New Exhibit at History Museum of Mobile Highlights Innovative Spirit

Jan 3rd, 2012

On January 22, 2012, the History Museum of Mobile, located at 111 S. Royal Street in downtown Mobile, will open its first exhibition of the New Year. Contraptions, Gizmos, Gadgets, Whatsits, Widgets, Doodads, Thingamajigs, & So Much More, the exhibit explores the social effects of the American Industrial Revolution and illuminates the spirit of innovation and ingenuity that persists during today’s hard financial times.

Gizmos charts a wide path through U.S. social history, highlighting America’s move to town in the early twentieth century, electrification, child labor laws, and the early efforts at reform that eventually became known as the Progressive Era. Though broad in scope, the exhibit has particular emphasis on several lesser-known aspects of Mobile history, including the growth of the city’s industrial appeal during the early twentieth century and local inventors like John Fowler, a contemporary of the Wright Brothers.

Gizmos is a highly interactive exhibit with several hands-on activities exploring the six types of simple machines. Inspirational quotes placed throughout the exhibit from great American inventors such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Steve Jobs encourage the innovative spirit in all of us. “You don’t have to be a skilled artisan to appreciate this exhibit,” says David E. Alsobrook, Ph.D, Director of the History Museum of Mobile. “But I think since childhood we’ve all loved to tinker and build – whether it was with an A.C. Gilbert Erector Set, Handy Andy Tool Kit, Lincoln Logs, Legos, wooden blocks, or scraps from our father’s work bench. There is something inherently intriguing about the creative process that produces gadgets and gizmos.”

It seems appropriate that an exhibit about gadgets will allow visitors to utilize a device that almost everyone has, a smart phone. The museum has partnered with Kapesni, a new company that creates web-capable tours for museums, to create its first enhanced tour. Using their smart phones or other mobile device, visitors can access photos and additional information about the exhibit. The History Museum of Mobile is one of the first museums in the region to offer mobile-enhanced tours.

The exhibit is especially meaningful for the History Museum of Mobile for two reasons. It is the first of a series of exhibits produced entirely in-house, utilizing the museum’s unique collections and the talents of the curatorial staff. Last Fall, the museum adopted an ambitious schedule of future in-house exhibits on varying topics including the evolution of comic book superheroes, a chronicle of artist Roderick MacKenzie’s sojourn through India in the 1910s, and a panoramic exploration of the Africatown community. These exhibits will be designed to travel to other venues, presenting this region’s rich history, and History Museum of Mobile, to new audiences.

Gizmos marks the beginning of this new period in the museum’s commitment to illuminating and preserving our history, even in the midst of hard economic times. Alsobrook said “We hope that other museums in Alabama and our region might wish to acquire Gizmos as a traveling exhibit after it closes in Mobile.”

The second reason Gizmos is so meaningful is that it highlights many of the museum’s underutilized artifacts. Visitors will see a variety of interesting mechanical tools like a telegraph fire alarm system, hat sizer, tobacco cutter, and even a foot-powered dental drill. The exhibit presents many of the lesser-seen items in the museum’s collection of more than 80,000 artifacts, while, at the same time, demonstrating the importance of these items on an evolving society.

“These unique artifacts, drawn from our vast collections here at the museum, also complement a traveling exhibit, The Curious World of Patent Models, on loan from the Rothschild Family through April,” Alsobrook added. The patent models exhibit, which was organized by Smith Kraemer, includes fifty one-of-a-kind models of inventions that received U.S. Patents.

THE EXHIBITS:

Contraptions, Gizmos, Gadgets, Whatsits, Widgets, Doodads, Thingamajigs, & So Much More (produced by the History Museum of Mobile)

The Curious World of Patent Models

(Organized by the Rothschild Patent Model Collection and Smith Kraemer Traveling Exhibitions)

**Both exhibits will be open from January 22 through April 1, 2012**

THE HISTORY MUSEUM OF MOBILE: Located in the Old City Hall/ Southern Market at 111 South Royal Street in downtown Mobile, the History Museum of Mobile documents the 300-year history of Mobile and the surrounding region. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday 9:00 a.m.-5:00p.m. and Sunday from 1:00-5:00 p.m. Admission to the museum is $5.00 for adults, $4.00 for senior citizens, and $3.00 for students.

For more information on these exhibits, contact the museum at 251.208.7569 or visit the museum’s website www.museumofmobile.com.

For additional press inquiries, contact Scotty E. Kirkland, Curator of History, 251.208.7246 or scotty.kirkland@cityofmobile.org.

To book tours for schools or other groups, contact Jennifer Fondren, Curator of Education, 251.208.7510 or fondrenj@cityofmobile.org.