The full-day program included a curator talk. Photograph © 2008, Missouri History Museum.

Many organizations turn to the Missouri History Museum for assistance in developing educational and entertaining programs for their own membership. When Elderhostel, an educational travel organization for older adults, contacted Tami Goldman (cultural tourism/special projects manager) at MHM to create a full-day program at the Museum, she was eager for the opportunity to attract a large group of adults. She knew immediately the topic that would most appeal to the audience—the 1904 World’s Fair. “It’s interesting, has great stories of life in that era, and explores many different cultures,” she said.

While it’s true that any visitor can come to the Museum and experience the permanent World’s Fair exhibit "Looking Back at Looking Forward," a full-day, customized program affords the chance to delve further, and in the case of Elderhostel, helps to reacquaint a segment of the population with the Museum and all its facets.

				A docent orients the group before entering the exhibition. Photograph © 2008, Missouri History Museum.

The program included a curator talk, a docent-led tour through the World’s Fair exhibition, a one-person theater performance, a motor coach tour around Forest Park that showed former sites of the Fair, and a screening of the film The World's Greatest Fair.

Curator Sharon Smith discussed how the fairgrounds were constructed, including the burying of the River Des Peres beneath the grounds of what is now MHM. She explained that many of the magnificent palaces were made of a material called staff (a mixture of plaster, cement, and fiber) because the buildings were designed to be temporary. The intentional impermanence of the construction was news to attendee Carolyn Licht, of Columbia, Missouri, who remarked, “I thought to myself, ‘We live in a throwaway society.’” Afterward, attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss such topics as classical architecture of the Fair versus looking forward at new technologies.

Attendees view a map of the fairgrounds during the docent-led tour. Photograph © 2008, Missouri History Museum.

Originally from Texas, Licht said she has tried to learn as much as she can about Missouri history since moving to Columbia. “I think programs that teach are important so that we can learn about our history and know how to look forward,” she said. “And I liked that one-day, close-by aspect of the program.”

The World's Fair topic had wide-ranging appeal for the attendees, bringing in people from Springfield, Peoria, and Carbondale, Illinois. Elderhostel member John Pohlmann came from Carbondale, mostly to learn about the Fair through the eyes of his grandmother, who visited when she was in her twenties. “I was raised in St. Louis, and the World’s Fair was still being talked about in my family, especially by my paternal grandmother,” Pohlmann explained. “She told stories about going to the Fair. I cannot remember the details now, but the gist was she and her friends would get on a streetcar and go the Fair.”

				Elizabeth Pickard performs in "Postcards from the Fair." Photograph © 2008, Missouri History Museum.

MHM's Goldman said that working with Elderhostel was a natural fit. “Elderhostel focuses on providing programs that are both entertaining and educational. But education is number one, which is in line with our mission here at the Museum,” she said. “For example, our theater performance of Postcards from the Fair is actually a history lesson. You are laughing at the humor in it, but it’s also starting to make sense in an educational way.”

Bill Crawford, president emeritus of the Boone County Historical Society in Columbia, said that such programs are important, especially for newer generations. “Every day you have to bring this history back to people,” he said. “They are unaware of the significance of this history until it is interpreted for them, and that is what today’s program is about.”

Historian Cullom Davis, from Springfield, Illinois, was already quite familiar with the day’s topic but was drawn to the unique aspects of the program. “It intrigued me to have an opportunity for deeper exposure, through the artifacts and the film,” he said. “I like to read, see, hear, and touch, and we are using all of our senses today.”

A docent discusses the construction materials used in the buildings and palaces of the World's Fair. Photograph © 2008, Missouri History Museum.

Davis added that he also enjoyed the group dynamic of the Elderhostel program. He said, "It always helps to be around people who have the same interests."

The World’s Fair program, which was offered on three dates, quickly sold out. “I hope that the program provided a more in-depth understanding and a greater appreciation of the 1904 World’s Fair,” Goldman said. MHM plans to do more programs with Elderhostel in 2009, continuing their commitment to keep history alive.

 

Community Stories