Nevada State Museum Exhibits

Nevada State Museum Exhibits by Victoria Vallis The exhibits focus on Nevada stories at the Nevada State Museum. Collection materials of interest include Nevada art, decorative arts, household accessories including dishware, mining minerals and equipment, Nevada fossils, Native American objects, toys, ceremonial artifacts, and military pieces. The permanent exhibition on Nevada history illustrates the highlights of the state's history, including the lives of the earliest inhabitants of the Great Basin, the desert stretches of the Immigrant Trail, the Comstock era, and the rise of the gambling industry. Temporary exhibitions explore topics relating to Nevada such as photography during the Comstock era, neon in Nevada, the Centennial Celebration, dolls, quilts, and women in the west. Collections feature textiles, artifacts, documents, and maps. The celebration of Nevada’s heritage spotlights the 150th anniversary of Nevada statehood with special exhibits of artifacts representing the settlement of Nevada. Crossing Nevada by the wagon trail of the Donner Party which later became the route of the transcontinental railroad, was also the route into the Sierra Nevada which took John C. Frémont and his party to Lake Tahoe. Years later, Interstate 80 was built along this same route of the Central Pacific. An extensive exhibit features his travels. Frémont was known for his boldness as an adventurer, pathfinder, and topographer, but he also opened up a lot of the West. His explorations in 1843 led him to the Great Salt Lake, of which little was known, and may have given the Mormons the idea of settling in that area. He was the first to tell Easterners about what is now known as the Lahontan Cutthroat Basin and into California in 1843-44, Frémont collected 1,400 specimens. Unfortunately many were lost due to the rigors of the journey. In one case a mule carrying plants rolled down a hillside in the Sierras. Curator of Natural History, Dr. George Baumgardner, creates the scenes to view natural history specimens. As the oldest museum in the State of Nevada, the Society's museum collection consists more than 15,000 artifacts including pottery, basketry and tools Nevada and Great Basin Native Americans. Also included are works of art, paintings, objects related to the mining and ranching industries, clothing, and objects used in the daily lives of 19th and 20th century Nevadans. The Historical Society's artifacts, photographs, documents and maps relate vital stories about life in the eastern Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin. Life in the Silver State was harsh. For over 10,000 years people have been surviving here from the earliest times. Native Nevadans learned to live lightly on the land, taking only what they needed. Lake Tahoe became the center of their spiritual world. Nevada and Utah’s Great Basin has been the source of fabulous mineral wealth for thousands of years. From the earliest times Native Nevadans mined salt and turquoise. A display of the spectacular example of Nevada’s Precious Gemstone. of Virgin Valley Fire Opal can be seen in Our Nevada Stories: Objects Found in Time. Prospectors in the first wave of the California Gold Rush found traces of the yellow metal in streams on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. In 1859 placer miners panning the streams of Gold Canyon in the Virginia Mountains discovered that the blue clay that had been seen as a nuisance was really remarkably rich silver ore. '49ers arrived in droves to find their fortunes in Virginia City, Gold Hill, and Silver City. Miners and their families came to work the rich mines. Owners and speculators prospered and Nevada’s statehood was gained. In addition, the museum collections include numerous artifacts pertaining to Nevada's gaming industry such as early slot machines, gaming cheating devices, neon signage, an extensive textile collection that includes Hello Hollywood Hello show-girl costumes, and souvenirs produced by casinos. The library recently received a donation of matchbooks added to the Nevada Historical Society’s collection. The collection now contains approximately five hundred matchbooks from Nevada casinos, restaurants, hotels, motels, and political campaigns, to name just a few categories. Some of the matchbooks are from Nevada’s past, and the matchbook may be the last physical remnant of an establishment. In conclusion, I found the trip to this museum informative, fascinating and a breath of fresh air for some reason I was most drawn to the giant mammoth skeletal bones which are humungous and simply amazing, and the malachite with azurite mineral sample which has a place in my past too!