A new month means it’s time again for more #WayBackWednesdays photos, showing the exciting history of our museum. This first picture (directly below) shows the front entrance of the museum (now the business entrance) in April of 1937. A lot has changed since then as our museum has grown and further developed the area around the building. I really like the old cars and buses visible in this shot as it makes you wonder if that was the only parking spot for museum visitors. Probably so!

This next photo (below) shows children operating a bilge pump from USS Hartford that was placed at the museum. The pump is ca 1865, so it’s great to see that it still worked for these kids. Hartford was famous as the flagship of Rear Admiral Farragut during the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1964. She was disposed of in Norfolk, Virginia in 1957, which is likely why we have the pump. 90+ years is an extremely long life for a ship, so she must’v been well built.

I found quite a number of photographs featuring Sea Scouts, but I picked this one because it shows the Museum Director at the time, Fred Hill, presenting an image of SS United States to the sea scouts in June of 1954, which would be two years after the ship went into service. This image also shows some of the gallery that is now known as The Great Hall of Steam with our model of the steamship Savannah directly behind the group. That model is currently on display in The Monitor Center.

This fourth photo is absolutely adorable and it shows a little girl pointing at one of the displays in the International Antarctic Exhibition as her mother and Admiral Dufek (the then Museum Director) look on. Another photo right in front of this one in the pile (not posted) showed Dufek pointing something out to the little girl, which melts my heart because it is super sweet of him to take the time to show the little girl the display. It is important to make museums a place for children as well as adults.

If you like these photos don’t forget to check out our Facebook page for even more!