airport in Terminal 3, Boarding Area F through June 18, 2017.

You can see descriptions of the gambling devices featured here – and photos of others – in the SFO Museum’s online exhibition. But I bet the exhibition is far more entertaining if you see it in person.

Museum Monday: solar system made in Kentucky

October 10, 2016Harriet BaskasHistory, Museum Monday, MuseumsKentucky Historical Society, orrery

While visiting Kentucky last week I spent a few hours with the knowledgeable and very gracious staff at the museum of the Kentucky Historical Center in Frankfort. While there I was pleased to see – and learn about – the orrery pictured above.

An orrery, I learned, is a mechanical model of the solar system. This one was made by Thomas Barlow – a mechanic and inventor who lived in Kentucky – and purchased in 1887 for use at a school in Lexington. It’s unknown how many orreries Barlow (and his son) made in their shop, but today there are only three intact models remaining around the world.

Museum Monday: SFO Museum’s latest offering

August 1, 2016Harriet BaskasExhibits, Museum Monday, MuseumsSFO Museum

Platter, Tomb of the Emperor Shah Jehan (Taj Mahal) pattern c. 1824–30s Oriental Scenery Cartouche series maker unknown possibly Staffordshire, England earthenware, blue underglaze Collection of Michael Sack . Courtesy SFO

Platter, Tomb of the Emperor Shah Jehan Collection of Michael Sack . Courtesy SFO

The newest exhibit from the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport, “From Print to Plate: Views of the East on Transferware,” features early nineteenth-century blue-and-white transferware with scenes of India, the Middle East, and China.

You’ve likely seen examples of transferware or transferware-like plates, but never looked closely at the actual images there. If you’ve got a some time to spend at SFO on a layover, here’s your chance.

This exhibition features blue-and-white wares made by Spode and a number of other British potters featuring scenes of famous architectural views of India, such as the Taj Mahal, drawn from early illustrated books, such as ‘A Picturesque Tour along the Rivers Ganges’ and ‘Jumna in India’ (1824) to scenes of Turkey and China taken from ‘Views in the Ottoman Empire’ (1803) and ‘A Picturesque Voyage to India by the Way of China’ (1810). The prints are alongside the corresponding plates and all come from the collection of Michael Sack.

courtesy SFO Museum

‘From Print to Plate: Views of the East on Transferware’ is located pre-security in the International Terminal Main Hall Departures Lobby at San Francisco International Airport and will be on view through March 19, 2017.

More images from the exhibition are on line here.

See Neil Armstrong’s gloves & helmet

July 25, 2016Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, Museums, SpaceNeil Armstrong. moon landing, Smithsonian Air & Space

Neil Armstrong's gloves & helmut - courtesy Smithsononian

Image: Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

In commemoration of the 47th anniversary of the first moon landing (July 20, 1969) the National Air and Space Museum is displaying Neil Armstrong’s lunar extravehicular gloves and helmet for the first time since 2012.

The artifacts recently underwent conservation and will be on view until July 20, 2017 at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.- which is just one stop from Washington’s Dulles International Airport on the Fairfax Connector (#983) bus.

Looking forward… Armstrong’s complete Apollo 11 spacesuit will go on display in time for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in 2019.

In preparation for that anniversary, the museum is asking the public for photos of the spacesuit on display when it was on a national tour back in in 1970, or of the gloves and helmet on later tours and the spacesuit on display at the Smithsonian between 1971 and 2006.

Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit. Courtesy National Air & Space Museum ,

On its website, the Smithsonian also has a high resolution 3-D scan of the Apollo 11 command module “Columbia,” that allows anyone with an internet connection to explore the entire craft including its intricate interior – something you can’t do when you’re at the museum in person.

Museum Monday: Corkscrew collection at the CIA

April 11, 2016Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, MuseumsCIA, Corkscrew Colleciton, corkscrews

While attending illy’s intensive University of Coffee at the Culinary Institute of America’s campus in St. Helena, Calif. for this story about United Airlines’ coffee brand switch, I was pleased to get a chance to see Brother Timothy’s corkscrew collection.

The CIA’s Greystone campus in California was once the home of the Christian Brothers Winery and winemaker Brother Timothy Diener collected more than 1,000 corkscrews over 50 years. Here are a few snaps.

Museum Monday: SPAM Museum reopening

March 28, 2016Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, MuseumsOffbeat museums, SPAM Museum

If you’re a fan of the tinned meat product known as SPAM – or just enjoy a good offbeat museum – then you have a new reason to plan a trip to southeastern Minnesota: the Spam Museum is set to reopen on April 22, 2016.

