The Journey Museum And Learning Center
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The Journey Museum and Learning Center is a
museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
in
Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...
, United States with of
garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
s. It is set up as a journey through the history of the
Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black ...
, starting with the Native American
creation stories A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop ...
, moving into the 2.5 billion years of history in the
rock record The geologic record in stratigraphy, paleontology and other natural sciences refers to the entirety of the layers of rock strata. That is, deposits laid down by volcanism or by deposition of sediment derived from weathering detritus (clays, sand ...
with the
geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
exhibit,
paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
,
archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...
, Native American inhabitants, and concluding with the pioneers that traveled west.


Main exhibit galleries


Geology and paleontology

The Geology Gallery contains a wall that shows a 2.5 billion year rock record of the Black Hills area. The Museum of Geology at the
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (South Dakota Mines, SD Mines, or SDSM&T) is a public university in Rapid City, South Dakota. It is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and was founded in 1885. South Dakota Mines offers ba ...
provides artifacts and information for patrons to better understand the timeline. Along with the geology section is the paleontology section with fossils, much of which is on loan from the
Black Hills Institute of Geological Research The Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, Inc. (BHI) is a private corporation specializing in the excavation and preparation of fossils, as well as the sale of both original fossil material and museum-quality replicas. Founded in 1974 and b ...
in
Hill City, South Dakota Hill City is the oldest existing city in Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 872 at the 2020 census. Hill City is located southwest of Rapid City on U.S. Highway 16 and on U.S. Route 385 that connects Deadwood t ...
. A model of an on-site dig with a tent provides patrons with a sense of field work. A model of a
T-Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
and a
Triceratops ''Triceratops'' ( ; ) is a genus of herbivorous chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, about 68 million years ago in what is now North America. It is one ...
accompanied by a roaring sound track are also included in the exhibit.


Archaeology

After the Geology and Paleontology exhibits is the Archaeology Gallery. This gallery is split into five sections, according to time period. It is divided into five sections listed in the chart below. The Archaeology Gallery contains artifacts and information fro
The South Dakota Archaeological Research Center


Sioux Indian Museum

The Sioux Indian Museum, the next gallery after Archaeology, contains 5,500 pieces regulated by the
United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...
's
Indian Arts and Crafts Board The Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior whose mission is to "promote the economic development of American Indians and Alaska Natives through the expansion of the Indian arts and craft ...
. Most of the collection is from the collection of a Native American arts collector who owned a trading post on the
Rosebud Indian Reservation The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name ''Sicangu Oyate'' translates as ...
. This part of the collection was collected from the 1890s to the 1930s. The Sioux Indian Museum contains beaded items, ceremonial items, traditional Native American clothing, an exhibit of items made from animals, kids items (such as dolls and games), instruments, Native American saddles, and tipis. There is also a
holographic Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
Native American elder who tells three stories.


Pioneer

The Minnilusa Pioneer Gallery is the final gallery in the timeline layout of the museum. This collection has a trapper's cabin, a board walk,
saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not k ...
s that you can try out, a hardware store modeled after the first major hardware store in South Dakota, and several story boards with information and artifacts about the pioneer days. It features famous local legends such as
Jim Bridger James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old ...
,
General Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...
,
Wild Bill Hickok James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, scout, lawman, gambler, showman, and actor, and for his involvement ...
, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and
Red Cloud Red Cloud ( lkt, Maȟpíya Lúta, italic=no) (born 1822 – December 10, 1909) was a leader of the Oglala Lakota from 1868 to 1909. He was one of the most capable Native American opponents whom the United States Army faced in the western ...
. It also covers the interaction between Native Americans and early settlers during the period from the first encounters to the modern day reconciliation with story walls that patrons of the museum can wind their way through.


