Atlanta History Center Fall Exhibits (wednesdays)

From the venue:

Our War Too: Women in Service

Our War Too explores the often-overlooked stories of servicewomen who served in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, including the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), Coast Guard SPARs, Women Marines, and the civilian Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), as well as the 73,000 women who served in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps.

Organized by The National WWII Museum, the exhibition uses immersive technology, personal artifacts, and original film content to bring these women’s stories to life—and to highlight how their service laid the groundwork for future generations.

“Our War Too is unique because it presents a history that isn’t often told,” said the exhibit’s curator, Kimberly Guise, who is Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at The National WWII Museum. “We are proud to be able to share the stories of these women and how their valuable military service opened doors for the many women who came after them. I hope visitors learn something new and see something unexpected, and I hope young women in particular feel empowered by the women they see represented in this exhibit.” 

“While many stories focus on the women who supported the war effort on the Home Front, this exhibit shines a light on those who volunteered to go to war,” said Sheffield Hale, President and CEO of Atlanta History Center. “It’s a deeply moving and technologically rich experience that honors their courage and sacrifice.”

In addition to compelling artifacts from The National WWII Museum’s collection, the exhibit features:

• Interactive Scrapbooks: Explore curated memory books created by women who served.
• Film Installations: Hear from women who followed in WWII servicewomen’s footsteps.
• ‘I Was There’ Interactive Biographies: Engage in lifelike conversations with three WWII servicewomen, brought to life using cutting-edge AI from immersive tech leader StoryFile. These include:

Romay Davis, driver in the African American Women’s Army Corps 688th Central Postal Directory Battalion

• Virginia Wilterdink, U.S. Army nurse with the 314th General Hospital Unit

Florence Smith, baker for the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve
This innovative feature allows visitors to ask verbal questions and receive authentic responses drawn from interviews containing over 1,000 answers, making each interaction uniquely personal.

exhibit page here

Locomotion: Railroads and the Making of Atlanta

The cornerstone of Locomotion: Railroads and the Making of Atlanta is the restored locomotive Texas. The engine was built in 1856 for the Western & Atlantic Railroad, which had established its terminus in 1837 at the site that became Atlanta. For that reason, the locomotive is an important link to the city’s origins.

Another important link to the city’s origins is the Zero Mile Post – one of the city’s most significant artifacts. Recently relocated to Atlanta History Center, the Zero Mile Post is the 1850s Western & Atlantic Railroad marker around which Atlanta grew. Positioning the Zero Mile Post beside the recently restored Texas locomotive, one of the two remaining Western & Atlantic locomotives the other being the General that would have passed by that very mile post scores of times during its service. Railroads built and created Atlanta, and these two objects tell Atlanta’s origin story like no others.

exhibit page here

Cyclorama: The Big Picture

On February 22, 2019, Atlanta History Center opened Cyclorama: The Big Picture, featuring the fully restored cyclorama painting, The Battle of Atlanta.

At the centerpiece of this new multi-media experience is a 138-year-old hand-painted work of art that stands 49 feet tall, is longer than a football field, and weighs 10,000 pounds. This painting is one of only two cycloramas in the United States—the other being the Battle of Gettysburg cyclorama —making Atlanta home to one of America’s largest historic treasures.

In the 1880s, The Battle of Atlanta cyclorama painting was an immersive experience—the equivalent of virtual reality today. The painting is a full-color, three-dimensional illusion designed to transport the viewer onto the battlefield. Cycloramas were created as a form of entertainment—they were the IMAX of their time. The painting was a visual story about the 1864 Battle of Atlanta, but over time it has evolved into a significant artifact that has its own fascinating story. Now, the historical journey of the painting itself is part of the ‘big picture’.

Created at the American Panorama Company in Milwaukee by 17 German artists, The Battle of Atlanta cyclorama took five months to create before it debuted in Minneapolis in 1886. Painted 22 years after the Battle of Atlanta, the painting originally depicted the battle from a Northern perspective as a heroic Union victory so that it would appeal to Northern audiences. When the painting relocated to Atlanta in 1892, it was slightly modified and advertised as “the only Confederate victory ever painted” to appeal to its new Southern audiences that maintained Confederate sympathies. The 1864 Battle of Atlanta was not a Confederate victory, and most of these changes from 1892 were reversed in the 1930s.

exhibit page here