- (male announcer) This program is made possible by the WKNO Production Fund with major funding from the Plough Foundation.

[gentle music] - Inside the Pink Palace: the Mid-South's Museum of Science and History.

If you grew up in the Mid-South, chances are you remember field trips to the Pink Palace, the planetarium, the dinosaurs, exhibits of scientific explorations, art, and artifacts from around the world, one of Memphis's long lasting institutions, MoSH, our Museum of Science and History, located in the heart of town.

It feels like it's always been there, but what's the story behind those pink granite walls?

It started off as the dream ho me of a self-made millionaire, but fate had a different plan in store and instead of a luxury home, the building locals dubbed the Pink Palace became a treasure house of knowledge and wonder for generations of Memphians to explore.

Today it stands as a state-of-the-art modern museum hosting tens of thousands of visitors every year who come to see its permanent collections, the traveling shows from around the world, as well as an ever-changing array of exhibits focused on the history and culture of the Mid-South.

Visitors enjoy being transported th rough the corridors of time where they encounter a mesmerizing array of fossils, ancient relics and artifacts that tell the stories of civilizations long gone, from the awe-inspiring dinosaurs to the intricate artifacts that shed light on the history of the Mid-South area.

The museum bears witness to the rich tapestry of human history.

The museum highlights scientific achievements using cutting edge technology so viewers can have an out of this world experience as they gaze up at the mesmerizing night sky in the state-of-the-art planetarium, or immerse themselves in thrilling giant screen films that transport them to far off lands, allowing them to witness the wonders of our world like never before.

But MoSH isn't just about the past and the cosmos, it's also a hub of creativity and community.

An annual crafts fair brings together local artisans showcasing their talents and sharing their passions for creativity.

And annual displays like the Enchanted Forest, help Memphians young and old get into the spirit of the holidays.

None of these things would be possible without the people who work inside the Pink Palace from educators and curators who design the exhibits and shape the experience of visitors to volunteers who help with events, to technicians who keep the museum's high tech and low tech in working order, they know the institution better than anyone.

Its importance, its significance, but most of all its stories.

Of course, it all starts at the beginning.

- You can't talk about the Pink Palace Museum without mentioning Clarence Saunders.

He was responsible for the first self-service grocery store in the United States.

It was a concept that was totally foreign to people.

- Generation after generation would go into a general store, they go up to a counter and they'd say, I'll take 10 pounds of flour and 20 pounds of lard and 6 pounds of bacon, and people would wait on them.

So it was very labor intensive, but that's the way things were done for decades and decades.

So when people tried to have a self-service store, people were clueless.

So what Clarence Saunders realized was, you've gotta teach a generation of people how to shop for themselves.

Believe it or not.

- This was a concept where people went through aisles and selected their own groceries.

It also saved money because he didn't have to pay as many clerks.

He had several patents for this store that he called Piggly Wiggly.

- So you would go through a turnstile and the turnstile would only go in one direction, but you would go down aisle after aisle after aisle, and you could not get outta that store until you came to the cash register and paid and then exited.

So it was a brilliant idea and it worked successfully.

- Because of all his riches, he decided to build himself a mansion.

And it was started in 1921, I believe.

- The museum itself started with Clarence Saunders building this residence, which he never lived in, sadly.

But he, it was pretty far along in construction when he lost his fortune.

- What happened was, apparently Wa ll Street folks had rules that they could use if they were upset about something, and apparently they were upset that Clarence Saunders had become a multimillionaire, was building this 36,000 square foot home and was going to have the largest 18-hole golf course in the United States of America as a private golf course.

So what they did, and it was legal at the time, was they demanded that he show his 51% of the stock that he owned, and it had to be physically presented in Manhattan on Wall Street within a certain timeframe.

It was an impossibility.

He couldn't do it.

The stock was delisted.

And consequently, that caused the bankruptcy of Clarence Saunders, the loss of the home, the loss of his dreams.

- He lost the property and of course made money back again, but never bought the property back.

