Articles > Museums

Abracadabra

By Stefani Kronk

THE MAGIC HOUSE, St. Louis Children’s Museum, makes its own magic—disguising learning as fun. Enticed by activities that encourage interaction, children can hardly contain their excitement as they enter a life-size world of make-believe. Water gardens, giant pin screens that make three-dimensional impressions, and hair-raising moments caused by touching an electrostatic generator are only some of the things…... Read more >

The One and Only

By B.J. Alderman

THE NATIONAL WORLD WAR I Museum at the Liberty Memorial at Kansas City opened its doors almost a year ago to rave reviews. At the only national World War I museum in the country, visitors enter the exhibits via a transparent walkway over a noman’s- land battlefield filled with nine thousand blooming poppies. Inside, the collection of more than fifty thousand artifacts orients visitors to the World War I era, ...... Read more >

Nature of Art

The Barbizon School and Nature of Landscape exhibit opens at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum of Washington University from May 2 to July 21. Free and open to the public, the show celebrates a natural form of art, popular in Barbizon France between 1830-1880. In response to what was perceived as highly superficial city life in the nineteenth century, this form used rustic and pure scenes from nature in which man interacted more holisticall…... Read more >

Trails to the Frontier

By Kate Gilliam

Entering the National Frontier Trails Museum in Independence feels like stepping into a cozy log cabin, with its hardwood floors, wooden beams, and exposed ceiling. A violin track plays old-fashioned tunes. The rustic atmosphere and friendly attendants invite visitors to learn about life on the frontier.

About four-hundred-thousand travelers braved the three main trails between 1840 and 1860. Of those travelers, about o…... Read more >