Edited at 6:15p to include new information.
Some 18 years after the Kenosha Public Museum opened the doors to its new home on the lakefront, the building is finally complete.
On Monday, the natural history museum unveiled a new $1 million, 3,500 sq. ft, permanent exhibit titled “From Curiosity to Science.”
The new exhibit fills much of the museum's 2nd floor, an area that up until now featured a series of temporary displays, made necessary because the museum didn't have the cash at the time of construction to follow through on plans to build a permanent exhibit on the 2nd floor.
The new exhibit has two components.
Visitors will see displays of taxidermy animals from 6 different ecosystems like forests, marshes and water---and---specimens---artifacts---and---artwork from around the world---as well as interactive games for all ages. Nancy Matthews, who helped coordinate the exhibit, said many of the pieces on display have never been seen before. She added that the exhibit is interesting and entertaining for people of all ages.
The second component is a journey of discovery that begins in the 1600s with the so-called Curiosity Cabinets that are the beginnings of modern museums. Museum Director Dan Joyce said that as early as the 1600s adventurers, royalty, missionaries and wealthy people were traveling the world and returning to Europe with what, today, we call souvenirs . They displayed them, for their friends, in so-called Curiosity Cabinets.
Many of the items on display sat in storage for years. The new exhibit with its global outlook dovetails from the regional approach taken on the museum's first floor.
Full information on the new exhibit is available on-line at: www.museums.kenosha.org
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