The Owensboro Museum of Fine Art will host the Kentucky Historical Society’s HistoryMobile as a feature of its second summer art camp for children next week, July 14 to 18.
The free camp and HistoryMobile experience, sponsored by Owensboro Grain Company, are presented as a part of the celebration of the Daviess County Bicentennial.
According to a press release by the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, following the tour of the HistoryMobile, camp participants will meet under canopies in Ryan Park where they will replicate maps of Daviess County and create crafts made by children in the Civil-War era. Camp participants will also receive the Bicentennial Coloring Book published by the museum and the Daviess County Bicentennial Committee.
“Scholarship meets the graphic novel” best describes the HistoryMobile exhibit entitled “Torn Within and Threatened Without: Kentuckians in the Civil War.” The exhibit, designed as a learning lab targeting grade levels 4 through 12, displays brightly colored graphics of historical characters who lived in Kentucky during the Civil War era complemented by artifacts and interactive components, which allow children to relive the experiences of these individuals.
The historical figures in the exhibit include:
- Henry Clay and John J. Crittenden, Kentucky politicians who try to compromise and avoid war over slavery.
- Ben Buckner, a slave-owning Union officer who fights for the Union but feels betrayed by President Abraham Lincoln and his own slave, Jim.
- Henry Lane Stone, a young Kentuckian who is trying to decide which army to join.
- Elijah Marrs, a slave who is choosing whether to join the Union Army.
- Ellen Wallace, a slave-owning woman trying to adjust to a changing nation.
- John Marshall Harlan, a Supreme Court Justice ruling on civil rights in the post-war period.
Camp and tour sessions are scheduled from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. for children 6 to 9 years old and 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. for children 10 years and above. Registration is required for the camp and may be made by calling the museum at 270-685-3181.
Public hours for the tours of the HistoryMobile are 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Thursday, July 16 and Friday, July 17, and 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday, July 18.
Admission to the museum is FREE, although voluntary donations are requested of $2.00 for adults and $1.00 for children. Access for physically challenged individuals is provided at the Atrium entrance in the 9th Street parking lot. The museum’s regular hours are Tuesday through Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00p.m., Friday 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 1:00 to 4:00p.m.
For more information phone (270) 685-3181 or visit the museum’s website, www.omfa.us, or view Facebook and Twitter.
