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Yesterday's Tomorrows:
Past Visions of the
American Future
Spring 2003 "Yesterday's Tomorrows” tour visited six communities in 2003
“Yesterday’s Tomorrows” toured Nebraska from March to December 2003, with extensive stays at each site. “Yesterday's Tomorrows” consists of 55 panels in five freestanding units. The exhibit contains four sections that explain popular views of the future from the late 19th century to the late 20th century. It uses media, print and popular entertainment to speculate about such subjects as futuristic communities, homes, transportation and warfare. A serious look at how we have envisioned the future, “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” also highlights more lighthearted and humorous aspects of that speculation. From Jules Verne to the Jetsons, the vision of the future as seen through the eyes of the past demonstrates the play of the American imagination on the canvas of the future. Part of the SITES Museum on Main Street (MOMS) program, the exhibit is designed for rural audiences and small museums that do not have access to traveling exhibits because of space and cost limitations. Each site develops public humanities programming that will coincide with the theme of “Yesterday's Tomorrows.” Sites also schedule other types of events and activities to encourage public participation during the exhibit's visit. Donors for “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” in Nebraska are McCook National Bank, Qwest Foundation, Hamilton Community Foundation, Platte Valley National Bank, Leo A. Daly, the William and Ann Cannon Foundation and AMFirst Bank. To visit the MOMS website, click here Nebraska's chosen sites, dates, addresses and other details are as follows:
March 22
to April 18, 2003
Peterson Fine Arts Center
Project Director
An opening ceremony and reception was held March 25 at Wayne State College. A film festival featured such futuristic screen presentations as “Metropolis,” “Research Revolution,” “I Am Become Death” and “The Shape of Things to Come,” based on the novel by H.G. Wells. Programs presented by the Nebraska State Historical Society included “Teaching with Historical Documents.”
April 22
to May 30, 2003
Edgerton Explorit Center
Project Director
Amy Wilson's fifth grade class at Aurora Elementary School spent several days studying the "Yesterday's Tomorrows" theme. They made connections from the exhibit's theme to books and movies the students had seen. They looked at past predictions, created their own predictions of the future and discussed the difficulty of predicting the future. They chose images from the "Yesterday's Tomorrows" postcards and responded to them in writing. One of the responses to the main image on the exhibit's poster: "I wonder of the world will ever be like this. Will people fly with jet packs or spaceships? Will there ever be tall skyscrapers with white balls on top? Maybe in 2,000 years there will. People will fly to work on their jet packs. Or instead of playing with balls or jump ropes, people will play by seeing whose spaceship will go faster. Do you think people will really fly in the sky with their space mobiles? It sounds crazy, but maybe in 2,000 years the world will be like this." They visited websites on the "Yesterday's Tomorrows" Internet resource list and visited the website that contained research and historical images of the Aurora town square. Tony Scism, Aurora Public School technology coordinator, and Brad Maul, Aurora Area Chamber and Development executive director, shared information with the students on the future visions for Aurora. They also looked at forecasts that have been created for our world and tried making their own forecasts for the future of Aurora. The students spent several days constructing and decorating the space microwave oven of the future, out of gift boxed and aluminum foil. They then worked in small groups to experiment in cooking S'mores, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, popcorn, Pop Tarts, TV dinners and instant potatoes in their ovens with only a blow dryer. Some of their comments: S'mores: "It was gooey and so hot that the bag started to melt like snow would on a hot day. The chocolate was like lave." "The filling got soft or melted, but the S'more was delicious." TV dinner: "The chicken nuggets were sort of cold. Macaroni was very cold. It was delicious and sort of warm." They recorded their experiment's data, determined the best way to display the data and created charts and graphs showing the results of their experiments. Tim Hul's ninth grade science class at the Aurora Middle School has designed, built and is displaying their "Spacesuit of the Future." This space suit will not only allow us to explore the moon, but beyond to the other planets destined for exploration in the future. Marilyn Vrana's critical thinking class, Future Problem Solvers, from the Aurora Middle School, researched some of the most significant advancements of the 20th century. They chose the ones they felt had the most impact on our lives of today and are displaying them, along with the "Yesterday's Tomorrows" exhibit in various posters, drawings and models. Students from Brenda Klawonn and Ryan Ricenbaw's American history classes at Aurora High School studied "The Future of Pop Culture." They compiled a list of things that were created during their lifetime and then picked from this list the items they thought would not be around for the next 50 years. Then students predicted what will replace those items and made an advertisment for their new products.