He just decided that his life had changed and he moved on.

- They don't know what to do with the mansion.

They're not gonna tear it down.

It's too beautiful of a building.

And so one of the investors, a man named Nelm Bruce, his task was really to figure out what to do with this mansion.

And he had visited the Cosset Library downtown on Front Street, and there was a small museum there.

And the museum grew simply because people started giving things to the city.

Bruce had gone in and seen the exhibit and said, this is not the place for a museum.

And so we thought, wait a minute.

We've got this empty building, maybe that could be used as a museum.

Bruce approaches the mayor of Memphis at the time, Rowlett Paine, who says, "Oh, that's a wonderful idea."

So they donate the property to the city and it opens in March of 1930, - The moniker Pink Palace had stuck because that's what people in Memphis had called the building when it was under construction.

While it's a bizarre name, the fact that the people in Memphis saw this 36,000 square foot pink marble mansion being built, and they dubbed it the Pink Palace.

And the Pink Palace stuck for a long, long time.

- At first it was just very simple.

It was literally a grandma's attic type thing.

People brought in their objects fr om their world travels and the entire exhibit was in the mansion.

People remember from later decades, the shrunken head, the touch log, the planetarium was developed in the 1950s.

We still have the original star projector from that.

- One of the fellas that worked in the planetarium, John Birch, he was one of the people that actually star interested the City Council in providing, getting funds for building that planetarium, for putting it in the mansion.

- In the '60s and '70s, there were a lot of archeologists and anthropologists that were part of the curatorial staff, and they were people who were really experts in those fields.

When this place was run by a lot of archeologists and anthropologists, the biology and geology labs were buzzing with activity.

I mean, there was lots of th ings going on in those spaces.

There was active research going on.

There were students coming in, there were experiments being done.

We had dark rooms in this museum, we developed our own film here.

So it was both a museum space where visitors came in, but there was an active behind the scene research component that, it co-existed with it.

- It was the city's museum.

And through the years, we knew we had to get items out of the mansion because we couldn't control the temperature there, the humidity.

So the first edition that we had was in 1977, and that's also the year that we started restricting donations to the Mid-South area and not worldwide.

We gave it a more regional focus.

- And then Doug Noble, who was a director for quite a while here, kept building and he added on the lobby out here as well as the underground IMAX Theater Wing in the '90s.

- Everything has a course.

It's not just the Clarence Saunders story, right?

But certainly here at Central Avenue is the Pink Palace, and that is the core of the museum at heart.

- I have to say, one of my favorite galleries in the museum is the fossils.

I love the fossil area.

When you go back there under, we have a mosasaur, under the mosasaur we have a case full of fossils that were actually found in the Mid-South area.

The school kids absolutely love when we take them to see Tara, who is our T-Rex, they love going over there to see her.

We have a megalodon tooth, well replica of a megalodon tooth, and they get to hold it.

And then we also have a nurse shark mouth and they get to hold it and they get to touch the teeth.

Bringing them to the museum is wonderful.

- One of my things that I do now is planetarium shows for the kids, and it's very gratifying to introduce kids to astronomy but I also was able to help produce content, like video content for the theater.

Once we're digital, we can produce custom things for the theater.

- Well we are the only un derground giant screen theater in the world.

Our theater goes about 50 feet underneath the front lawn, and we're also producing content for the planetarium.

We can do that too, 'cause it's digital also.

- I remember when the planetarium director came to me and approached me with an idea, and we had a pretty good relationship, and I hope they still do with Graceland.

The idea was this, why don't we do a laser light show focused on Elvis during the week when everybody comes to town to sort of honor and commemorate his death?

And I said, well it's kind of an interesting idea.

Let's pursue that and see what they say.

So lo and behold, we came up with "Elvis Legacy and Light" produced an original poster.

And what was wonderful about it was the first year we did it was the fifth anniversary of Elvis's death, and people were in town from all over the world.

We had people buying tickets that were from Denmark and all over Europe.

It was crazy.

