The New Museum Community- Christmas Eve at the Museum

Hello friends and people of Hive. Its come time that I have decided to start another community here in Hive. That's right, I give you the Museum Community. I have written quite a few articles that would have been a perfect fit here. I really enjoy checking out and visiting museums. I'm a history nerd, so what better place to check out aside from a museum? Museums can fill us with curiosity, excitement, knowledge and an assortment of other things.

Alright, not new territory here. I've been here several times and shared about it. I will again share my experience at the Durham Museum, the former Omaha Union (Train) Station. I will not be sharing too much of the perment exhibits. I've shared in the past but I will with the seasonal displays and temporary (moving ) exhibits. My visit occurred on the morning of Christmas Eve. I thought there wouldn't be many visitors today as I went with one other. I was wrong and had to drive a bit to find a parking space.

From 1931 to 1971, Union Pacific employees would cut down a tree in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and have it hauled back to Omaha via train to be displayed in the station. Every year since 1975, the tree has been donated from someone locally. This years tree beat out 34 other pine trees. Select Durham Museum and Union Pacific employees judge and choose the selected tree. Every year, the tree is about 40 feet tall. Quite the specticle, seeing it first hand. It really is stunning and I can only imagine all the work it takes decorating it.

The museum also show cased about a dozen 3 foot artificial trees themed from around the world. It made for a tough time to capture pictures of them due to them being in glass boxes. They had some of these displayed last year as well, but they were not decorated identically. I didn't recall seeing one from Mexico last year though.

Next up they had the Lost World of Dragons. The first two photos are of a mechanical dragon. Its head, wings and mouth moved. Then the other photo is of sea serphant. There was also a Dragon Virtual Reality station, a dragon puppet show and a few other small things to keep the kids busy. The mechincal dragon was cool, but I was really expecting a much bigger exhibit, it was kind of a dud for me overall.

Next up was a local collection of World War I artifacts. They included a canteen, a sabor sword, mess kit, uniforms and some other small trickets. The main draw to this particular exhibit was the amazing black and white photography.

This exhibit was titled, "Beyond Combat: World War I Through the Lens of “Doc” Cook."
Rudolph “Doc” Cook (pictured above) was a photographer who enlisted to join the war effort, served with the 88th Infantry Division, 313th Engineers of Camp Dodge in Iowa. This Camp is located about 2 hours from where I live. Cook captured the company’s experiences with his camera. Let me share with you some of the photos that were displayed in the exhibit.

One of the tasks of 313th Engineers on their tour was reconstrucing a train line. Laying rails, rail road tines and pounding nails is no easy chore. This was over hundred years ago on foreign land. It was probably a heck of a lot of manual labor needed to complete this job.

Once completed, I can feel the men must have felt accomplished. I imagine the first sign of any trains and railroad cars they surely would want to get a picture with. After all, those are there because of their hard work. To me, these pictures really capture those feelings. So long ago, all these souls are gone and I'm sure all trains and rail cars have been scraped.

This engineer battalion had a lot of work to do. The first photo shows them constructing a bridge. There work is much needed so troops that come to the area can cross bodies of water they come in contact with. A single picture of a lieutenant. A low ranking officer can have great responsibility and be in charge of many enlisted members, especially during war operations.

When it's time to go home after a long while, it's such a great feeling. It could be what you were tasked with was successful, maybe an end to the overall war or perphaps you held the front until replacements come. Arriving at home is the best relief. Time for adjustments, relaxing and getting back to a good normalcy.

Seeing these photos really hit home to me as I have served in the military. Though I didn't see any hand to hand combat, I have deployed and no what it's like to be disconnected from the real world. It was a great show of photos documenting the overall journey.

After the photo exhibit we checked out the train part of the museum. I have seen it several times but my company has not. Every time I come here I check it out every time. It really is my favorite part of the museum.

This is all I have for you today. Take care, Merry Christmas and stay safe out there. Until next time!