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Exhibit Explorer Guides

Exhibit Explorer Guides provide you with a series of five to six key stopping points within a gallery that help promote discussion and provide new ways to consider many of the Museum’s iconic treasures.

lionsEven if you've been coming to MPM for years, these guides will help you find something new in each gallery that you've never seen before!

Crow Gun Case

This Crow gun case was collected by Colonel J. J. Upham, a Milwaukee native, during his military service in the mid- to late 1800s on the Western frontier. Upham collected a variety of American Indian materials while stationed at military forts. His collection was donated to the Museum by his wife shortly after his death in 1898. The gun case is an excellent and rare example of Crow leather craftsmanship and bead working ability.

Item Image
gun case
Catalog Number
300
124

North America

Witness the changing landscape of North America and variety of flora and fauna that lives in far-flung environments, from the grizzly bear and Sitka spruce of the Northwest Coast to the American Crocodile of the mangrove thickets of the Everglades.

turkeysVisitors will also learn about Native peoples across the United States, and the variety of dwellings used by these peoples, from round earth lodges to pueblos.

Planetarium Newsletter - October 2017


Cosmic Curiosities

“The Harvest Moon glows round and bold, in pumpkin shades outlined in gold.”
~ Richelle Goodrich, American Author

Harvest Moon Effect

Imagine there was a full moon every night. A starry night sky would not be as spectacular, unfortunately, but there would be less need for streetlights. We’d probably have more songs and poems about the moon.

Kwakiutl Masks

Masks are highly valued by the Kwakiutl, serving as potent manifestations of ancestral spirits and supernatural beings and offering these supernatural entities temporary embodiment and communication through dance and other kinds of performance (Greenville 1998: 14). Masks also allow the wearer to undergo spiritual and social renewal, and serve as an outward manifestation of inward transformations (Pollock 1995: 588-590). However, Northwest Coast tribes do not all share the same myths or characters, nor do they necessarily use masks in the same way during their ceremonies (Malin 1978: 47).