Tour
Description
This hour-long, behind-the-scenes walking tour explores the museum’s “vault,”
an underground climate-controlled preservation center that is home to more than
100,000 artifacts. Guided by museum curators, this entertaining and educational
presentation explores the artifacts, the stories they hold about Iowa’s
rich history, and how the museum collects, catalogs, preserves, studies, cares
for, and displays them.
About 10% of the museum’s
collection is on display in public exhibits at any given time. The balance of
the collection is stowed beneath the museum where artifacts are repaired, restored,
preserved and protected in an in-house conservation laboratory. Curators rotate
artifacts into and out of the “vault” as new exhibits are developed.
The museum collection,
established in 1892, maintains many types of artifacts, including Civil War battle
flags, natural history artifacts, textiles & clothing, quilts (including the
famous Mary Barton Quilt Research Collection), political campaign & Iowa Caucus
materials, and Native American artifacts.
The variety of the collection is
broad and diverse, reflecting nearly every aspect of human history in Iowa. Among
the many unusual and interesting items, the museum currently has a log cabin,
cars, and square grand pianos... even a can of Spam.
Iowans' interaction with the natural
world is also reflected in specimens from the animal world, including samples
of real animal dung (used for fueling fires), stuffed animals and dioramas dating
back to the mid-1800s, and an albino deer.
Tour participants may also
see many road signs and signs, a petrified beaver corkscrew underground burrow,
a stuffed rooster, “Jack Pershing” used by Iowa farmers to raise funds
during World War I for the Red Cross, old cars, an early Iowa State Patrol motorcycle,
antique furniture, and the huge neon Traveler’s Life sign that was a downtown
Des Moines landmark for generations.
Tour
Dates and Times
Tours
will be held at 10:30 a.m. on the third Saturday of
every month.
Admission
and Tickets
Tour admission is $12 for
adults, $8 for children 7 to 12 years of age. Parents are encouraged to accompany
children on the tours. Members of the State
Historical Society of Iowa receive a 10% discount.
Tours sell-out quickly,
so make reservations far in advance! For the next available tour date and to reserve
and order tour tickets, call (515) 283-1757 or e-mail museum.store@iowa.gov.
Tickets may also be ordered at
The Museum Store, located in the State Historical Building; and online
at the Museum Store, but call first to find out what dates are still available!
Tours are limited to groups
of 20 so the public is encouraged to purchase tickets in advance.
Museum tour proceeds provide
funding for care and preservation of the Historical Museum collection.
General museum information,
location and hours »
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