Author: sophiagarriot

On March 29th, I visited the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum and toured St. Louis in Service, the museum’s permanent exhibit. St. Louis in Service details the story of St. Louis and its citizens’ involvement in modern conflicts from pre-Revolutionary War to today.

The memorial is in Downtown St. Louis which does bring some issues for visitors. Parking can be very difficult, as the only official parking is street parking. While admission to the museum is free, you will have to pay for parking. Opened in 1938, the memorial features a cenotaph that is inscribed with the names of all the St. Louisans who died in World War One, as well as an incredible mosaic ceiling that honors Gold Star families. The museum is split into two wings with the memorial in the center. 

The museum is split into two wings with the memorial in the center.
Upon entering the East Wing I was greeted by an incredibly helpful attendant who told me the layout of each wing. The Revolutionary War to World War I is featured in the East gallery, while the West gallery features World War Two to the present. You can theoretically view the galleries in any way you want, but I decided to view them chronologically and started in the East gallery.

Both galleries have a very similar layout with each end having a large timeline that displays the events and period covered by that side of the gallery, as well as a center section with a special display. The galleries flow in a counterclockwise direction around the center display, but visitors can view it in any way they please if they are not interested in chronological learning.

The right section of the East gallery covers 1750 to 1900, while the left section is from 1914 to 1918. The center display of the East gallery features a bell from the USS St. Louis, a protected cruiser used in WWI. This section discusses the history of all seven ships that have carried the name USS St. Louis. It also details the meaning behind the four large statues that adorn the outside of the memorial and has small, touchable models of each. In the West gallery, the right side discusses 1939 to 1945, while the left covers 1947 to today. The center is a display of modern uniforms from every branch of the military, as well as changing pictures of soldiers from St. Louis and two interactive touch screens that allow you to sort through the names and stories of other soldiers from St. Louis.

The artifacts, while all related to the military, have quite an incredible range. From something as small as a pocket Virgin Mary figure carried by a man in WWI to something as large as a WWII aircraft gun turret made by local company Emerson Electric, it is a magnificent collection. The text that accompanied each artifact helped bring them to life and told an excellent story. Some of my favorites were the WWI dog tags that told a brief story of each man they had once belonged to.

The interactives were perhaps my favorite part of the exhibit. They had large touchscreens where visitors could play games, go through items in the collection, and even listen to oral histories. These features add a new layer of learning and are incredibly helpful. My favorite interactive was in the East gallery which allowed visitors to design their own Iron Clad ship. The interactive allowed you to choose hull shape, gun deck type, armor, propulsion, and armament. After you completed your selections, it would walk you through a series of tests that would determine if your Iron-Clad ship design was successful or not. This helped me to understand how these ships worked and how they were useful during the Civil War.

The majority of the readily available accessibility features were braille signage and images throughout the exhibit. They also have audio descriptions available through their website. The galleries are both quite accessible with everything being spaced out well. There were a few issues I saw with accessibility in the exhibit. First, the galleries were both quite dark. The cases and text were well-lit, but navigating darker spaces may be challenging for some. Another thing is that some of the cases and text were too high and might be difficult for someone in a wheelchair to read.

One thing that I could not find in the exhibit was any information on who the curator was or any form of bibliography. I may have received this information from the front desk but I did not think to ask at the moment.

I think the exhibit did an excellent job of presenting the stories of everyday St. Louisans to help show audiences how St. Louis, a city far from most battlefields, is deeply rooted in military history. They focused on stories of people from all different backgrounds, not just what people would find the most shocking or interesting. My main complaint was that the galleries were quite dark, but in historic buildings like that, it is often difficult to get good lighting. I believe this exhibit is excellent for anyone and would be easily understood by people with very little war knowledge.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to visit the St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM) and see their temporary exhibit Narrative Wisdom and African Art, which ran from October 19, 2024–February 16, 2025, a few weeks before it closed. Curated by Nichole N. Bridges, the Morton D. May Curator of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, curatorial assistant Amy Clark and research assistant Elyse D. Schaeffer, the exhibit contains African art that tells oral and collective histories not through words, but through imagery. As the website states, “By underscoring the mutability of meanings associated with African narrative arts, the exhibition challenges Western constructs of narrative.” While the exhibition featured fantastic pieces that did challenge Western notions of storytelling, it felt disjointed and almost lacking in a sense. 

This was my first trip to SLAM despite having lived in St. Louis for about 2 years in total.  Thankfully, I was with others who had been to the museum, and they were able to lead me, as finding the exhibition may be tricky for those entering from the main hall. Located in Taylor Hall in the East Building, the exhibition is the only section of the museum that is not free. Once visitors get their tickets from the desk, which is located just near the exhibition entrance along with a coat check and a bathroom, they can begin the exhibition. Visitors are greeted by a bright blue wall that displays the title of the exhibition, to the left of which is a few paragraphs that discusses oral traditions and how they can be told through art. As visitors enter the exhibition to a small room, painted in the same bright blue, they are met with modern music that includes the sounds of the ocean and tradition African beats. This music is a piece of art in the exhibition. Ties That Bind, is a musical work by Emeka Ogboh that incorporates thumb piano, the main instrument featured in the room.

Upon exiting this room, visitors enter the main exhibition space and are greeted by a bright yellow half wall displaying intricately carved doors. This is the beginning of “Leadership and Powerplay,” a section that displays art that was commissioned by rulers or made in their honor. Following this is “Memory: Place and Commemoration,” which displays pieces that focus on telling the story of a particular place. “Foretelling: Destiny and Healing,” comes next and contains artwork that represents divination traditions. The final section, “Ancestral Wisdoms and Allegory,” features pieces that depict inherited wisdom in new ways. 

As someone who works in museum education, one of my favorite parts of the exhibition was what they call the Explore Lab. Located in the back of the exhibition, this section has reading material for all ages and features cards with prompts that help promote discussions about the exhibit. Spaces like these give visitors a place to sit and reflect upon what they have seen. I am a firm believer that art is a fantastic way to express emotions, and this space offers visitors the chance to do that. It was evident by the art pieces left, that many people had taken advantage of this space and were excited about sharing what they learned. 

The text in the exhibition was quite good, although a bit long at times, it provided helpful information for visitors to understand each piece they were seeing. The one issue I did have with the text was the pieces of text that introduced each section. These were placed in strange location relative to the way visitors would naturally flow through the gallery space. They were often placed on a strip of color to help them stand out, but I often walked by them without even realizing. 

 The main exhibit space, while a decent size, feels almost like a winding maze. The many half walls and display cases in the middle of rooms makes you feel like you are always dodging something. While the space is quite large, it only has one bench. This may make the exhibit difficult to view for some visitors with mobility issues, but they did seem to have folding stools that visitors could carry around it needed. The aisles were large enough to move a wheelchair through, but it may have been difficult to do so. 

Overall, I did enjoy the exhibit, and the pieces featured in the exhibit were incredible, but the way in which the exhibition was presented felt disjointed. While all the pieces told oral traditions in some way, none of the sections really felt connected. The pieces did do an excellent job in challenging Western notions of how oral traditions can be told in non-traditional ways, but they were laid out in a way that made me feel confused at times. Perhaps it was just my history brain, but seeing modern tapestries of President Obama next to intricately carved chairs that were hundreds of years old could feel disorienting at times.