The Birmingham Museum prepares for new exhibit

BIRMINGHAM — The Birmingham Museum will be starting the year off with the opening of a new exhibit that celebrates local history. 

This exhibit will be replacing “Transportation and Transformation: Shaping Birmingham and its People,” which has been displayed at the museum since September 2024. The last day for that exhibit, which highlights the history of transportation in Birmingham, will be Nov. 26. The new exhibit,  “Celebrating Birmingham History: It’s Everywhere!” will open the first week of January.

Celebrating indigenous stories 

In honor of America’s 250th birthday, the Birmingham Museum is taking the time to celebrate local heritage. The exhibit will cover a wide time frame and will delve into the lives of local families. One of the focal points of the exhibit is indigenous cultural heritage.

A collection of Great Lakes tribal basketry will be a special display in the exhibit, which the museum acquired in 2023.

The collection includes Anishinaabe baskets that were made from the late 1890s to modern times. Some of the baskets identified the makers.

“Through the maker’s stories, we get a larger picture of their lives,” Donna Casaceli, museum specialist and archivist, said. “We’re going to be using the baskets to tell the story of the people who lived here before and during the first settlement era.”

For example, the museum has the first-person account of Cornelia Hunter Smith and her first encounters with the indigenous peoples she lived near. Additionally, the exhibit covers the treaties that were made that pushed the indigenous populations out of the area.

Casaceli explained that the point of this portion of the exhibit is to share the history and culture of the people who were living in Birmingham long before it was known as Birmingham.

 

The Peabody Family
Another main focus of the exhibit is the history of the Peabody Family, a well-known name in Birmingham. The Peabody’s Restaurant was a longstanding establishment in Birmingham.

The Peabodys have served in every single war, from the Revolutionary War up until modern day. 

By telling the stories of just one family in Birmingham, the museum paints a broader picture of what life was like in the city throughout its history. 

 

The female perspective of Birmingham’s history
The new exhibit explores the perspective of women and how they viewed life in Birmingham.

Martha Durkee Blakeslee’s diaries — which she kept from youth to old age — give the perspective of a woman in Birmingham during the time in which she lived, from 1847-1923.

“By exploring her life in Birmingham over this huge chunk of time, we can see how Birmingham itself changed, how the United States changed and how she viewed all of this going through her entire life,” Casaceli said.

In her diaries, a reader can learn about her interests and personal life, as well as what is going on in the world.

“It’s kind of this lovely little glimpse into the personal life that you might not see reflected in records like newspapers or city council minutes or something like that. It’s very personal and, I think, very relatable,” museum specialist and outreach coordinator Caitlin Donnelly said.

 

A brief transition period
The  Allen House will be closed during December while the exhibit is being installed.

However, the museum will not be closed. Guests can tour the John West Hunter House throughout December. Staff will be present for regular business hours, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays.