Cleveland’s Museum of Natural History

I went recently to Cleveland’s Museum of Natural History because (1) I love the Museum and all of its bugs and bones and beautiful things and (2) because my friend, Natalie, played an important role in preparing the current special exhibit: 100 Years of Discovery: A Museum’s Past, Present & Future.

https://www.cmnh.org/visit/exhibits/100-years-of-discovery

I was struck by the scope of the exhibit, which paid homage to the Museum’s 1920 founding (and founders) but also delved deeply into many little-known (to me) and fascinating facts.

For example, Balto (a Siberian Husky that led a team of sled dogs, driven by Gunnar Kaasen, on the final leg of the 1925 run to transport diphtheria medicine from Anchorage to Nenana, Alaska) is part of the exhibit. Wait...WHAT? It turns out a Cleveland businessman found Balto (and his “teammates”) in a Los Angeles novelty museum/freak show to which they had been sold after their heroic Alaskan journey. The businessman (George Kimble) bought them and brought them to Cleveland, where they lived the remainder of their days. After Balto died in 1933, his remains were preserved and his story now lives in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

I also loved the Bald Eagle exhibit and learned a great deal about how Cleveland helped to bring back our national bird when it edged toward extinction. And I loved the map (I think it is called a “topographic” map) that showed Northeast Ohio’s bogs and fens and flood plains, etc.

BUT...what I loved best was seeing all of the people and families who were enjoying the Museum. The special exhibit was well attended, and so were the gem/mineral area, the part that showed volcanoes, the bugs, and (of course) the areas with the magnificent dinosaur bones. People—from the very young to the very old and everything in between—seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

It was a wonderful way to spend a hot summer afternoon! AND...there is still time to see 100 Years of Discovery (which will close on September 18, 2022).