R2-D2 Cookie Jar

R2-D2 Cookie Jar – Painted Ceramic, 1977 Is this the droid you’re looking for? You’re not the only one! In 1977, Twentieth Century Fox moved to capitalize on the immediate success of Star Wars, flooding stores with merchandise of all kinds. This cookie jar was part of the “New Hope” collection featuring R2-D2 and C-3PO… Continue reading

Audubon Print

Audubon Print, No. 46 – “American Green winged Teal,” 1834 This life-like engraving is part of the Birds of America folio book by John James Audubon. It includes 435 color plates (prints) documenting nearly 1,000 American birds in careful and accurate detail. It is an important work of natural history and scientific observation created by… Continue reading

Bronze Elephant Sculpture

Bronze Elephant Sculpture – ca. 1920s Did you know that you can tell the three species of elephant apart by looking at their ears? It’s true! The ears of the African elephant species (Savanna and Forest) are much larger than their Asian elephant cousins. Also, the shape of African elephant ears looks like the African… Continue reading

Hand-painted Ceramic Statuette

Hand-painted Ceramic Statuette – Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin Today we celebrate the International Day of Human Space Flight with this statuette of the very first human in space. On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin launched into space aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft. He spent 108 minutes in space, orbiting the Earth at a speed… Continue reading

Desert Rose

Desert Rose – Collected from Mexico Do you see it? The rose-like formation of this gypsum mineral specimen? This is an example of desert rose, a cluster of gypsum with a unique growth pattern of flattened crystal “petals.” Those petals enclose sand grains as they grow, and fan open in a circular series of flat… Continue reading

Sally Ride Barbie

Sally Ride Barbie – Inspiring Women Series, 2019 This Barbie doll from the Inspiring Women Series honors astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. On June 18, 1983, she flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger STS-7  as the flight engineer on a week-long mission that earned her a place in history. She traveled… Continue reading

Hand-painted Ceramic Bust

Hand-painted Ceramic Bust – Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova This week for Women’s History Month we are celebrating the brave woman depicted by this bust, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. On June 16, 1963, the 26-year-old earned her place in history by becoming the first woman to fly in space. She orbited the Earth 48 times during her… Continue reading

Newspaper – Florida Times

Newspaper – Florida Times, July 9, 2019 Meet Hazel Banks, a clerk and stenographer who worked for NASA on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs up through Apollo 15. Banks started at NASA in 1965 in the procurement department working on contracts before moving to the flight training building at Kennedy Space Center to work… Continue reading

Victrola Phonograph Record

Victrola Phonograph Record – “A Perfect Day” by Carrie-Jacobs Bond, 1914 Do you know who the first female music publisher was? Her name was Carrie Jacobs-Bond, a singer, songwriter, and pianist who formed her own publishing company in 1896 after the male-dominated music industry refused to publish her compositions. She became hugely popular worldwide, and… Continue reading

Wonder Woman Lunchbox

Wonder Woman Lunchbox ca. 2000 Today is International Woman’s Day and we are honoring Wonder Woman, an icon and inspiration for more than 75 years. Although not flesh and blood, she has had a lasting and positive impact on our culture, the women’s movement, and science fiction. She empowers women to be both strong and… Continue reading