alabama voices exhibit - museum of alabama

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With hands toughened by years of hard work, generations of Alabama women carefully cut patches from their family’s worn-out clothing. They sewed these pieces together to make quilts, quietly revealing the fabric of their family’s lives. This hands-on process was the inspiration for the Museum of Alabama’s newly opened $7 million permanent exhibit, “Alabama Voices.” It stitches together patches of the state’s amazing journey from 1700 to the turn of the 21st century — “warts and all,” said Georgia Ann Connor, com- munications officer for the state’s Department of Archives and History. Packed with inviting presentations, short informative vid- eos and interactive displays, the exhibit walks you through the fabric of that history. Its compelling entrance features a visual quilt of Alabama faces, past to present. Thanks to the state’s eclectic sense of humor, some of the faces are next to an empty square. Put your face in its frame and join luminaries — Condoleezza Rice, Kathryn Tucker Windham, Bo Jackson, Bobby Allison, Helen Keller and Dr. Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American woman in space. Like an Alabama river, the 11,000 square-foot exhibit flows in undulating curves and relates multiple details using more than 800 artifacts. Nine themes spin out, highlighted by each area’s flooring, layout and ceiling. For example, overhead in the entry are large interlocking metal circles which bring to mind the wedding ring quilt motif — and the state’s iron and steel industries. As you explore, you find many of the “Voices” come from diaries, letters, speeches, songs and treasured mementoes. For example, to honor her parents, Madelyn Bonnett of Columbiana donated a unique 20-square “ship” quilt. Made by her mother, her great-aunt and great-grandmother, it commemorates the significant events in her father’s naval service in World War II. Prominently displayed, its vignette includes the flag from his casket and pictures of her parents. Thanks to recordings made in 1941, you can eavesdrop on 90-year-old Alice Gaston and 88-year-old Isom Moseley recalling their days as slaves. See and hear Malcolm Marsh, Alabama Voices Exhibit MUSEUM OF ALABAMA By Mary Eloise H. Leake 40 Longleaf Style Spring 2014 Photos courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History

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Patchwork quilts were the inspiration for the Museum of Alabama's newly opened $7 million permanent exhibit, "Alabama Voices." It stitches together patches of the state's amazing journey from 1700 to the turn of the 21st century - "warts and all," said Georgia Ann Connor, communications officer for the state's Department of Archives and History.

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Page 1: Alabama Voices Exhibit - Museum of Alabama

With hands toughened by years of hard work, generations of Alabama women carefully cut patches from their family’s worn-out clothing. They sewed these pieces together to make quilts, quietly revealing the fabric of their family’s lives.

This hands-on process was the inspiration for the Museum of Alabama’s newly opened $7 million permanent exhibit, “Alabama Voices.” It stitches together patches of the state’s amazing journey from 1700 to the turn of the 21st century — “warts and all,” said Georgia Ann Connor, com-munications officer for the state’s Department of Archives and History.

Packed with inviting presentations, short informative vid-eos and interactive displays, the exhibit walks you through the fabric of that history. Its compelling entrance features a visual quilt of Alabama faces, past to present. Thanks to the state’s eclectic sense of humor, some of the faces are

next to an empty square. Put your face in its frame and join luminaries — Condoleezza Rice, Kathryn Tucker Windham, Bo Jackson, Bobby Allison, Helen Keller and Dr. Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American woman in space.

Like an Alabama river, the 11,000 square-foot exhibit flows in undulating curves and relates multiple details using more than 800 artifacts. Nine themes spin out, highlighted by each area’s flooring, layout and ceiling. For example, overhead in the entry are large interlocking metal circles which bring to mind the wedding ring quilt motif — and the state’s iron and steel industries.

As you explore, you find many of the “Voices” come from diaries, letters, speeches, songs and treasured mementoes. For example, to honor her parents, Madelyn Bonnett of Columbiana donated a unique 20-square “ship” quilt. Made by her mother, her great-aunt and great-grandmother, it commemorates the significant events in her father’s naval service in World War II. Prominently displayed, its vignette includes the flag from his casket and pictures of her parents.