- Some of the best exhibits I think we've had were the ones that have impacted me personally.

Henrietta Marie.

This was an exhibit about the slave ship, the Henrietta Marie, and this is the first time I've ever had a reaction to an exhibit.

But you walked through kind of a mock slave ship and literally when I did that, the hairs on your arms just stand up.

It is such an impactful, that was such an impactful program.

Our exhibit to me.

- Might have been the very first ti me that we had an exhibit regarding the slave trade back in the 17', 1800s.

It was very well received.

It was very sobering.

Another different exhibit that we got to be a part of was being part of the Wonder Series.

The Wonder Series was a series of international exhibits that was held downtown.

And one year we got to host one of those, which was about the Etruscans.

We got to deal with the Vatican and their collection of Etruscan artifacts.

And this was really different from us.

We had never been a part of an international exhibit before.

- And then there were other exhibits that come to mind, like the scoop on poop.

The scoop on poop was involved programmatically with this exhibit.

We had a table up front and we had images and images or replicas of scat that individuals could touch and they would actually have to match the scat with the animal.

And that was so engaging, so interactive.

- People come here and they wanna see the shrunken head.

- One thing that people were totally fascinated with was the shrunken head.

And that's seemingly all people could often talk about was, oh, I remember the shrunken head when I was a little girl and came with my school group, the shrunken head this, the shrunken head that.

- So I always remember the big polar bear that was near the old entrance into the old lobby of the museum.

Loved the polar bear, loved the murals that are still there.

- The circus is one of our most famous artifacts.

It was hand built by a gentleman named Clyde Park.

During the Depression, he was out of work and he started just whittling and he was a big circus fan.

He remembered when circuses would come to town and he would go to them.

So he decided he was going to make a circus.

He kept building on, it started in the 1930s and I think he was still adding to it in the 1950s.

It's mechanized.

So he had his brother do the electricals for it.

He had pulleys with leather ropes on it to make the circus move.

It's an entire three ring circus.

He had it in his attic at his home for the longest time, but then it got to be too big for his attic.

So he would break it down and bring it out to show people.

It was at the Mid-South Fair that took place here.

So in 1970, we got the circus from him.

He taught our preparator at the time, everything about it, about how to break it down, put it back together again.

- I love the circus.

That is, I mean, if you really take your time and look at all the little in tricate pieces of that circus and realize that somebody by hand did all of that, that is amazing.

- It was a big thrill for people to come in, especially the kids.

I mean, the way we had it initially, we had a bench around the entire museum where kids could stand up on it and watch the circus wagons go by with the band or the different animals.

- The Enchanted Forest was created for the Goldsmiths department store downtown, first opened in 1964 and was there until 1990 when the Goldsmiths, the downtown department store closed.

When Goldsmiths, when the downtown store closed, no one knew what to do.

But fortunately the Pink Palace stepped up and took the Enchanted Forest.

- I took over working for the Enchanted Forest as their special events coordinator.

It's such a privilege to work with Le Bonheur, with the Enchanted Forest to fundraise money for the hospital and children.

Typically, there's tons of volunteers from the community.

So we have people that decorate trees and we have people that make gingerbread houses.

We have really tons of people full of talent and a lot of people have a Le Bonheur story.

So the people that decorate our trees, they typically have a family member that was impacted.

And so it really is a collaborative spirit.

We get to share, we get to talk about the children and our community and it's really a blessing.

- We love Christmas.

Christmas is a good time and I think just walking in and seeing all the lights and everything lit up, I think that's the best time of year because that's when everything kind of gets a little bit quiet and you can really spend that time with your family.

The kids love it.

One of the best things about it is that even my big kids still like to go, so they don't, they never turn down a trip for the Enchanted Forest.

And so I'm always kind of appreciated that that's a time for us to all kind of reset before the new year.

- When I was younger, my parents took us to the Enchanted Forest every year.

My sister and I would always try to, we always run in there and look at all of the trees.

We love the ones that were decorated differently.

