Museum of Science and Industry – Clef Notes Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

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Museums Winter 2023

Frozen in Time: Pompei 2.0

February 7, 2023 Isaac Jacobs Museum of Science and Industry

There are many, many events in our history that would prove tempting should one be able to to travel back in time to view up close. There are few that we can glean for an absolute certainty, the facts thereof. One such event is catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., marking the sharp end of activity in the life of Pompeii. Now an archaeological site in Italy’s southern Campania region, Pompeii is a city frozen in time, preserved by meters of centuries-old ash and pumice to give us a picture of life during the moments it came to a cataclysmic end.

Art Autumn 2021 Museums

Marvel Up Close and Personal

October 1, 2021 Patrick Curran Museum of Science and Industry

Growing up, my friends and I all had our favorite, go-to Marvel Comic superheroes. The number of which is a long and varied. Spanning over 80 years, with iconic heroes like Captain America, Spider-Man, The Thor and Black Panther and larger-than-life villains like Doctor Doom, Magneo and Thanos, the library of super-personas emanating from the Marvel universe has always offered great fodder for escape, creating written storylines that have gone one to become part of American culture. Today more than ever, that is true, with the library branching out into the cinematic universe. Marvel has become more than just a niche escape for fans of comic fantasy seemingly influencing everything from commerce to culture. It’s contemporary popularity notwithstanding, Marvel Comics and characters have actually been influencing popular American culture, in some form, for over the last 80 years. A new exhibition at The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) entitled Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes and its curator, Ben Saunders, hope to enlighten visitors about Marvel’s true influence while bringing to life the legendary characters we’ve all come to know.

Museums Spring 2020

The Stories They Tell

March 29, 2020 Isaac Jacobs Museum of Science and Industry, U-505 Submarine Exhibit

History is all about storytelling, conveying not only facts and figures but facets of daily life, hopes, dreams and the very ethos that surrounded an event or time of interest. These are the meat and bones of truly meaningful stories of the past, stories that not only depict ideas about a historical period or event, but those that convey the very humanity of those central to the period’s focus. One of the best ways to tell such stories is through access to a physical place, ephemera or items stemming from the period or time in question. Examining such items and spaces offers a first-hand look at how a historical subject lived, their chief concerns, their daily life and the culture in which they lived.