Current Exhibits
WORLD PREMIERE!
Thomas D. Mangelsen: A Life in the Wild
Now – January 6, 2019
Legendary nature photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen has traveled throughout the natural world for over 40 years observing and photographing the Earth’s last great wild places. From polar bears in the Arctic to vast herds of game on the plains of Africa, from the deep jungles of South America to the tigers of India, to images revealing the diversity of wildlife in the American West, Mangelsen has captured rare moments and vast panoramas from all seven continents. The Durham Museum is honored to host the world premiere of A Life In The Wild, an exhibition containing 40 of Mangelsen’s most resonant images—images that take viewers on a journey into the haunts of iconic species whose struggles for survival are metaphorical fulcrums for reflection in the 21st century.
Mangelsen is a critically acclaimed photographer whose honors include being named Conservation Photographer of the Year by Nature’s Best Photography, the BBC’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year by North American Nature Photography Association, one of the 100 Most Important People in Photography by American Photo magazine and one of the 40 Most Influential Nature Photographers by Outdoor Photography. Mangelsen’s award winning photographs have been exhibited in major museums including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and collected by thousands around the world through his MANGELSEN®—Images of Nature Galleries.
A Life in the Wild – Photo Contest!
September 1 – November 1, 2018
It’s your chance to show-off those amateur photography skills and win big!
Contest Rules »
The Durham Museum gratefully acknowledges the generous sponsors whose support have made the Thomas D. Mangelsen: Life in the Wild exhibition possible:
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Vernie and Carter Jones Susan and George Haddix |
Media Support Provided by
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Fighting for the Good Life: Nebraskan Memories of World War I
NOW – January 27, 2019
World War I was the first truly global conflict of the 20th century. From 1917-18, citizens around the country rallied to the call for service; men took up arms, women trained as field nurses and children led scrap drives. Using objects received during a community crowdsourcing campaign, this exhibition focuses on The North Omaha Balloon School, Women in the War, Life on the Frontlines, Homefront Activities, and the Presence of the Past, how the Great War is memorialized publicly and remembered privately by families. Explore the stories of individuals, like Central High School graduate and YMCA volunteer Marion Crandell who was the first American woman killed in action and aviator Jarvis Offutt, the namesake of the local Offutt Air Force Base. Visitors may also read from personal accounts written by soldiers on the frontlines, see art made from artillery shells, and play patriotic piano music from the era.
Fighting for the Good Life: Programs Calendar
The Durham Museum gratefully acknowledges the generous sponsors whose support have made the Fighting for the Good Life: Nebraskan Memories of WWI exhibition possible:
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Rhonda and Howard Hawks Dillon Foundation Gilbert M. and Martha H. Hitchcock Foundation |
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Media Support Provided by
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education alley
omaha in the anthropocene:
A learning exploration with CREIGHTON university
Now – March 30, 2019
The “anthropocene” is a proposed new geological era currently under consideration by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. It makes a bold claim that humans have become a geologically significant force in earth’s history. Objects are also important material sources of these historical changes. This collaborative exhibition centers on the material history of the anthropocene using objects from the collection of The Durham Museum.
The Durham Museum partnered with Creighton University’s History Department to produce an immersive, interdisciplinary experience for students in the fall semester of 2017. In conjunction with the curriculum of Dr. Adam Sundberg, Assistant Professor of History and Digital Humanities, museum staff instructed and assisted Creighton students with independent research related to The Durham Museum’s collection, distillation of that research into a lecture presented near the end of the fall semester and an exhibition.
This exhibit is supported by Humanities Nebraska, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and the Creighton University Center for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship.
learn more about the anthropocene project
You Are What You Eat:
Setting the Table during the Second World War
Special Online-Only Exhibition!
Do you or your neighbors tend a vegetable garden? Do you know people who can their own preserves, follow “Meatless Mondays” or eat farm to table? During the Second World War, rationing ensured that enough food and supplies went to fighting men on the frontlines. At home, new solutions were created in the kitchen to support the need. The war brought changes to the Omaha kitchen, including many modern urban farming trends. While today this food-based activism is a lifestyle choice, these methods were made necessary in the 1940s by a war that rationed everything from sugar and butter to flour and meat. The war changed America’s diet and what you ate became a patriotic statement.
Pictured: Margaret Brown with canning jars | 1938 | John Savage Collection | The Durham Museum Photo Archive | JS30B-732B
VIEW EXHIBIT»
Photo Archive Gallery
North Omaha: A Community of Change
Now – January 2019
North Omaha is one of many distinct neighborhoods whose people contributed to the development of the city at large. While the borders of North Omaha are not firmly established, Florence, the Near North Side, Kountze Place and Walnut Hill are areas found within its boundary. From the earliest pioneers, this area has been a hub of development. Many of Omaha’s community leaders came from this neighborhood, like Mildred Brown, who in 1938 co-founded the Omaha Star, an African American newspaper still in circulation today. North Omaha served as the stage for the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in 1898 whose exhibitions and structures rivaled any World’s Fair and placed Omaha on the international map. Through a selection of images from the Photo Archive this display showcases some of the remarkable people, places and events from North Omaha.
airmail in Omaha
Now – January 2019
The United States Postal Service is celebrating the 100th anniversary of air mail service and Omaha was a midway stop along the route. Pilots flew in teams to relay mail across the country for round-the-clock service. Before mail took flight it was sent by train and going airborne sped up the process of delivery by nearly a full day! Photographs from The Durham’s Photo Archive will showcase our city’s role in completing the transcontinental mail service.
Byron Reed Gallery
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BUILDING THE CITY: THE FIRST MAYORS OF OMAHA
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Joseph M. Street: A Conscientious Indian Agent
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