<h3>History of the Children's Museum of Indianapolis</h3>The history of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis traces back to prominent civic leader and owner of the Stewart-Carey Glass Company, Mary Stewart Carey. In 1924, a year before the Children’s Museum opened to the public, Mary visited the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, which many attributed as her inspiration for the Indianapolis children's museum. At the time, there were only three children’s museums in the United States, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Boston Children’s Museum, and the Detroit Children’s Museum. By 1925, Mary Stewart Carey was advocating for an Indianapolis museum, which led to the formation of the Children’s Museum Association of Indianapolis.In the museum’s early years, however, the Indianapolis association didn’t have money nor access to prominent collectors. To build a collection, Carey and other members of the Association’s board asked around the Indianapolis community for donations. On the museum’s opening day in 1925, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis displayed 600 objects that it had collected from the community. In the museum’s first year, when it was located in the Carriage House at the Propylaeum, it experienced several difficulties and setbacks, such as an inability to pay the rent and bills. The Great Depression in the 1930s didn’t help the museum’s mission as well, but visits from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and architectural designs from Kurt Vonnegut Sr. (father of the famous writer) helped boost the museum’s prominence. By 1942, the museum’s framework for future growth was set. Under the leadership of Grace Golden, the museum was able to acquire a large variety of Native American artifacts in 1947, a gallery of dinosaur skeletons in 1949, and a 19th century log cabin in 1961, among many others. By 1973, a widespread fundraising campaign raised upwards of $8.7 million for the museum’s new building. Five years later, the museum’s current building was finished, and its collections and exhibits continued to grow throughout the 20th century.1<h4>Museum Exhibits</h4>The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis remains highly praised for its variety of interactive and hands-on exhibits. Spread throughout the museum’s 5 floors and 29 acre facility space, 18 permanent exhibits focus on the arts, sciences and humanities.One of the most popular exhibits is the Dinosphere, which allows children to come face-to-face with full-sized dinosaur skeletons. The ScienceWorks exhibit lets children roll up their sleeves and enjoy a multitude of scientific discoveries, such as looking for frogs in a freshwater ecosystem, exploring buoyancy and surface tension in a 30-foot winding creek, or learning how plants can change the world. Other exhibits include “Take Me There: China,” the “SpaceQuest Planetarium,” “Power of Children,” the “Lilly Theater,” “Treasures of the Earth,” and many others.2

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is the largest museum of its kind in the entire world. With over 120,000 artifacts and specimens in its collection and 472,900 square feet of exhibit space across five floors, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis seeks to create extraordinary learning experiences for children in the arts, sciences, humanities, and other fields. 

Within the museum’s collection, which has taken more than 80 years to gather, visitors can explore three large categories of artifacts, including the American Collection, the Natural Science Collection, and the World Cultures Collection. Furthermore, throughout the museum’s 29-acre facility, a wide variety of exhibits give children hands-on exploration and interactive displays. 

Dating back to 1925, making it the fourth oldest of its kind in the world, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and it caters to over one million visitors a year. 

The Indianapolis Clowns date back to a Depression-era Miami team called the Ethiopian Clowns that was established by Hunter Campbell, Johnny Pierce, and Syd Pollock. Pollock was the driving force behind the team's publicity and helped to make the team famous from coast to coast. The Clowns discovered a new way to gain fame and notoriety. Starting out as great entertainers, they soon took a more serious approach and became known for their skill and uniquely fast-paced style of baseball. In 1943, the Clowns joined the Negro National League and relocated from Miami to Cincinnati. After two seasons, the team moved to Indianapolis. After a seven-year stint in the league that included the championship in 1950, the Clowns opted out of their team contract and started barnstorming tours which offered a chance for more revenue.Goose Tatum was one of the famous members of the team and was known as a great showman. Often he would play with a glove triple the size needed, use a rocking chair at second base, and he also pioneered baseball's "hidden ball" trick. For many fans, the chance to see Tatum alone was worth the price of admission, especially when pitcher Ed Hamman joined the act by throwing fastballs between his leg and also behind his back. In addition to winning most of their games, players would also entertain the crowd by going into the stands and offering peanuts and programs to sell. Tatum's most famous trick was called Shadow Ball. This was where the players would play a completely normal game without an actual baseball. Similar to other African American barnstorming teams like the Harlem Globetrotters, the story of the Clowns showed what some Black athletes had to do in order to make a living playing their sport. Skill alone was not enough. At the same time, the Clowns and Globetrotters and other barnstorming teams challenged segregation and often overcame the color barriers of their time as they played in front of largely African American crowds and usually beat their white competitors. The team traveled with players such as Satchel Paige, Henry “Hank Aaron, Buster Haywood, and DeWitt Smallwood. They were also the first baseball team to hire women in competitive play, giving rise to the storied careers of players such as Toni Stone, Miami “Peanut” Johnson, and Connie Morgan.