Thanks to recordings made in 1941, you can eavesdrop on 90-year-old Alice Gaston and 88-year-old Isom Moseley recalling their days as slaves. See and hear Malcolm Marsh,

Alabama Voices ExhibitMuseuM of AlAbAMABy Mary Eloise H. Leake

40 Longleaf Style Spring 2014

Photos courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History

Page 2: Alabama Voices Exhibit - Museum of Alabama

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Page 3: Alabama Voices Exhibit - Museum of Alabama

Frances Nelson, James Armstrong, George Mills and Gabriel Chiri recount their World War II experiences in a short film. In each period, listen for its ambient sounds — such as music, children playing, a train and vendors selling produce.

Attention to details is paramount. In the first section, “This Is Our Land,” the riverbank — on which you can walk — is marked by animal tracks, moccasin prints and French trader boot tracks. In the Civil War area, Union soldiers and the Confederates have had a skirmish on muddy red clay. How do you know? Underfoot you see the evidence — on one side are the Federal cavalry’s well-shod horses’ imprints and on the other are the Confederates’ trail of boot tracks, money and paper casings for black powder cartridges.

Demonstrating the economic success of the agrari-an “Cotton State,” the exhibit’s centerpiece spotlights two life-size pigs, several chickens, a large authentic cotton scale and a soulful-looking mule pulling a plow. Far beyond this scene is the industrial Alabama of the future — a cart of coal, machinery and a Sloss furnace apron from the “Mines, Mills and Mules” era. Don’t miss the diorama of the 1910 railroad town.

“Furnaces sprang up in Birmingham, Anniston, Bessemer and elsewhere,” the wall text notes. Coal mining and the manufacture of iron and steel filled the pockets of workers and the wealthy, bringing about Alabama’s heyday as the most industrialized state in the South.

In 1882 Anniston’s Woodstock Iron Company became the state’s first industry to produce electricity to light its furnaces and city streets.

Between 1929-1945, seismic upheaval — the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II and dynamic new technologies — plunged Alabamians into a succession of new realities. A large picture of WACs at Fort McClellan working in a chemical laboratory and one of Mount Cheaha’s Observation towers built by the Civilian Conservation Corps highlight this area. Other artifacts range from a permanent wave machine for ladies’ hair to a B-24 propeller.

Black asphalt underfoot denotes “Forces of Change” (1945 to 2000). Long-simmering racial seg-regation became the civil rights movement, led by Dr. Martin Luther King. Anniston and Birmingham played a role in some of the most difficult days, which ultimately changed American society. Yet despite the Korean War and the Cold War, many prospered during this time due to innovative housing, highways, industry, space travel, communication and medical triumphs.

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Page 4: Alabama Voices Exhibit - Museum of Alabama

Welcoming you to the different “Voices” eras are sturdy comfortable benches and stools, each featuring the natural edges of a tree. Built by Robin Wade, a Florence furniture designer, they are made from downed trees collected within 60 miles of his studio. Most seats are walnut, but some are cherry, sassafras, maple and oak.

These benches provide a visual bridge between Alabama’s past and the present. The trees that once provided homes for native Americans still invite family gatherings, hunters, hikers and campers as well as new industries.

Thanks to Alabama’s people and its many natural resources, the state has moved into the 21st century, but its history remains woven with its past.

Mary Eloise H. Leake is a freelance writer who focuses on travel and art. She claims to live in Anniston butshe and husband Jerry are frequently found in muse-ums in exotic places.

DETAILS:Alabama Voices Alabama’s 2014 Attraction of the Year

WHERE: The Museum of Alabama. “Voices” exhibit is on the second floor of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, 624 Washington Ave., Montgomery

COST: Admission is free. INFO: http://www.museum.alabama.gov

43 2014 Spring Longleaf Style