And we would always try to guess what we would see that time for that year, like which theme we would see.

And then my parents would always ask us what our favorite was at the end.

It's a great memory because it's something that you look forward to every year to go to the Enchanted Forest.

But then also you have memories with your parents and your siblings when you're younger.

- Every year when I'm up there you see families who have come through for 15 years.

I met this one family and they were all dressed in pajamas and the children were college age students and the mom said, no, we do this every year.

That's the best part about the Enchanted Forest.

It's such a tradition in the city.

- Coming up next, there's more to this museum than meets the eye.

Literally thousands of items tucked away in storage.

Historical relics donated by lo cal givers, unusual artifacts that have occasionally gone on display and some familiar friends, older visitors may remember from their childhoods.

We'll go behind the scenes to unveil the treasures hidden away within the museum's vaults.

And we'll also take you on a colorful journey through the annual Pink Palace Crafts Fair.

- Hi, and welcome into the Channel 10 television studios.

I'm Sally Stover, I'm here with Caleb Suggs, and our special guest, Wayne Dowdy.

And we are so enjoying looking at this piece of history, Inside The Pink Palace, now known as the Memphis Museum of Science and History.

You know, if you're like me and you've lived in Memphis for a long time, it kinda stumbles coming off the tongue.

'Cause if you're like me, you've called it The Pink Palace since you were going on field trips when you were in the second grade.

[laughs] But what a wonderful show and we're so excited to bring it to you.

This is the first new Memphis Memoirs we've had in several years, and it's one of the most popular things we do here at Channel 10.

So first, let me tell you, if you're already thinking, "Gosh, I'd love to have this for my DVD library at home," we can take care of you.

If you'd like to make a pledge of support to WKNO right now, call the number at the bottom of your screen.

You can pledge as little as $5 a month, $60 all at once.

We'll send you the DVD of the show you're watching right now that includes bonus material.

And if you're a big Memphis fan or you know one who needs a great gift, for $240, that's $20 a month as a sustainer, we'll send you the Memphis Memoirs DVD collection.

I'll go into more detail about that in a minute, but it is 15 of the Memphis Memoirs DVDs that we've produced here at WKNO over the years, beginning with the very first one, which was called Remember When, up to this one, which is Inside The Pink Palace.

So, call the number at the bottom of your screen, become a member of WKNO, make that pledge and support local programming on your local television station.

Let's go over now to Caleb.

- Thanks, Sally.

I'm Caleb Suggs here with Wayne Dowdy of the Memphis Library.

Wayne, thank you so much for joining us today.

- You bet.

Thank you.

- Listen, we're here to talk about our new Memphis Memoir for the Mid-South Museum of Science and History, or locally known as The Pink Palace.

- The Pink Palace.

- Wayne, can you talk a little bit about how our awesome museum here in the city originally was named The Pink Palace, and what it was like for Memphians when they first saw it?

- Well, The Pink Palace is being built in the early 1920s in outside what is traditionally thought of, at that time, as the city of Memphis, it would've been roughly called east Memphis, which is weird for us to think of that now, but when people would drive down Central, they would see this building being built and this beautiful pink Italian marble just struck people as beautiful and unusual.

There wasn't another home being built in Memphis that looked anything like this, and it was going to be so large, and so people started referring to it, without knowing anything about it, as The Pink Palace and the name stuck.

And, you know, the original name was Cla-Le-Clare, named for Clarence Saunders' children.

Kind of hard for that to roll off the tongue.

- Clarence... - Clarence Saunders, the original owner of the building.

And because they named it, I think, the people really came to identify with that museum and it became not just a museum, but a gathering place for Memphians.

I think that set the standard or created the situation where people came to love the museum, and partly because they named it.

- Gotcha.

Well, let's take it back to Sally, talk more about the DVD set.

- Thanks, Caleb.

Yeah, you can have this DVD of your own for yourself so that you can have a little piece of Memphis history for as little as $5 a month as a sustainer, or $60 if you wanna do it all at once.

