Detroit Historical Museum Reopens With 5 New Exhibits

The Detroit Historical Museum reopens this weekend with five new exhibitions including marriage rituals and WWJ Newsradio 950's 90 year anniversary.
  
Doors open Friday after being closed for three weeks for a summer recess. Admission is free through Sunday.
  
Exhibits include ``Saying I Do: Metro Detroit Weddings.'' On display will be portions of the Detroit Historical Society's wedding gown collection and accessories, as well as artifacts and costumes, highlighting ceremonies and traditions of groups throughout the region. 

An array of more than 20 weddings from a Native American ceremony in 1640 to a Mexican-American celebration in 2000 are chronicled in the exhibit, which also includes nuptials from the French, Irish, German, Polish, Belgian, Italian, Jewish, Baptist, African Methodist Episcopal, Greek, Russian, Serbian, Lebanese, Syrian, Chaldean, Palestinian, Yemeni, Iraqi, Korean and Hindu traditions.
  
Another exhibit, in the Community Gallery, entitled WWJ Newsradio 950: 90 Years of Innovation, will share the station's rich history through a variety of unique artifacts, photographs, audio and video. 

From its launch on August 20, 1920 with the first commercial broadcast in American history, WWJ has told the city's story and brought metro Detroiters many firsts and innovations, delivered by memorable personalities from the late sports play-by-play pioneer Ty Tyson to the iconic recently-retired weatherman "Sonny" Eliot.

Fabulous 5 will showcase Detroit's Historic Retailers, including Crowley Milner & Company, Ernst Kern Company, Fyfe's Shoes, J. L. Hudson Company, and S.S. Kresge Company. 

A Scripps-Booth "DaVinci Pup" Cyclecar from the 1910s is the next vehicle to be featured in the Museum's Automotive Showplace.  A short-lived trend in the early days of "motoring," cycle cars were designed to be small, sporty and particularly fast.  Constructed on a wood frame, the boat-tailed aluminum body weighs 1,250 pounds and is powered by an all-aluminum 16-valve, four-cylinder engine.  Two rubber belts turn the wheels, propelling the car to top speeds of over 90 miles per hour. 

Detroit Artists' Showcase is featuring the works of Jerome Beiderman (1913 -1996), a nationally recognized transportation illustrator.  His medium of choice was tempera paint and illustration board, and his renderings were technically accurate and highly detailed.  Following his death, the Detroit Historical Society's collection received 28 of Biederman's automobile images, a sampling of which will be on display.

The Detroit Historical Museum is located at 5401 Woodward Ave. at Kirby. It is open to the public Wednesday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from Noon to 5 p.m.  For more information, call the Museum at (313) 833-1805.

© MMX WWJ Radio, All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to his report.