The Smithsonian Institute is transporting
History From D.C. to K.C.
Photos by Steve Puppe
Story by John Collar
t is the stuff that history is made of.
it the stuff that history is made.
More than 300 treasures from the Smithsonian Institution's collections
are making a stop at Portle Hall is
are making a stop at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City, Mo. America's Smithsonian includes an array of items distilled from the Smithsonian's 16 museums, including: an Arapaho ghost dance dress dating from about 1890, Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, Amelia Earhart's leather flight suit, formal gowns of first ladies Mamie Eisenhower and Bess Truman and a jade dagger-ax from China that dates from 1700-1500 B.C.
Humphrey said that the exhibition's visit to Kansas City would be a great benefit to the city.
He said that the Smithsonian had been a leader in science and in the museum fields.
Philip Humphrey, who worked at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in the 1960s, is director emeritus of the Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas.
"The Smithsonian Institution is the nation's preeminent complex of museums," Humphrey said. "The only thing close to it would be the British Museum."
The unique nature of the exhibit was not lost on 9-year-old Beth Harrington of Omaha, Neb., who made the trip to the exhibit with her family. She said that the ruby slippers were the highlight of the exhibit.
"It was just really neat seeing them," Harrington said. "I never thought I would see them."
Lyle Anderson, 70, also of Omaha, said that the Beckley farm wagon, which dates from about 1860, stirred memories of his own family on the Great Plains.
He said that his grandparents home- steeded near Elgin, Neb., in the 1880s.
Anderson said that he was amazed by many of the items in the exhibit.
"Now if I could find my wife, I'd be in good shape," he said.
From eight to 10 million people are expected to visit the exhibit during its two year, 12-city tour. Kansas City is the second stop on the tour, which opened in Los Angeles.
Mary Combs, press officer for the exhibit, said that just assembling the exhibit cost about $8 million, and about three dozen tractor-trailers were used to transport the items.
America's Smithsonian is the largest exhibition that the Smithsonian — or any
America's Smithsonian will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily through Sunday, May 19 at Bartle Hall in the Kansas City Convention Center, 301 W. 13th St. in Kansas City, Mo.
Admission is free, but tickets are required for visitors who are 4 years and older.
Same-day admission tickets will be distributed from 8:30 a.m. until that day's supply is exhausted at the box office at Kemper Arena, 1800 Genesee. Parking at Kemper is free.
To order advance tickets, call 1-
800-913-TOUR. A $3.50 service fee
will be charged for each ticket
ordered by telephone (credit cards
only). Up to 20 tickets may be ordered
in advance.
museum — has ever put on tour, said J. Michael Carrigan, the project director.
"This is the first time that the first ladies' gowns have ever left the National Museum of American History," Carrigan said. "It is also the first time that Abraham Lincoln's hat will be seen by the public in many years. And it's the first time the Wright brothers' biplane, the Vin Fliz, has traveled in the United States."
Carrigan, who graduated from Benedictine College in Atchison and the Kansas City Art Institute, said that the directors of each of the Smithsonian's museums were involved in assembling the exhibit.
"We wanted to select objects that would appeal to the widest possible audience across the country," he said.
The exhibit is divided into three areas: Discovering, Remembering and Imagining. The Discovery section contains items relating to science and the natural world, such as beetles, butterflies and moths. This area also has the compass used on the Lewis and Clark expedition. The Remembering section has historical and anthropological items, such as a jersey from the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and Dizzy Gillespie's B-flat trumpet and case. The Imagining area houses art works such as Auguste Rodin's bronze statue, Walking Man and a jade double vase from China's Ming Dynasty.
A big part of making the exhibit a success is left to volunteers from the Kansas City area, said Mary Ann Hale, volunteer coordinator. About 650 volunteers will perform such tasks as taking tickets and providing information to visitors.
"This whole event has electrified our city," Hale said. "We just think it's a really wonderful event for all of us."
Top: This car is one of only 51 made by Preston Tucker in 1948. It has a modified helicopter engine in the rear. Left: This spacesuit was worn by astronaut David Scott on the Apollo 15 space flight launched on July 26, 1971. Above left: These are the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz. Above right: Astronauts trained on lunar rovers like the one on display before Apollo 15, 16 and 17.
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Weird Topics
Nudity in the news in February: Richmond, Texas, police charged two teenagers with aggravated robbery. As a ruse to prevent being identified, the two teen-agers had removed their clothes and walked around the neighborhood pretending to be carjacking victims who had been robbed and stripped. And Virginia legislator Robert E. Nelms was arrested for indecent exposure in Richmond Park. He explained that "the rushing river had its effect on my bladder." Also, 40 people attended the first Christian Nudist Conference in Longwood, N.C., where both robed and unrobed
ministers distributed communlon, and naked karaoke was the featured distraction.
Hilltopics
In the middle of a cabinet meeting in Accra in December, the president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, 49, brawled with vice president Nkensent Arkaah, 68. According to Arkaah, Rawlings punched him to the floor and then repeatedly kicked him in the groin because of a policy dispute.
The U.S. Justice Department recently conducted a sting operation against some Chicago officials who were suspected of taking payments for facilitating illegal dumping. As the identity of the sting agent became known to the
public, state Sen. Ricky Hendon, who was formerly a Chicago alderman who had, in the past, been suspected of corruption, told reporters proudly that he had resisted the pressure by the sting agent. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Hendon said, "I hope I get some points for not being corrupt this one time."
Noted eating champion Mort Hurst, who once ate 16 double-deck Moon Pies in 10 minutes and 38 eggs in 29 seconds (which resulted in a stroke in 1991), announced in January that he would run for secretary of state of North Carolina against race-car legend Richard Petty. Asked if he was intimidated by Petty's name, Hurst said no: "I been on Paul
April 15, 1996
The candidates for the Oregon Senate from the 8th District include Thomas Wilde, a Democrat who, if he wins the primary in May, will face his wife, Republican Melinda Wilde, in the general election. Thomas started out as Melinda's campaign manager but discovered that the two hardly agreed on anything. And running for the Missouri Senate seat from Concordia are husband Al, a Democrat, and wife Janette Hanson, a Republican, who both face challengers in the August primary.
The Oklahoma Senate passed a bill in February that would end the emerging
Harvey's [radio] show; I don't think Pettyhs."
bar sport of bear-wrestling, in which men fight small, declawed bears. The maximum penalty for illegal bear wrestling would be $5,000. Sen. Penny Williams successfully introduced an unrelated amendment to the bill raising the fine for abusing a former or current spouse, but she could get agreement to raise the fine for that to only $2,000.
No one voted in the 25th Precinct in Tulsa, Olda., in the city council primary in February. The county believes no one has lived in the precinct for 20 years but operates the polling place for 12 hours every election day because if someone does want to vote and can't, the entire election could be negated.
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