Museums

At SFO Museum: spooky, cool Ouija board exhibit

October 21, 2016Harriet BaskasExhibits, MuseumsMuseum of Taklking Boards, Ouija boards, SFO airport, SFO Museum, spiritualism, spooky

The Amazing Answer Board c. 1944 Courtesy Eugene Orlando_Museum of Talking Boards_SFO Museum

It’s Halloween season and a perfect time for the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport to host an exhibit of Ouija boards and other “talking boards” from the 1890s to the present.

These devices can be dated back to 1886, when news spread of Spiritualists in Ohio using a “talking board” with letters, numbers and a small wooden device, called a planchette, that pointed to the letters. With that set-up, the living could ‘simply’ hold their hands on the planchette and then spirits could move their hands to letters and words and spell out messages. (“Water the plants.” “Bring home milk” “You snore..” are some of the messages I imagine…)

Official “Ouija” boards began being produced in 1890 and a variety of knock-offs were issued with imagery that included Egyptian sphinxes, swamis, fortune tellers and witches.

Here are some images from the exhibition, The Mysterious Talking Board: Ouija and Beyond, which is on display at San Francisco International Airport through May 7, 2017, post-security in Terminal 2.

Can’t make it to Terminal 2 at SFO before next May, 2017? Here’s a link to the online version of the exhibition and here are links to an online Museum of Talking Boards and an online Oujia board you can use to communicate with a spirit of your choice.

All images courtesy SFO/ Eugene Orlando/Museum of Talking Boards

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.

Spooky Tuesday in Kentucky

October 4, 2016Harriet BaskasMuseumsHalloween, Kentucky Historical Society

Greetings from Kentucky!

I’m based in Lexington, Kentucky this week to learn about what it takes to ship valuable racing horses to and from horse country. (Stay tuned for my article about that). And yes, learning a bit about bourbon.

But just 25 miles down the road from Lexington is the city of Frankfort – the capital of Kentucky – and the home of the Kentucky Historical Society and the Thomas Clark Center for Kentucky History, where I had the chance to have a reunion with this doll named Jimmy in the collection.

I learned about Jimmy when putting together my Hidden Treasures book – about things museums can’t or won’t show you- and was told back then that Jimmy stays locked away most of the time because he’s too creepy looking – even for museum staff members – and because he had been found in parts of the storage area where no one remembered putting him.

Jimmy and some other creepy items from the collection – including cursed furniture and a cast of Daniel Boone’s skull – will be on view October 27 during the museum’s Creepy Kentucky event but just spending a few minutes with the doll is enough for me..

Get ready for Star Trek’s 50th anniversary

August 31, 2016Harriet BaskasExhibits, MuseumsEMP Museum, National Air and Space Museum, Star Trek 50

The 50th anniversary of the airing of the first Star Trek episode on TV is coming up on September 8 and there are a wide array of parties and special events lined up to mark the day. I’ve got a round-up of those in the works for CNBC, but in the meantime, here are two Star Trek-themed museum exhibits you can visit right now to get in the mood.

In Seattle, the EMP Museum is hosting Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds, an artifact and prop-filled exhibition that offers a unique view of the show.

And in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum recently put the restored model of the USS Enterprise used in all the TV episodes back on display.

PHX Airport celebrates National Park Centennial

August 9, 2016Harriet BaskasExhibits, History, MuseumsNational Parks, Phoenix Sky Harbor

Grand Canyon, 1932, courtesy of Grand Canyon National Park

The National Park Service turns 100 this year and to celebrate the Phoenix Airport Museum at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has put together an exhibition showcasing the diverse range of Arizona’s National Park offerings.

Each of Arizona’s parks is represented with historic images and objects.

Flagstaff Black on White Bowl, 1100s, clay, courtesy of Wupatki National Monument

The selection includes ancient pottery from early cultures, a button from a Buffalo Soldier’s uniform, a fossil cast of an early reptile from pre-historic times and a boat that was used by Otis ‘Dock’ Marston in 1963 for a complete traverse of the Grand Canyon. There is even a slab of petrified wood that lived 225 million years ago.

On August 25 – from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – two National Park Rangers from Arizona parks will be in the PHX Gallery in Terminal 4 answering questions and offering more information about the Find Your Park in Arizona exhibit, which is on display through Jan. 29, 2017.

Free museums this weekend

August 4, 2016Harriet BaskasFree Stuff, MuseumsAlder Planetarium, AVAM, Free museum admission, Morris Museum, Museums on Us

When I’m not in an airport, I’m checking out museums – especially on the first weekend of each month when the Museums on Us program gives Bank of America cardholders free access to more than 150 museums and cultural institutions around the country.

Ivory telescope from the Alder Plantarium

If I could zip around the country, I’d use my bank card to gain free access this weekend to the Alder Planetarium in Chicago (general admission: $12), to see the telescope collection and the temporary exhibition that explores the post-Pluto question: What is a Planet?.

I’d also head to American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore to see the Big Hope Show – which is closing soon – and to Morristown, New Jersey to see the Toothpick World exhibition and the fortune -tellers, gambling machines and other early coin-operated entertainment machines at the Morris Museum.

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.

Side trip Tuesday: antique arcade amusements

July 5, 2016Harriet BaskasMuseumsantique amusements, Arace machines, coin-op machines, Morris Museum

In the early 20th century, all it took was a nickel, or maybe a dime, to bring to life the vending machines, gambling devices and other coin-operated mechanical amusements in “For Amusement Only,” an exhibition on view through October 10 at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey.

My slide-show about the exhibit first appeared on CNBC.com, but here’s a preview of some fun arcade items from the show:

The Seaside Musicians played several melodies and had wooden cams to provide animation that allowed the musicians’ heads to turn from side to side and their arms to play the musical instruments. A coin would buy about a minute-long performance.

Some machines offered a few minutes of music or entertainment in exchange for a coin, others delivered products such as postage stamps, tobacco, cigarettes and sweets.

The Automatic Chicken clucked and dispensed (from its rear end) either an actual hardboiled egg or an egg-shaped tin with candy or treats.

Fortune telling machines based on early models such as this one, called “Grandmother Predictions” (circa 1932), can still be found in some modern-day arcades

See the full For Amusement Only slide-show here.

(All photos courtesy of the Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey)

Around the world in paper models

April 17, 2016Harriet BaskasMuseumspaper models, travel

As souvenirs go, paper models are easy to transport, but can sometimes be challenging to put together when you get home.

Anyone who has tried that will appreciate the exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., which features selections from a 4,500-piece collection of architectural paper models representing buildings, cultures, and countries from Austria to Wales.

The collection includes examples of hand-drawn castles, intricate cathedrals with water-colored gardens, and micro-models smaller than a postcard and will be on display through April, 2017.

Some are shown flat; others are copied and constructed in 3-D and after touring the exhibit, visitors will get the chance to build their own models.

All paper models in this exhibition are from the Kemnitzer Paper Model Collection housed at the National Building Museum and represent all 50 states and multiple countries, as well as many imaginary buildings such as farms, forts, villages, skyscrapers, and castles.

Here are some samples:

Want to make your own model? Here are links to some downloadable samples, including the National Building Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture and a suspension bridge.