The last museum, for this visit anyway

Thursday May 15, 2014
Greenbelt National Park, Greenbelt, Maryland

 

 

 

Yes it’s two days in a row of museums and the 40 minute walk each way to the metro.  Does this man look like he is bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders as he walks down the lovely metro path lined with tulip poplar flowers?

 

The reason for two days in a row is something I forgot to mention in my last post.   Lest you think the rain has left me, rest assured that we could not go outside on Monday or Tuesday for all the rain.  Thus Wednesday and Thursday in DC.

 

 

Today we opted for the National Museum of American History which turned out to be a bit of a mistake for two reasons.
#1 the weather was glorious and we should have gone to the outdoor monuments….Jefferson, Washington, MLK, FDR etc.
#2 every senior class on the entire east coast was doing their class trip to D.C.    I think week-ends in May might be great times to visit since there was nothing like this in the NMAI on Sunday.

We got a late start since we wanted to do some packing up for our move tomorrow in what they say will be heavy rains.  Even so we got to the museum about 10:30 BEFORE the kids started showing up and making entrance lines down the stairs and down the block seriously.  There was only one small group taking their class picture when we arrived so we had NO idea what was to come.

 

 

Once again we decided to take a docent led tour which was absolutely wonderful and really helped us know to which exhibits we wanted to return after that 90 minutes.  Our guide Kerry was excellent so if you go, I hope you are lucky enough to get him.

 

Who isn’t interested in food?  This exhibit featured Julia Child and had her home kitchen as well as segments of her TV show and other items French cooking fans would enjoy.  One interesting thing was that in her kitchen the counters are all very high since she was over 6’ tall.   My complaint, when I was younger, was always that the counters were too tall.  I couldn’t use a cutting knife to chop properly until we furnished the farmhouse with authentic Hoosier cupboards made apparently when farmer’s wives were short. 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite exhibits today is America on the Move which had wonderful displays of transportation methods beginning with the Conestoga Wagon of the 18th Century, through the steam train, the trolley and the earliest electric automobiles..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Street cars were very popular all over the country.  Many cities are now regretting removing those tracks.

 

 

In the early 20th century, Americans could choose electric, steam or gasoline cars.  Many city residents drove electric cars because of their smooth ride, simple operation and the availability of electricity for charging batteries.  Early gasoline cars were noisy, smoky and difficult to start but they could be driven longer distances (sound familiar??).   The model on the right has a mirror on the floor so you can see the engine.  David really enjoyed this.

 

 

 

H. Nelson Jackson from Burlington Vermont set out to drive this car across the country in 1903.  At that time there were almost no roads so he, his mechanic Sewall Crocker, and his dog were often stranded.  Despite mud, washouts, breakdowns and a lack of roads and bridges, they finished their trip from New York to California.

 

 

 

This exhibit of the young girl and her daddy farmer who drove a school bus during the depression reminded me of my mother’s stories of her farmer father driving a bus at that same time.  Like this girl, she rode along with him to her rural school.

 

 

 

The exhibits brought up stories for each of us.  When David was a young boy visiting his grandparents in Oklahoma several of the boys had one of these Cushman Pacemaker Scooters (left).  He has great memories of ramming around on it.

 

 

 

The museum’s exhibits are full of interactive opportunities like this old 50’s TV showing short clips of ‘Leave it to Beaver’ whose family had one of these Ford Country Squire Station Wagons from 1955.

 

 

 

I inherited a Schwinn bicycle like this one from my father’s sister.  He had bought it for her when he was home on leave from WW II the war.  Later, when she was grown,  he refurbished it for me.  Unfortunately she’s a good 5” taller than I am so the bike was always bigger and heavier than I liked.  But I used it for years to bike over to the library every Saturday to sit in the window seat and read.

 

 

And of course who can forget the big fins and boat cars of the 60’s like this 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible.

 

 

But of course our favorite exhibit is the RV.  The exhibit explains that during the depression thousands of Americans took to living in their trailers year round (sound familiar?) Because trailer residents could pull up stakes easily, and because they did not pay real estate taxes, “trailerites” were seen as a social problem.   Wonder if that will happen again?  Are we social problems?

 

 

This 1934 Travel-L-Coach house trailer is equipped with beds, kitchen, dining area, heat and electric lights.  More than 300 small firms made wooden vacation trailers in the 30’s.

 

 

 

A second favorite favorite exhibit is the entitled The Early Sixties: American Culture.   Lots of things here we remember from elementary, middle and high school. 

How many of you had to do the take cover drills?  Or bought a hamburger, fries and a coke for 15 cent each? Forty five cents for a meal.  Or a milk shake for 22 cents??

 

 

 

 

Rachel warned us in 1962 but we’re still not really listening.

 

And then there was “women’s liberation, ” helped along a great deal by the birth control pill.  Did you or your mother have a dispenser like this?

 

 

 

They highlighted 1964 with a number of 50 year old newspaper headlines on the floor.  These are only a few.  Really interesting to know all of these things happened in the same year.  Clever way to display them I thought.

 

 

 

 

 

The museum also has a variety of iconic items.  Here are just a few. How many do you recognize?  Try to guess and I’ll tell you below the pictures.  Be as specific as you can for full credit Class.  And let me know how many you get correct so I can mark it in my book ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the answers:

#1 of course Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz
#2 one of the suits worn by Abraham Lincoln every day of his Presidency
#3 the desk Thomas Jefferson used for writing the Declaration of Independence
#4 the lunch counter from the Greensboro Woolworth’s where the Feb 1st 1960 sit too place
#5 Harry Potter’s Gryffindor Cape
#6 The FIRST issue of Mother Earth News.  Did you guess the date?  January 1970
#7 The famous Miss Piggy.  Did you know that she was not a Muppet but created by Frank Oz for The Muppet Show (1974-81).  She debuted in 1974 on the show Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.

 

They also had a small exhibit entitled Stories on Money with many coins and bills.  Here’s my favorite and your last little bit of information so that when you get one you’ll recognize that Woodrow Wilson is on the $100,000 bill.

 

 

 

Our time at the Smithsonian is up.  This evening we see Carrie and Matthew to say good bye.  We are going out to dinner with Carrie but Matthew is the leader of his soccer team and they are #1 currently and playing #2 tonight so he won’t be able to make it.

We get some nice pictures of them both before he leaves.  We also get to see Lila the Fraidy Cat before we head out for dinner to which our daughter treats us.   Thank you Carrie!   Isn’t it amazing when the tables are turned and your children pay your way. 

 

 

Once again, we have perfect end to a nice day in DC.  We sure hope Carrie, and Matthew if they can arrange it, will be able to come visit us on the road this summer.  

We’re off tomorrow to French Creek State Park in Pennsylvania and from there to Shawnee State Park and then to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.   If you are anywhere near any of those places, give us a shout!

For those who have asked how I remember all this, I promise to tell you my methods in my next post.