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Fun
Facts about the State Historical Building
The
largest artifact on exhibit is the Curtiss-Klein Pusher
airplane in Wings Over Iowa. It has a wingspan of 36
feet. Another large artifact is the Conestoga covered wagon
in
You
Gotta Know The Territory.
The
smallest artifacts on display are marbles. They can be
found in both The Delicate Balance and You Gotta
Know the Territory.
The
tree section in The Delicate Balance came from a
tree that was more than 268 years old. Many visitors to
the Iowa Historical Building like to try to count the
rings.
The
carpet in You Gotta Know the Territory changes in
each section of the exhibit. Look for a river (blue), a
farm field (green), surveyed quarter sections (green
with crossing stripes), a dirt road (brown), and
legislative carpet (red.)
The faces of
Capt. J.R.B. Gardenier and John Parmelee on the wooden
cutouts of them in You Gotta Know The Territory have
no features because there are no records of what they
looked like. The cutouts are designed to look like an
ordinary soldier and settler of that time.
The
Indian lodge in the You Gotta Know the Territory section
is made out of cast rubber and fiberglass. A template
for the rubber was shaped by pouring rubber over an elm
tree trunk. Then, entire sheets of bark could be made
using the template.
The
best temperature to keep artifacts on display is between
68-72 degrees Fahrenheit with 40-45 percent humidity.
Drastic temperature changes can cause mold to grow on
artifacts or dry them out beyond salvage.
The
handles on the plow in the Farmer Capitalist portion
of You Gotta Know the Territory are actually
horns from a cow.
Walnut
may have been a much more common wood in Iowa during the
state's early years. Many of the fence posts and rails
in You Gotta Know the Territory, are made of
walnut. Today, walnut is mainly used to make expensive
furniture.
In
the legislative area of You Gotta Know the Territory,
the statue of the legislator is painted white - or
white-washed - to symbolize who made the decisions in government during Iowa's years.
Early
Iowa government consisted only of white men elected by
other white men to make laws for everyone. Women and
racial and ethnic minorities had no say in government.
There
are approximately 563 artifacts and more than 600 images
(photos, maps and documents) in You Gotta Know the Territory. There are approximately 327 artifacts and
more than 300 images in The Delicate Balance.
There
is more than 55,000 square feet of exhibit space in the
new historical building. The old historical building had
less than,19,000 square feet of exhibit space.
The
doctor's display in You Gotta Know the Territory includes
two wooden stethoscopes, capping glasses, spring lancet,
forceps, a razor, four-sided razor strop, lozenge
package, mortar bowl and a medicine bottle.
Each of the
vintage aircraft hanging from the ceiling has a
distinctive Iowa story. Look for the blue information
boards to discover the individual histories of these
early aircraft.
The
Bleriot aircraft was featured in the 1957
film LaFayette Escadrille. The Bleriot
(marked N4W) is the lowest-hanging plane in the atrium.
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