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Past Exhibits
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| Selected portraits made by Steward's Studio in 1943 of local veterans. Display part of 2007's Veteran's Exhibit featuring mini-exhibit "Steward's Soldiers" and other Library of Congress Veterans History Project interviewees. |
Dedicated to the concept of rotating exhibits, the Powers Museum has featured the following main gallery offerings, as well as many other smaller displays and traveling exhibits in honor of community events and holidays, since its opening in 1988.
Please note that when exhibits on broader themes are presented, such as titles related to Missouri or Ozarks history, the Powers Museum develops smaller displays on specific local tie-ins to the themes and those materials are available after the exhibit closes for use by adult study groups, home-schoolers or area classroom teachers. Please contact the museum for further information on these services.
2007
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| 2007 "Mapping Missouri" traveling exhibit from the Missouri State Archives |
"Mapping Missouri"
from the Missouri State Archives
along with mini-display
"Mapping Carthage"
Click here to see two items from display.
"Veterans History Project: Selected 2006 & 2007 Interviewees"
Click here to learn more about the overall
project along with mini-display "Steward's Soldiers"
featuring WWII portraits from recent donation by Steward.
2006
"Letters of History"
Explored how the museum has used its archival collection (the highlight
of which is a 150+ box family letter collection created by the Wright
and Powers families) to identify artifacts in the collection and to relate
that artifact's story and significance to either the Wright-Powers families
or some other aspect of Carthage history.
Online document from this exhibit
An example of this is the "Christmas Spider Web" that was re-created in one corner of the gallery. The non-traditional method of Christmas gift distribution among the Wright family was discovered through various holiday letters written by both children and adults during the 1890s and early years of the twentieth century.
Although displayed before, the "Rose of Sharon" quilts pieced by Mrs. Marian Wright Powers while studying music in New York City in the spring of 1917, were displayed along with the letters that relate their construction progress and "trials" as reported home to husband Dr. Everett Powers.
In addition to the core exhibit, special mini-exhibits also were added throughout the year.
Company logo taken from letterhead stationary, 1905. Collection of Powers Museum Archives, all rights reserved.
"Reporting Back Home: Curtis Wright, Jr's Letters on the San Francisco
Earthquake"
In honor of the event's centennial, Curtis Wright and other Carthage investors
started Pacific Spring Bed Company in Oakland, CA. Using Leggett &
Platt patents, they manufactured and sold coil bed spring sets. Curtis'
numerous letters home to the various members of the Wright and Powers
families give a unique first-hand account of the earthquake and its effect
on the entire metropolitan area of San Francisco and Oakland.
Online document from this exhibit
"Harold Bell Wright & Mrs. Marian Wright Powers: Discussing Early
Ozarks Tourism"
This mini-display examined the limited correspondence between distant
cousins as they discuss the early development of Branson/Shepherd of the
Hills tourism in the 1920s and early 1930s. Also on view were selections
from the archives on the Ozark Playgrounds Association of which Carthage
was a long-time member.
Online document from this exhibit - Page 1
Online document from this exhibit - Page 2
"Send My Daddy for Christmas: A Daughter's Letters During WWI"
Letters of Captain Everett Powers, Mrs. Marian Wright Powers and Marian
"Toots" Powers (age 12) looked at life in Carthage and Camp
Dodge, Iowa during World War I. Also covered the 1918 influenza pandemic
and its effects on Carthage.
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| Marian Wright Powers in her wedding dress, 1903 |
2005
"Two Fashionable Ladies – Female Fashions
& Accessories"
from the Wright-Powers Family Collections
"Looking at Carthage in 1905 — Centennial Birth Year of R. Marlin Perkins & Marian Louisa Powers"
Exhibits USA traveling exhibit "Cool Breezes"
featuring fashionable fans of the 19th & 20th centuries and augmented
with selections from the Powers Museum collections.
Rogers (AR) Historical Musuem traveling exhibit "Here Comes
the Bride: Weddings in America"
Augmented with selections from the Powers Museum collections.
2004
Let's Play: Pastimes from the Past and
What's Cookin'?: Two Centuries of American Foodways,
both traveling exhibits from Rogers Historical Museum
Travels in the Interior of North America: The Maximilian-Bodmer
Expedition*
from the Joslyn Art Musuem
Mapping the Historic Landscape: Lewis & Clark Across Missouri*
from the Missouri State Archives
* In honor of museum's hosting of the Missouri Humanities Council's
Heartland Chautauqua (June 2004) honoring the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial
2003
Defense Begins at Home: Carthage Home Front During World War
II
Produce for Victory: Home Front Posters of the 1940s
from the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service & Museum on Main
Street program, courtesy the Missouri Humanities Council
Missouri Women of Exception
from the Missouri Women's Council
Click here to see some of the Carthage
women featured in state exhibit.
2002
Missouri Mule
from the Missouri State Museum
Ticket to the Past: First 25 Years of the Missouri State Fair
from the Missouri State Archives
Exploring Garden Transformations: 1900–2000
from the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service; hosted by the Ozark
Gateway Master Gardeners with special funding from the Helen S. Boylan
Foundation in honor of the Missouri Master Gardeners State Convention
hosted by Ozark Gateway
Textile Gardens: Powers Family Quilts
2001
Mirror Images: Daguerre and the First Photographic Process
from the International Photography Hall of Fame with images from
the Powers Museum Collection, Gift of Alice Light
2000—02
Carthage in the New Century
(3 versions exploring different years from 1899 to 1909)
 |
| Gallery view of "Bear's Paw" quilts from the Museum of the American Quilter's Society (2000), one of several MAQS traveling quilt exhibits hosted in past years by the Powers Museum . |
2000
Carthage in the 1860s
& 1870s
Jasper County Courthouse Quilts, 1895 & 1995
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| Introduction area of 1998 & 1999 exhibit, "Celebrating Ten Years of History" |
1998
& 1999
Celebrating Ten Years of History: Inside the Powers Museum
Pillars of the State: A History of Missouri's State Capitols
from the Missouri State Archives
Missouri's Past Preserved
from the Missouri State Archives
1997
Surviving Hardship: Carthage in the 1930s
November
1996 & 1998
Christmas through the Decades: 1890s—1990s
Wright Family Spider Web
 |
| 1995 & 1996 exhibit view |
1995
& 1996
Around the Square: Jasper County Courthouse and Its Neighbors
1994
From Head to Toe: Ladies Fashion Accessories
1993
Carthage Rebirth & Growth: 1866–1929
1992
Carthage 1842-1992: 150 Years of History
1991
Mirror of Fashion: Ladies Clothing in Carthage 1850–1950 along
with smaller exhibits on Carthage in 1891 and
Valentines of Yesterday
1990
No Ordinary Duty: Life at Home during the World Wars along
with a holiday display "Special Days: Selections from
the Powers Family Holiday Collections"
1989
The Pursuit of Happiness: Leisure Activities in Carthage 1890–1930
with special mini-exhibits throughout the year featuring:
Entertainment in Carthage, Toys, Puzzles & Games, Wish You Were Here
(Postcards and Travel Souvenirs), Festival Tables, and
Christmas 1885/1915/1930
1988
Out of Boxes, Trunks & Drawers: A Museum Collection is Discovered
featuring selections from the founding collection from the
Marian Powers Winchester Estate
Copyright © 2008 Powers Museum
1617 West Oak • P.O. Box 593 • Carthage, MO 64836
e-mail:infonow@powersmuseum.com
| phone: 417-358-2667
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Past Exhibits