November 2010

In Indiana, the Canal was built mostly by Irish immigrants using shovels, picks, wheelbarrows, and the horse-drawn slip-scoop. By 1837, there were 1000 laborers employed on the state's canal system. During the harvest season in the mid 19th century, the canal was an ideal means of transportation for extra crops and livestock. Good roads were non-existent, as much of Indiana was still a wilderness with well-established towns mostly on the Ohio and along the Wabash and Whitewater Rivers.

Nestled in the scenic rolling Ice Age Kettle Moraine countryside of Eastern Wisconsin, this 60-acre outdoor interpretive museum of local history features 25 historic buildings with period furnishings from Manitowoc County's Authentic Norwegian and Bohemian/German log houses show how immigrant settlers lived more than 125 years ago.
A self-guided Nature Trail winds past native trees and shrubs. Interpretive signs provide information on the area's glacial origins, vegetation and early settlement. Special programs and festivals are held throughout the year.

The center contains artifacts from the past of the county, from its settlement to its maritime history.  The center also holds the records and library of the county historical society.

The original museum is four historic log structures that have been relocated and connected together. It includes the only remaining building of the American Fur Company complex built at La Pointe in 1835, making it the oldest structure on Madeline Island. That building is adjoined to an old barn, the former La Pointe town jail, and the Old Sailor's Home, which had been built as a memorial to a drowned sailor.

For centuries the Ojibwe people have lived near Lake Superior and Madeline Island is still the heart of their heritage and spirituality. The American Fur Company room tells their story through extraordinary beaded objects, clothing and tools used in daily life.  Also, explorer and fur trade artifacts illustrate the growth of these important enterprises on the island. They reflect the mixing of the French, British, American and Indian cultures and reveal how profoundly they influenced each other to create one unique island culture. These influences are still felt today.

The assassination of President Kennedy changed the city—and the world—forever. As a tribute to this extraordinary man, John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza was dedicated on June 24, 1970. In the years since it has become an integral part of Dallas' urban landscape and cultural heritage.

While aesthetically simple, the intent of the Kennedy Memorial is often misunderstood. Renowned American architect Philip Johnson designed the structure as a thoughtful piece of art intended for reflection and remembrance. Johnson’s design is a "cenotaph," or open tomb, that symbolizes the freedom of John F. Kennedy’s spirit.

The memorial is a square, roofless room, 30 feet high and 50-feet-by-50-feet wide. Visitors enter the room after a short walk up a slight concrete incline that is embossed with concrete squares. Once inside, visitors see a low-hewn granite square in which John Fitzgerald Kennedy's name is carved. The letters have been painted gold to capture the light from the "floating" white column walls and the pale concrete floor. These words are the only ones in the empty room.

The main gallery of the Museum shows the link between birds and meat-eating dinosaurs (theropods), which is one of the most complete transitions known from the fossil record. Skeletal casts exhibit the most complete display of theropods and primitive birds as compared to the major natural history museums in the country. The Museum provides a primer on dinosaurs - what they were, how we know they existed, what they looked like, how they behaved, how and why they were alike and different, and what happened to them.

The Carthage Institute of Paleontology is housed in the Museum, and it is dedicated to the preparation and conservation of real dinosaur fossils.

Through state-of-the-art museum technology, life-size dioramas, and interactive engaging exhibits, visitors travel back in history to the social, political and economic influences that contributed to the Civil War.

The 15,000 square feet permanent exhibit gallery tells the stories of those whose lives were changed by the Civil War and how those people shaped the course of American history. This gallery showcases significant Civil War artifacts important to the regional and national Civil War story using life-scale, interactive exhibits, and audio and video technology.

From the homefront, to the railroad and waterways, to the battlefront and back home again, the Civil War is seen through the eyes of soldiers, nurses, spouses, children, clergymen, slaves, tradesmen, and the others who lived it. Experience the battlefront, the incredible logistics and resources that were required to mount the war effort, and the deep emotions that tore families apart.

Established in 1933, the Museum's collections have grown to over 70,000, including almost 1,000 works in the fine arts collection. Exhibit programming includes world cultures, Native Americans, zoology, geology, fossils, and fine and decorative arts.

The Wisconsin Story is an immersive experience placing the Museum collections in an exciting multi-disciplinary adventure. Visitors will experience the change in climate, the development of a variety of ecosystems, the evolution of plants and animals, and the life of Native Americans as it happened in our area over hundreds of thousands of years.

Highlights of the first floor exhibits include coral reefs and primitive monsters of the deep, the Ice Age and the eventual melting of glaciers, the Schaefer mammoth dig, the Hebior mammoth replica, and the story of Native Americans of Wisconsin.

The Kenosha History Center includes two museum galleries: The Yesteryear Gallery and the Rambler Legacy Gallery. The Yesteryear Gallery shows what life was like in 19th Century Kenosha County. The Gallery includes a blacksmith exhibit. The Rambler Legacy Gallery looks at Kenosha in the 20th Century with changing exhibits. It focuses on the growth of the automotive industry, featuring a rotating collection of antique cars. An Archive houses the collections of the Kenosha Historical Society: papers, maps, manuscripts, records, photographs, and newspapers. The Southport Light Station is located on the museum site.

The museum includes a collection of Native American arrowheads, an exhibit of stuffed birds, Victorian dresses and dolls, memoribilia from Jefferson's military past, and artifacts of the city's daily life over the past century.