June 3 to
August 3, 2003
Saunders County Historical Society
Project Director
During the Wahoo visit, a presentation called “The Capital of Nebraska is in Saunders County?” speculated about Neapolis, once a possible site for the state capital. Another program explored the importance of railroads to town placement and survival. This coincided with the reopening of the Wahoo Burlington Railroad depot, restored in the summer of 2002. "A Century of Dress: How Fashion Re-invents Itself 1870-1970” was a June 14 style show and presentation by Barbara Trout, associate professor of textiles, clothing and design at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and clothing collector Sue McLain. On July 20, the Saunders County Historical Society celebrated its 40th birthday with a look back at its progress and a look ahead at future plans. Several ongoing exhibits at the museum complemented the “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” visit. Souvenirs from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair were on display, and there was an exhibit of various memorabilia from the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, held in Omaha in 1898. Another exhibit was the City of the Future, designed by students of Mission Middle School in Bellevue.
August 7
to September 6, 2003
Kaleidoscope Gallery No. 13
Project Director
A series of events was scheduled for Aug. 14 at the Rock County Fairgrounds. Bassett Mayor Jeff Maloun delivered a 7 p.m. proclamation recognizing the NHC’s 30th Anniversary, followed by the presentation of the Aksarben Pioneer Families Award and a style show on the “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” theme. The Discovery Mime Theatre performed from a revolving repertory of original mime pieces, a magical experience in story and illusions. The Aksarben Good Neighbor Award also was presented. Downtown Bassett was the setting for the “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” parade Aug. 16. Prizes were awarded for the best representation of the exhibit theme in the parade. Other events included a Rock County photo contest 2-5 p.m. Aug. 13 at the Rock County Fairgrounds, an exhibit of old and new farm equipment Aug. 13-17 at the fairgrounds, and “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” photo contests Aug. 30 at the Brown County Fair and Sept. 6 at the Keya Paha County Fair.
September
10 to October 5, 2003
The Museum of the High Plains
Project Director
"A Century of Cars" was the theme for a chronological display of automobiles that opened Sept. 13, one car representing each decade of the 20th century. There also was a 4-H display of historical clothing and a display of 94 original “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” student posters by the 8th grade class of McCook Junior High School. A photography exhibit featured historical images of southwest Nebraska from 1900 to 1930. The McCook Public Library hosted an exhibit of science fiction videos and books. McCook Community Hospital displayed an old iron lung and other medical instruments of the past and present Sept. 10 to Oct. 1. McCook Community College featured a series of science fiction films Wednesdays Sept. 3 to Nov. 5. An architectural program Sept. 15 took a look at some of the McCook area’s unique buildings. Two bands and singers performed music from the past during a music program Sept. 25 at the Fox Theater. Students from 19 area schools were invited to tour the exhibit. The NHC awarded a grant to the Nebraska State Historical Society to produce thematic historical programming specific to each “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” site. John Carter presented the program Sept. 9 at the Norris home and Sept. 10 at the High Plains Museum.
October
9 to December 1, 2003
North Platte Valley Museum
Project Director
Members of the North Platte Valley Artists Guild and students from Scottsbluff and Gering grade schools will have their artwork displayed in an art show opening Oct. 11 and closing Nov. 24. A special grand opening event is scheduled for 2-4 p.m. Oct. 11. An exhibit of historic cars will be on display at Monument Mall Oct. 18-23, with a car from each decade of the 20th century and descriptions of each car’s features and characteristics. A Nov. 1 bus tour of local homes and housing developments will illustrate the differences in architecture and use through the years. Campfire girls and boys will model their originally designed clothing and hairstyles in a futuristic fashion show Nov. 15 at Monument Mall. They also will write the narratives detailing the type of materials used to make the clothing. To learn more about "Yesterday's Tomorrows," visit the website: www.yesterdaystomorrows.org |
The Nebraska
Humanities Council chose six sites statewide to host “Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American
Future,” a traveling exhibit developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling
Exhibit Service (SITES). |
Phone 402-474-2131 or e-mail nhc@nebraskahumanities.org |
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