#history museum
How the Metaverse Could Save Cultural Institutions
How the Metaverse Could Save Cultural Institutions
By: Chris Cummings, CEO & founder of Iconic Moments
Museums and cultural institutions are in trouble. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, these institutions learned that the typical business model of earning revenue through in-person ticket sales, event rentals and once-a-year galas was too fragile to be sustainable. In March 2020, it was estimated that 15 percent of the world’s museums would…
It’s wedding season (but you knew that). This gown was made from a nylon parachute that saved Maj. Claude Hensinger during World War II.
The pilot was returning from a raid over Japan in August 1944 when his engine caught fire. When he proposed to his girlfriend Ruth after the war, he offered her the material from the parachute that saved his life.
She worked with a seamstress to create the bodice, and used the strings on the parachute to shorten the front of the dress and create a train in the back.
The couple married July 19, 1947, and the dress was later donated to our National Museum of American History.
It’s not even the only parachute wedding dress in our collection—it wasn’t uncommon for soldiers’ parachutes, made from fabric scarce during the war, to become wedding attire. #ontrend
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When is a photograph more than a picture?
These stunning images are a preview of the first special exhibition at our @nmaahc, which explores the stories behind more than 150 photographs and related objects from their collection.
The images, by established and emerging photographers from the 19th century to the present, show a range of American experiences. They challenge you to look beyond the surface to consider their significance in history, their cultural meaning, and your own perspective.
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Happy Cinco de Mayo! (It’s not Mexico’s Independence Day.)
Cinco de Mayo actually celebrates the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla May 5, 1862.
Thisportrait from our collection is of Mexican President Benito Juarez. After reclaiming the presidency post-French invasion, he declared that May 5—the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla—would be a national holiday.
The first Cinco de Mayo celebrations didn’t include margaritas, because they weren’t invented until the 1940s. By the 1970s, the margarita surpassed the martini as the most popular American cocktail.
This is the first frozen margarita machine, invented at a restaurant owned by Mariano Martinez. When blenders couldn’t keep up with the high demand for margs, he found inspiration in the 7-Eleven Slurpee machine. The original retired when Martinez’ restaurant moved 34 years later, and now it’s in our National Museum of American History.
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Cairo Museum, Cairo, Egypt
History Major