We'll send you the DVD of Inside The Pink Palace.

It contains extra footage that's not on the program that you're gonna see on television right now.

Or if you'd like to have the whole package, we have packaged together 15 of the Memphis Memoirs DVDs that we've done over the years.

Now, those include, Remember When, which was the first one we did.

We didn't realize it was gonna be a series then.

Beyond the Parkways, Downtown, Sacred Spaces, Overton Square, Elmwood Cemetery, When TV Came to Town, Lost Memphis.

All of these here produced locally by WKNO to help us celebrate the history of Memphis.

So for a pledge of $20 a month as a sustainer, or again, you can do that $240 all at once, you can have the entire DVD collection, all 15 of the Memphis Memoirs DVDs.

Just think what a great addition to your DVD library that would be, and think about what a great gift that would be.

You know, we have these here in the station and we're ready to ship them out right away.

So if you've got somebody and a gift-giving holiday coming up, what a wonderful gift for somebody who perhaps grew up in Memphis and has moved away, or maybe somebody who just wants to remember what it was like back in the day.

So proud to present these great Memphis documentaries to the people of Memphis.

Let's go back now over to Caleb and Wayne.

- Thanks, Sally.

Well Wayne, we talked a little bit already about how The Pink Palace was really Memphis' museum.

What was it like when it first opened?

I mean, earlier I remember you talking about how you could walk through the front door, which is so foreign.

- That's right.

I mean, until the addition in the late '70s, you did, you walked through the front door and there was, of course, sort of an alcove and everything.

And there's an old story from the late 1920s where young men who were taking girls on dates would take their neck tie and stuff it into their pocket and when they picked up the girl, he would say, "Oh, wait a minute.

I forgot my tie.

Let me run home."

And so he'd pull into the museum, jump out, and go into the alcove, put his tie on, and came back as if that was his home.

[laughs] But when the museum opened, most of the exhibits were from the Cossitt Library Museum.

It was very small, and it was created simply because they had nowhere else to put stuff that people started donating to the city.

So, you know, Indian artifacts, stuffed animals, those kinds of things, I think museum professionals call that "grandma's attic".

So it was just a mix of things that would be of interest to people.

And also, they're thinking even then, about the educational aspect of this, that young people in particular are going to learn history through these exhibits.

- Right.

So, I mean, if you're starting it out as, as you say, the grandma's attic of Memphis, what were those early exhibits kind of like?

What did people kind of come in and what were they able to see?

- They would see things like a box of butterflies that were pinned to the back of the exhibit.

They'd see arrowheads displayed.

They would see bones of animals that would be displayed, and you know, artifacts like that.

Very simple artifacts, but still, at the time, you didn't see those in real life.

But you could learn about the history and the culture of Native Americans and the history of this community.

- Wow.

So really the foundation what we have today.

- Indeed.

- We're gonna toss it back to Sally.

- Okay.

We're going back to the program in just a minute.

But first, there's still time for you to call.

Call the number at the bottom of your screen or go to our website, WKNO.org.

Make your pledge of support, become a member of the WKNO family, and that way, you're helping us produce more great shows like this Memphis Memoirs: Inside The Pink Palace.

Now, if you call and make that pledge of $5 a month as a sustainer, you can have as your thank you gift, the DVD of the program you're watching right now, Inside The Pink Palace.

It includes extra footage not being shown on air right now.

Or, for a pledge of $20 a month, which goes a long way to support all the work we do here at WKNO, you can have, as your thank you gift, the entire set.

Fifteen different episodes of Memphis Memoirs going all the way back to the 1980s when we first started doing these on all kinds of things in the history of Memphis.

You know, you can learn a lot watching different history channels across your dial, but if you wanna know about the history of Memphis, the city that we live in, and the city that we love, you'll find that here on WKNO.

That's what we do because we are your public television station.

We're born in the Mid-South and we serve the Mid-South.

So call the number at the bottom of your screen, make your pledge of support, become a member of the WKNO family.

Now we're going back to more Inside The Pink Palace.

