5/25/2006

South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center museum offering extended hours

PIERRE, S.D. – The museum at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center will be open extended hours to the public after Memorial Day.

On Memorial Day, May 29, the museum will be open from 1-4:30 p.m. Starting Tuesday, the 30th and through Labor Day, the museum’s summer schedule will be 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-4:30 p.m. on Sundays and legal holidays.

“We are pleased to be able to offer these extended hours to the public,” said Jay D. Vogt, director of the South Dakota State Historical Society, headquartered at the Cultural Heritage Center. “The extended hours provide more opportunities for Pierre visitors -- and residents -- to come see our world-class museum.”

The latest museum attraction is the exhibit “Changing Times: South Dakota in the 20th Century.” The exhibit uses dioramas, period structures and a variety of audio-visuals to portray the experiences South Dakotans had in the 1900s, including the Great Depression and the arrival or electricity. Visitors can hand-milk a model cow, listen in on party-line phone conversations, or design their own kitchen in a walk-through home.

“Changing Times” is the third and final phase of “The South Dakota Experience,” the permanent exhibit at the Cultural Heritage Center that offers a comprehensive look at the history of South Dakota from before the arrival or Europeans through the end of the 20th Century. The first two phases are “Oyate Tawicoh’an: The Ways of the People,” an American Indian gallery; and “Proving Up,” a look at pioneer life through early statehood.

“Oyate” features the Sioux Horse Effigy dancing stick, which is the symbol of the State Historical Society. There is also a life-size mounted buffalo and a walk-through tipi.

Many visitors to the Cultural Heritage Center come to see the Verendrye Plate in “Proving Up.” Left behind by a French-Canadian exhibition in 1743 and found by teen-agers on a hill overlooking Fort Pierre in 1913, the plate is the first known evidence of Europeans in the area.

Another featured item in “Proving Up” is an original Jefferson Peace Medal left behind by Lewis and Clark. Also for Lewis and Clark enthusiasts, an exhibit in the center’s Observation Gallery offers a look at the Corps of Discovery’s journey through what would become South Dakota. That gallery also gives a spectacular view of the State Capitol and City of Pierre.

The museum’s Hogen Gallery currently features the exhibit “Properties of History: Exploring South Dakota’s Historic Places.” The exhibit educates visitors on the importance of preserving and protecting places that have a connection with South Dakota’s past. “Properties of History” includes photographs and artifacts from several history properties throughout the state, including Dinosaur Park in Rapid City and the Saint Charles Hotel in Pierre.

Hours for the archives at the Cultural Heritage Center are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays and the first Saturday of each month.

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The South Dakota State Historical Society is an office of the Department of Tourism and State Development and strives to help the state meet the goals of the 2010 Initiative by enhancing history as a tool for economic development and cultural tourism. The society is headquartered at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. The center houses the society’s world-class museum, the archives, and the historic preservation, publishing and administrative/development offices. Call (605) 773-3458 or visit www.sdhistory.org  for more information. The society also has an archaeology office in Rapid City; call (605) 394-1936 for more information.