Sioux City Public Museum

This multi-screen production pays tribute to Sioux City’s resilience in the face of three major calamities that struck the community during the last century.  A fire-ravaged, two-story brick building façade towers over visitors, who watch the dramas unfold in the building windows.  A dynamic soundtrack, water and fire lighting effects, and a smoke machine bring a sense of immediacy to the experience.

Sioux City Public Museum

In a cluttered attic space, Sioux City’s 19th-century history unfolds in unexpected ways. When visitors open an antique chest in front of a mirror, the attic lights dim and their reflection in the mirror is mysteriously replaced by the ghost of Reverend George Haddock or city developer John Peirce. Each man recounts a pivotal moment in his life and in the history of the city.

Atomic Testing Museum

The blinding light of a nuclear explosion fills the theater as the moment of horror almost becomes real. The room shakes and a blast of hot air – a shockwave – passes through the bunker-like theater. As one nuclear scientist later admits, “There was never a detonation when you weren’t scared.” In this experience, visitors are viscerally drawn into a nuclear bomb explosion and are engaged in the moral and political legacy of the Nevada Test Site.

National Mississippi River Museum

The centerpiece of the Rivers to the Sea Gallery is a sinuous, fifty-foot long water wall. An ever-changing mix of graphics, animation and colored lighting captivates visitors. Inspirational quotes and compelling facts about water and rivers flow along the rippling surface of the water wall. Silhouettes of fish and gently waving underwater plants suggest a mysterious, underwater scene.

National World War II Museum (formerly the D-Day Museum)

Never were tensions so high as in the crucial days before the D-Day landing in Normandy, as Eisenhower and the Allied Command were deciding whether to unleash the invasion. Because no images of their secret headquarters on the coast of England exist, this extraordinary moment in history is evoked through a combination of iconic theater vignettes, hidden monitors, projections on scrim, and lighting effects.

Truman Presidential Museum and Library

This installation offers a provocative view of Americans' prevailing attitudes in the closing months of WWII. An audio track fills the space with people recounting their responses to the news that the U.S. had used atomic weapons against Japan. Video monitors show footage of intense fighting in the Pacific and of the Manhattan Project bomb tests. Ringing the top of the walls, an LED ticker reels off news headlines of the period

Trailside Nature and Science Center

Created to give children a non-threatening experience of the woods, the Night Theater program takes kids on a walk through the suburban woods at night. In the course of the walk, many species of animals are encountered. The program takes place in a small theater featuring a diorama with a house, trees, and a starry sky. Lighting effects reveal the hidden animals and other creatures encountered during this woodland journey.

National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium

Crates and sundry 18th and 19th-century objects clutter the darkened hull of a keel boat. At the front of the theater, four lighted objects sit on crates. When visitors touch an object, the lights in the theater shift dramatically and visitors find themselves traveling America's rivers with the nation's first explorers. Evocative lighting effects, music, and journal readings create a magical and unique experience.

Arabian Horse Galleries

This program gives visitors a sense of the magical relationship between the Bedouins and their Arabian horses through story and myth. In a replica of a Bedouin tent, visitors touch a glowing urn to trigger stories that tell of the creation of the Arabian horse from the West wind, and the intense bond of loyalty these horses had with their riders.

Tribute WTC Visitor Center

After 9/11 people all over New York were interviewed about their experiences on that tragic day. At two stations in the WTC Visitor Center, people can select from a number of these personal stories, revealing the many ways that individuals were affected by this horrific moment in history.