Located within the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, this exhibit shares the history of the Indianapolis Clowns, an influential team that went from barnstorming to playing for championships during the era of segregation. The highlight of the exhibit is a statue of several players who are known for their skill and trend-setting style of fast-paced baseball.

This statue is located within an exhibit in the Indianapolis Children's Museum

Indianapolis Clowns Exhibit

<ol><li>This Hoosier hero’s home could not be preserved, as his family still was living there, but that did not stop others from remembering his legacy and impact he had on our nation. Ryan White was a kid from Indiana who was diagnosed with AIDS after a bad blood transfusion when he was only thirteen and given six months to live. White fought this disease and the stigma that came along with it until he died, five years later. Many at this time still thought that AIDS was only contracted by homosexual men having sexual intercourse. Because of this stigma and damage to his image because of it, schools denied White stating that they did not know if it were safe for their communities. This started a long series of legal battles to allow White to attend school and fight off the AIDS stigma. His determination and can’t give up attitude is still remembered today. He made such an impact on this world, its youth, and even the adults in it that the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis chose to honor him in an exhibit featuring impact children of this world, including others like Anne Frank and Ruby Bridges. In order to do this, they created White’s own bedroom and have pieces that can be read about him in order to learn about his legacy. This along with many charities and foundations, including our own Indiana University Dance Marathon, were created in Ryan White’s honor in order to preserve the history of his life.</li></ol>

Ryan White is one of the youngest Hoosiers to have such a great impact on our state's history and is yet another amazing human who was taken out of the world too soon. Because of this, the Children's Museum has chosen to honor White and recreate his bedroom. This allows visitors to learn about the life of Ryan White and keep his legacy alive today.

Ryan White Bedroom Recreation at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum

Broad Ripple Park Carousel is an antique carousel held in The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. The restored carousel consists of 42 animals including horses, goats, giraffes, deer, a lion, and a tiger 1. When first constructed the carousel was a shining piece of the amuseument park which held the structure of animals propelled by the mechanism built by Mangels-Illions, a carousel manufacturer of Brooklyn, New York 1. First built in 1917 the carousel was located in this singular amuseument park, where it remained until 1956 2. As time passed the building enclosing the carousel had collapsed which in force destroyed the mechanics of the carousel.  Once the carousel was removed from the building the animals had remained barely harmed so the remains were placed into a storage area. Carved by the Gustav Dentzel carousel company and assembled by the William F. Mangels carousel company the remains of the carousel were preserved for later purpose. As years passed the carousel pieces were collected by The Children's Museum of Indianapolis as they had acquired some of the animals from the carousel in 1956 and then eventually collected all of the animals that remained in 1973. The museum planned to sell some in order to finance the restoration of others until convinced otherwise by carousel enthusiasts. With convinced restoration the work began in 1966 and was completed in 1977 1. The museum not only managed to restore all of the animals but also create new mechanics to make a full restoration. The restored carousel measures 42 feet wide and has a total of 42 restored animals 3. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1987. Located at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis the carousel may be viewed from Tuesdays to Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Rides may be taken upon the carousel free for members and $1 for non-members .

Broad Ripple Park Carousel is a cherished carousel held in The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. The restored the carousel consists of a variety of animals for admiration. The machine was originally built 1917 with the same artistic animals. 


Broad Ripple Park Carousel

Front entrance of the Children's Museum of Indianapolis

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