Other permanent exhibits

The Journey Museum has several side exhibits either inside or between the main galleries. * Star Room: A self-guided tour begins with the "Star Room" which represents the time between the forming of the universe and the forming of the rock record in the Black Hills. The voice-over gives both the scientific and Native American beliefs of how the universe was formed. * Paleontology Field Tent: In this interactive exhibit, you can dig for dinosaur bones, do puzzles, and touch real fossils. The tent also features a real fossil preparation lab where patrons can get an up-close look at the different tools used by paleontologists in the field. * Custer's Black Hills Expedition of 1874: This exhibit is located between the Sioux Indian Museum Gallery and the Pioneer Gallery. Photos and artifacts from the expedition such as a gun,
eating utensils Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food, typically to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive — carnivores eat other animals, herbi ...
, a stirrup, a
canteen {{Primary sources, date=February 2007 Canteen is an Australian national support organisation for young people (aged 12–25) living with cancer; including cancer patients, their brothers and sisters, and young people with parents or primary carers ...
and stopper, and a knife. This exhibit also features information and artifacts about the expedition's geologist, Newton Winchell, including his journal from the expedition. * Aviary Room: The
aviary An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds, although bats may also be considered for display. Unlike birdcages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages. Avi ...
room is located off the Hardware Store in the Pioneer gallery. It contains just over 9 dozen stuffed birds and animals from the Black Hills area. These were collected by Henry Behren from 1888 to 1911 within of Rapid City. * Flood exhibit: The Flood Exhibit is located at the end of the Pioneer Gallery, just past the storywalls. It tells the story of the
1972 Black Hills flood The Black Hills Flood of 1972, also known as the Rapid City Flood, was the most detrimental flood in South Dakota history, and one of the deadliest floods in U.S. history. The flood took place on June 9–10, 1972 in the Black Hills of Western ...
, which occurred in the late hours of June 9, 1972. The flood, also known as the Rapid City Flood, was a key event in the history of Rapid City and the Black Hills, as it destroyed a large part of Rapid City and either killed, injured, or left homeless thousands of Rapid City residents. Created as a memorial for this event, this exhibit contains maps, pictures, survivor testimonies, news articles, a timeline, and information about recovery operations for the flood on a touch screen display. It discusses the future of Rapid City with the new "green spaces" that were formed after the flood waters receded. It also has a short film that loops regularly that visitors can watch while sitting on an era-appropriate bench in the center of the exhibit. * Black Hills Forests Then and Now: This exhibit is located at the end of the Pioneer gallery, right next to the flood exhibit. This exhibit covers the changes that have happened in the forests in the Black Hills over the past 11,000 years. It also talks about how we have used it as a natural resource during the past 500 years when humans occupied the area. References to common Black Hills wildlife, including the American Bison, can be found here.


Activity tables

There are regular activity tables in every gallery that children and adults can enjoy. These have coloring pages, books, and activities relating to the gallery it is in.


Grounds and gardens

The museum is surrounded by several acres of western native gardens maintained by a variety volunteer gardeners from the area. The gardens are created with the intent to feature indigenous plant life from the local Black Hills area and other plants found natively in the Western Hemisphere. The large garden area is split up into several small gardens wrapping around the museum. Various gardens contain vegetables, flowers, and trees.


Events

The Journey Museum holds several regularly scheduled events. Additionally, they also have many special events that they book through the year, like a sculpting class for children or a presentation on how to make gingerbread houses.


Education

As part of the mission, several education programs operate through the museum. Weekly educational programs include Toddler Tuesdays, Discovery Expedition, and Journey Into Space. The Journey Museum and Learning Center also offers customized learning experiences for school groups and tours. Educational outreach is also available with the museum's inflatable planetarium program.


Children's Learning Lab

Located in the Archaeology area of the museum, the Children's Learning Lab opened on July 1, 2008. It is a center for classes and various drop-by activities throughout the week. The drop-by activities available include books, puzzles, games, puppets, microscopes, and discovery boxes. Discovery boxes are small boxes with activities, information, and objects relating to a certain activity. You can check these boxes out and take them with you into the rest of the museum. See also * Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, Inc. *
List of museums in South Dakota This list of museums in South Dakota encompasses museums defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, ...


Recognition

In 2021, the museum was awarded the CORES (Communication and OutReach Experiences in Science) award by the
Sanford Underground Research Facility The Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), or Sanford Lab, is an underground laboratory in Lead, South Dakota. The deepest underground laboratory in the United States, it houses multiple experiments in areas such as dark matter and neutrino ...
for outreach activities to promote science.


References


External links


The Journey Museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Journey Museum and Gardens, The Botanical gardens in South Dakota Buildings and structures in Rapid City, South Dakota Dinosaur museums in the United States Native American museums in South Dakota Natural history museums in South Dakota History museums in South Dakota Museums established in 1997 Archaeological museums in South Dakota Museums in Pennington County, South Dakota Tourist attractions in Rapid City, South Dakota Black Hills 1997 establishments in South Dakota