Peoria Riverfront Museum: Part 1

Because we had Friday off from work for the 4th of July holiday, we decided to take a trip down (up? over?) to Peoria to visit the Peoria Riverfront Museum . We had visited earlier this year to see Project Hail Mary on their giant movie screen . While we were there, I saw they had a special exhibit on Dan Fogelberg , a special favorite of mine and a Peoria/Pekin native, so we stuck a pin in that to come back.

When we got there, though, the first thing we saw was another special exhibit for the 250th "birthday" of the US. This exhibit was guest-curated by Ken Burns, and turned out to be a really interesting exhibit with a ton of primary documents--more than one might expect at such a small, hyper-local museum.

There's a lot of interesting local history in Peoria--it's the oldest permanent European settlement in Illinois, and was named after the Peoria Tribe (who received exceedingly short shrift in this display, but don't get me started).

(Just so you know, I didn't photograph every item in the collection, just ones that I found particularly interesting. It's a BIG exhibit.)

Above is a stole that belonged to Jacques Marquette, who along with Louis Jolliet explored the route of the Mississippi River. Joliet, Illinois, is named after Louis; Jacques got to have several other places named after him, including Marquette University in Wisconsin.

An original copy of Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

A broadside of the Declaration of Independence.

Phillis Wheatley 's poem to George Washington, published in The Pennsylvania Magazine in 1776. The copy of the magazine here is an original; the print of the poem is (obviously) a reproduction. The first published African-American woman poet in America, Wheatley was transported from Africa into slavery and died at only 31 years old. Her first poem was published when she was only 13.

The Federalist Papers , written by (sing it with me) Alexander Hamilton (and James Madison and John Jay but I don't think they have a song?). He always wrote like he was running out of time. The link is to the full text at the Library of Congress. The book pictured is of the first edition to publish them all under one cover.

A manuscript written by Mercy Otis Warren . Warren was a poet, playwright and satirist who documented the history of the American Revolution. She was the third American woman poet to publish her work under her own name (Phillis Wheatley and Ann Bradstreet beat her to it, if we're keeping score). She was both praised and excoriated by her (male) political contemporaries. The pull quote on the placard here is fire.

Oh, just some writings by George Washington on religious freedom, for no particular reason...

Likewise, Thomas Jefferson on the protections of religious freedom and the separation of church and state, again for no particular reason...

A bit of manuscript by Frederick Douglass discussing the definition of liberty.

A storage jar made by David Drake , "one of the few enslaved potters who can be identified and recognized today for his contributions to American material culture." He inscribed his name as well as bits of poetry on his work. The link is to the National Gallery of Art, and the article is well worth reading.

More Frederick Douglass, this time "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?"

"This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn ... What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? ... a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham ... your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings ... hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages."

Read the full text here .

There was obviously a LOT more to this exhibit. I thought it was extremely well done, overall, and I learned some things! There's also a lot more to this museum, ad I'll talk about that in the next part.