St. Joseph Museums opens new galleries
By Chris Fortune
A local museum is digging up the past and introducing new artifacts to visitors.
The St. Joseph Museums is giving visitors the opportunity to learn about prehistoric St. Joseph after opening a new gallery this month focused on archaeology and paleontology across the world.
“We have things from ancient Peru, we have things from ancient Panama, ancient China, medieval China,” Archeologist Tori Ziegler said.
Planning and designing for the new gallery took over a year, and that work included putting the Cabinet of Curiosities together. Ziegler said the room probably has over 1,000 artifacts inside of it.
“A lot of people visit museums for different purposes, and we wanted to try to bring the stories of our artifacts alive, but to also provide something for everybody,” she said.
The new wing of the museum features a dig pit hands-on exhibit with plastic shovels for visitors to use and to unearth fossils.
“Interactives themselves, I think, really help visitors connect to the museum,” she said. “Everything you see is behind glass, and it’s off limits, and it’s no touching, so when we can include interactive aspects to our exhibit, it allows that kind of kinetic feel and that personal connection.”
Ziegler has a background in ancient history, and she helped set up the World Archeology Cultures exhibit.
“I am so excited that we have all of the stuff to display,” she said. “When I started working here, I had no idea that St. Joe would be able to display things from the Incan Empire.”
But the paleontology wing brings the most excitement to some of the museum’s younger visitors.
“The dinosaur’s a big hit, especially with the little kids,” she said. “The amount of dinosaur knowledge that these tiny humans have is astounding.”
The museum has more in store later this summer when it opens a Native American gallery, which is set to open in August.
“We are recreating an Ioway hunt, and we are very excited that the Ioway tribal historic preservation officer is working with us and has volunteered to tell some of their stories,” she said.
