Way Out West Exhibit
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his exhibit, the centerpiece of the Museum of Idaho for years to come, will tell the world’s biggest and most balanced story about East Idaho, convey a diversity of voices, and offer a range of exciting and enlightening experiences for learners of all ages and all types. Located in downtown Idaho Falls, in this exhibit will feature significant artifacts Visiters to the museum will be immursed in the human and the environmental story of the state and the West, from its first inhabitants through today. The Way Out West Exhibit features significant artifacts and fun interactive elements spread across seven themed galleries. Join the first inhabitants of ancient Idaho as they followed big game, seasonal plants, and water. Compare fossils and try your hand at bringing down a 14-foot-tall Columbian mammoth using an augmented-reality atlatl. Trace the path of the seething Yellowstone Hotspot as it shaped the Snake River Plain and America’s first national park, and see for yourself why Idaho is called the “Gem State.” Saunter along the stocked storefronts of a late-19th century town and meet the intrepid pioneers who transformed it from Wild West to cultured community. From the Shoshone and Bannock to trappers, miners, and home-
steaders, learn what brought people to Idaho, see how they survived, and interact with the objects they carried on their way. Come face to face with stories of progressive inclusion and oppressive exclusion, and the complicated path of a strangely shaped state both difficult to traverse and difficult to govern. Confront the ideas that have defined Idaho’s image and the innovations have challenged it, create chain reactions on a massive “ball wall,” and gaze out into the future. The Village Improvement Society – a club founded by Idaho Falls women in 1898 to beautify and bring culture to their wild, dusty frontier town – secured a $15,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation to build a public library at the intersection of Eastern Avenue and Elm Street. The Idaho Falls Public Library, erected between 1914 and 1916, served the town in that location until 1977, before outgrowing the building and moving a few blocks away. Meanwhile, the Bonneville County Historical Society (BCHS), which had their eye on the building, opened a small museum in the basement of the Bonneville County Courthouse in 1979. The BCHS lobbied to save the library building, getting it placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and raising funds for its renovation. The Bonneville Museum moved in in 1985. Volunteers ran each element, including creating the original Idaho history exhibits, some of which still remain on display. Open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, 1-5 p.m.,, adult tickets are $13. For more information, visit https://museumofidaho.org/visit/
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