The main reason I wanted to go to this museum was to see the Dan Fogelberg exhibit, so of course I will save that for last because I'm mean that way.

In the meantime...

A museum display featuring a photo of Betty Friedan as well as a reproduction of her article in the New York Times titled "The ERA--Does it Play in Peoria?" Also featured are a letter to then-president Richard Nixon discussing NOW, and handwritten notes from NOW's founding meeting (Friedan's handwriting makes mine look almost legible...)

Apparently Betty Friedan was born in Peoria. Did you know this? I did not. This display features a letter to Richard Nixon (no, Dick, you don't get a link) and some handwritten notes from the founding meeting of the National Organization for Women.

A duck decoy in a museum case. It is white, with a red, black, and blue design that is the logo of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma (their official name).

After the big ol' America Yay exhibit, there was a HUGE tone change when we came around the corner to find a large display of hand-carved decoys. That was a lot of ducks. I only photographed one--a decoy commemorating a agreement between the Peoria community and the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, in which the museum commissioned a set of display cases--presumably the ones with all the ducks. Quote: "To our knowledge, this is the first meaningful contemporary commerce between the Peoria Tribe and the city that bears its name."

A room-sized museum exhibit filled with brightly colored bronze pieces representing various activities in various cities.

Next comes Preston Jackson's "Bronzeville to Harlem: An American Story." From the museum website:

Originally entitled “From Bronzeville to Harlem,” the cityscape is a simultaneously playful and serious contemplation of the individual stories that made up the urban centers from places such as Peoria, Chicago's Bronzeville and the Harlem neighborhoods of Manhattan. 

Completed in 2020, in conjunction with the centennial of the start of the Harlem Renaissance, Jackson more than doubled the size of the original installation and retitled the piece, “Bronzeville to Harlem: An American Story.”

Another view of the large room filled with bronze sculptures.

This display filled a large room, and had so many small details. It was very cool and we didn't have time to look at everything. I think you could have spent the whole day just taking this in.

The prototype model of the Peoria Trap, a three-wheeled gasoline powered motor vehicle with a padded seat on the top. It doesn't look very safe.

Next up: Duryea, America's First Car Company. The Duryea brothers, Charles and Frank, co-founded the first company to manufacture gas-powered automobiles. This display features the Peoria Motor Trap, a prototype of one of their early vehicles, which was manufactured in Peoria. According to this article, they were also involved in the world's first automobile race.

All through these displays, I could hear Mr. Fogelberg singing in the background from the room with the exhibit. As I write this blog, I am listening to Dan Fogelberg and crying. You probably didn't want to know that.

Dan Fogelberg was a huge part of my teenage years. The Innocent Age came out when I was in high school and was really the apex of his career, as far as radio play and exposure. I played his songs obsessively on the guitar as I was learning it. And I haven't listened to his music nearly as much since he died. Because sad.

Anyway...

The main display introducing the Dan Fogelberg exhibit, with a photo of Fogelberg, long-haired and artfully bearded, looking out of a broken car window with soulful eyes. He is pretty.

Dan Fogelberg was born in Peoria, and his father, of "Leader of the Band" fame, was a high school and university music teacher/director in Pekin and Peoria. Like me, he was a University of Illinois alum, and made his debut recordings at the Red Herring on campus. He was also a stone-cold hottie, which I'm not sure I appreciated as much as I could have when I was younger...

A museum display case holding several of Fogelberg's notebooks from his school days.

This case features several of Fogelberg's notebooks, including a set list from a 1985 concert and handwritten lyrics of "Netherlands," "Part of the Plan," and "Same Old Lang Syne."

A framed black-and-white photo of Dan Fogelberg. His dark hair falls down onto his shoulders, and he is wearing a denim jacket and a choker with a Native American-ish vibe.

A portrait of Fogelberg, by the same photographer who took the photo for the cover of his album Souvenirs. Next to it is a placard discussing the photographer, Henry Diltz.

A Victorian-looking porcelain doll leaning against a cardboard gravestone in a museum display case.

The (slightly creepy) doll from the photograph on the cover of The Innocent Age. Fogelberg took the photograph, posing the doll in a cemetery.

A large moonstone ring in a museum display case. The placard next to it shows the cover of Souvenirs, with Fogelberg wearing the ring.

The moonstone ring Fogelberg wore on the cover of Souvenirs.

Handwritten sailing logs/diary entries/art notes and what looks like a flask.

Sailing logs from Fogelberg's sailing adventures in Maine, where he hid out from his fame.

A full color painting of Rudolph Nureyev and a self-portrait in sparse ink lines showing only the center features of Fogelberg's face.

Art: a portrait of Rudolph Nureyev and a self-portrait.

A large TV on the wall showing Fogelberg performing.

This video of Fogelberg performing live was playing throughout. He got halfway through "To the Morning," and I lost it and had to go hide in the next exhibit until I stopped leaking.

Several framed records commemorating sales landmarks and awards for Fogelberg's albums.

A selection of Fogelberg's gold records and awards.

An acoustic guitar and a well-worn wooden chair posed next to a microphone on a stand in a large museum display case. On the floor of the case is a large, worn rug in a Native American-ish pattern.

Fogelberg's favorite guitar, "Buck," and the chair he preferred to sit in while he performed.

After I recovered from the Emotional Damage, we bought some popcorn and then went to the Dome Planetarium, where we watched Living Worlds, a video about life on other planets narrated by Daveed Diggs. You can watch a trailer at the link.

After the museum, we went to a very mid Irish restaurant, which I won't talk about here because it wasn't great, then we went home and I sat in the dark for a couple of hours. Maybe I hadn't recovered from the Emotional Damage, after all.