[upbeat music] - When we get objects donated to us, the vast majority of them go into storage.

And this is a climate controlled area.

It's officially known as the repository, but because of when the area was built, there was a deep pit in the ground because we go up three and a half stories here, the staff started calling it the pit.

So that name stuck.

And so the pit is where the majority of our objects are.

We also have a secondary storage area for more natural history.

But when an object comes in, like I mentioned, it's given a unique three section number and it goes into storage here.

We control the temperature and climate and we are given materials that use to help preserve this.

So we have acid-free tissue to wrap textiles in, or we have acid-free boxes.

Everything that's done in here is to preserve the object or the specimen.

We always felt like it was important to collect objects that belong to everyday Memphians.

We are sort of a grandma's attic for the city, but different in that we actually don't keep it in an attic.

We take very good care of the items, temperature, humidity controlled, and it's important to document what Memphians had in their past so present generations can learn from that.

So that's why we collect what we do.

I mentioned before that we had our, one of our oldest artifacts is a military coatee from 1835.

It was South Carolina militia, but we have uniforms from just about every, we don't have Revolutionary War, but we've got it from just about every other decade of military service.

So right here we have Spanish American War sac coat, it's probably our next oldest.

Below that we have World War I [indistinct] have the wide leg to them, the string that buttons up, the straps up the bottom.

This is an item that draws a lot of attention with visitors.

It's a 1969 Harley Davidson.

It belonged to a member of one of the first African-American motorcycle clubs in the city.

He was a collector, so he collected not only motorcycles but antique cars.

And we were contacted back in 2004 from a niece of this man and she said that he had left us a motorcycle in his will.

He had doled out the other things to other family members, but he wanted the museum to have this motorcycle.

It's functional but it's really sort of an art piece too.

He put his own personality into this, which involved a lot of chrome balls and they are all over the motorcycle.

His handle was Memphis Red and he had an artist friend of his, put some artwork of him on the motorcycle on the back saddlebag here.

But it's extremely heavy.

We had all the fluids drained when it came in and we had it on display for a while.

But since then it has sat back here mainly because it is just almost impossible to move it.

We can, but it's very difficult.

It weighs a lot as it seems.

The older motorcycle is one that we got accidentally.

We had made a trip over into Arkansas to pick up some artifacts for our gas station upstairs.

And while we were there, the gentleman said, "Hey, we've got a motorcycle in the barn that y'all might be interested in."

We had no idea it was there.

And we said, sure, let's have a look.

We go in, he says, if you want it, you can have it.

We had no idea.

But anyway, this is a 1912 Yale motorcycle.

And to say motorcycle is kind of a misnomer because you could also pedal it.

It had a battery, it had a canvas belt drive, and it was mainly just for tooling around town.

It was not gonna be for a long trip.

Gas tank is here, battery is here.

And from what I understand, even in this condition, collectors just flip out over this.

This was a really exciting find.

An archeology firm was doing a dig in downtown Memphis.

This was for the site of the FedExForum.

And in digging around, they discovered a pit had over 8,000 of these ceramic bottles in them.

And it was from a Saul's brewery company.

And the idea was maybe that the company had gone out of business due to yellow fever, but they date from the late 1870s and the bottles amazing number of bottles were still whole.

And a lot of 'em had a stamp in them that said, Sauls.

So we got hundreds of bottles out of this.

It was just a really exciting find for the crew and we were thrilled to get them.

For the longest time, Memphis had at least two newspapers.

We had a morning edition, which was the Commercial Appeal, and we had an evening edition, which was the Memphis Press Seimitar.

Back in 1983 we were given this box that would be on a street corner.

People would put their coins in, get their edition of the paper.

This artifact is kind of special to me because when I was in college, I delivered the Press Seimitar and always had a fun place in my heart with for it.

We also have a ton of Press Seimitars that came out when Elvis Presley died.

So we have those in our storage area also.

Johnny Holiday was sort of the mascot for the Holiday Inn Hotel chain.