The museum is located in Austin, Minnesota – home of SPAM manufacturer Hormel Foods Corporation – and has been closed since September 2014 in preparation for a move from just outside of Austin’s downtown to a spot right in downtown.

Some new galleries have been created, but Hormel made sure to keep the more popular exhibits, including one exploring Spam’s connection to the military and the production line game where guests can simulate making Spam.

SPAMples, the Spam Museum’s version of free samples, will continue as well.

Why did they move the Spam Museum?

To be neighborly.

Since 2001, the Spam Museum welcomed visitors first from a spot in a local mall and later from a building attached to Hormel corporate headquarters, just off Interstate 90.

But stopping at the museum didn’t require a drive through Austin (population: 25,000), which meant most visitors never ventured into the town’s historic shop and restaurant-filled downtown.

So when it came time for a new and bigger spot for the museum, members of Vision 2020 – a community group working to improve the quality of life in Austin by the year 2020 – urged Hormel to move the museum to Austin’s Main Street.

Hormel agreed. And now finishing touches are being put on the Spam Museum, which has scheduled its soft opening for April 22 and a grand opening in July as part of Hormel’s 125th anniversary celebration.

Museum Monday: odd Amsterdam

February 22, 2016Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, MuseumsAmsterdam, odd museums

Heading to Amsterdam?

Put the canal boat rides, flower markets, cheeses shops, (maybe some “coffee shops”) and tours of the recently-reopened Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House on your list.

But for a taste of Amsterdam’s more offbeat side, give some of these museums I profiled for Mashable.com a try as well.

Sex and drugs are covered in the Sexmuseum and in its kissing-cousin, the Erotic Museum, in the Red Light District, while there’s also a museum exploring the history of hash, marijuana and hemp.

Feline fans will adore the Cat Cabinet (Katten Cabinet) – a museum filled with artwork devoted to cats – while the Museum of Bags and Purses tells the story of pouches, pockets, clutches, suitcases and bags through the ages.

Micropia is a museum that tells the story of microbes and bacteria in a way that will have you rushing home to replace your toothbrush and kitchen sponges, while the Dutch Funeral Museum and the Museum Vrolik (a medical museum filled with anatomical anomalies) may leave you a bit shaken, but happy to be alive.

For more details – and a bonus museum (the John & Yoko shrine at the Amsterdam Hilton) – see my full story – You can get weird in Amsterdam without getting high – on Mashable.com.

Museum Monday: suitcases in a museum

February 14, 2016Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, MuseumsAmsterdam Museum of Bags and Purses

Spotted in Amsterdam’s Museum of Bags and Purses:

In addition to a large display of trunks and suitcases ( part of the “bags” part of the collection) the museum is a treasure trove of purses, clutches, wearable pockets, backpacks, satchels and other accessories people have used to carry their daily necessities around.

Here a few other bags and purses on view:

Classic football memorabilia at SFO Museum

October 1, 2015Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, Museums, Sports

Helmet worn by Leo Nomellini (San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle, 1950-63) c. 1962 Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1969 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame & SFO Museum

More than one million people are expected to attend the week-long festivities in the San Francisco Bay Area leading up to Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

In preparation, the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport is hosting a football-themed exhibition featuring memorabilia and game-worn artifacts from each of the league’s thirty-two franchises, with most items on special loan from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Among the objects on display are items belonging to Hall of Famers – including Joe Montana’s home jersey, Walter Payton’s helmet and Jim Brown’s shoulder pads.

Shoulder pads worn by Jim Brown (Cleveland Browns running back 1957–65) c. 1963
Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1971
Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Collection & SFO Museum

Look for the exhibit: The Nation’s Game – The NFL from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Terminal 3 – post-security departures level through February 2016.

Cleats worn by Sam Huff (New York Giants linebacker, 1956–63) during his rookie season 1956
Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1982
Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Collection & SFO Museum

Museum Monday: Cancun’s underwater museum

August 31, 2015Harriet BaskasMuseum Monday, MuseumsCancun, Cancun Airport, diving, touruism, travel, underwater museum

It’s been far too long since I visited Cancun and the Cancun International Airport , but the news about a fresh set of sculptures being submerged at Cancun’s Underwater Museum of Art (MUSA) puts the area back on top of my “go soon” list.

Since 2010, some 500 sculptures have been submerged in the bottom of the ocean to create a marine life-friendly museum that can be visited only by divers, snorkelers, parasailers and those in glass-bottomed boats.

The sculptures are of everything from life-size humans to a full-size VW Beetle.

Here are two sculptures by Elier Amado Gil that will be submerged during September and October. The first is titled El Entendimiento (Understanding), the second is called Reposo (Rest).