The hotel or motel at the time came about because Kemmons Wilson traveling around found motor courts that were, didn't have too much of a standard.

So it gave him the idea to create something that travelers would know what they were gonna get no matter where they were.

They knew it was gonna be a clean room, standard furniture.

So the very first Holiday Inn that Kemmons Wilson created was on Summer Avenue in 1952.

Started out as sort of a motor court and then built up from there.

But Johnny Holiday was the colonial era mascot that they used to advertise their business.

On 1952 is when Kemmons Wi lson put his first Holiday Inn in the city.

It was on Summer Avenue and this is actually some of the furniture from the first Holiday Inn.

We've got a little nightstand here, more of a lounging chair over here, another chair that you could just sit at your desk.

We also got the headboard and footboard from the room.

We got just about everything, a television, telephone directory from 1952.

We got this from the corporation that had bought Holiday Inn.

So they donated to us.

We had it on display for the longest time and then for several years it was on display out at Wolfchase at their Holiday Inn out there.

They created a special room to put all the furniture in.

So it was a way for them to show people their past.

We have more Holiday Inn items.

The corporation was very generous with us in what they gave to us.

This is a replica of the great sign that would be outside the actual Holiday Inns.

This is one in miniature, although it's not that small.

I imagine maybe this was in their lobby, but we got it.

It still works.

It's chasing light bulbs.

And it was just another way to illuminate what the hotel chain was about.

One of the things I mentioned before was that everything that comes in is given a unique number, but it's also given a department number.

So one of the departments that we have are weapons and we get weapons from all over the world.

Initially the museum took in items from all over the world.

We didn't restrict where it was from.

In the 1970s, that changed and we had more of a Mid-South focus, but we still have a lot of the items that people donated to us that came from South America, came from Africa, from many Asian countries.

And they're just a window into the past.

I mean, this entire repository is like a three story time capsule.

You just are taken back in time by some of the objects that are in here.

The museum underwent a huge renovation in the 1970s.

We had additions put on because prior to that the storage and the museum were in the mansion.

We needed to have better climate control.

So we had an addition put on.

The pit was, so that was in about 1977.

I'm thinking the pit came into existence late '70s, maybe early '80s.

When I take tours through our pit, a couple of the items that I like to point out to people are these two, because if people of us are of a certain age, have no idea what they are.

This is a permanent wave machine.

It's what women used to sit under, have the curlers in their hair.

Each one of these was attached.

You were plugged in and just kind of suffering for beauty, I guess.

The other item I like to point out is this machine and people sometimes can guess what this is, but it's a belt vibrator.

And what you would do is unhook one of the sides here, stand on it, wrap the belt around you, turn it on, you would jiggle fat away.

So you would be set.

This is a model airplane that was handmade by a Memphis aviator named Phoebe Omley.

She was one of the first women to gain a pilot's license, a mechanic's license back in the 1920s.

Prior to becoming a pilot, she was a daredevil on planes.

She would be a wing walker.

She would hang from the underside of the wing by leather strap in her teeth.

She and her husband, Vernon Omley, were extremely important to starting aviation in Memphis.

And this model plane is what she built by hand, and it's one of our most treasured artifacts.

- The Pink Palace has never been one of those quiet museums from sc hool tours to special events.

It's one of Memphis's gathering spots, especially for people drawn to creativity and craftsmanship.

And that's never more true than at the annual Pink Palace Crafts Fair.

From handmade jewelry to intricate pottery, each booth showcases the incredible talent and passion of local and regional artisans.

- We had a support group at the museum, started in 1970 or 1972, called The Friends of the Pink Palace.

A fundraiser that they came up with was to have a crafts fair.

They started this in 1972.

It was on the grounds of the museum and it was a way to raise money, but it's also a way to expose Memphians to different craftsmen.

It was known for having craftsmen from all over the country.

- There are jewelers, there are woodworkers.

There are watchmakers.

There are people who do pottery, work with leather.

And they come once a year for this three-day event.

And it's always held in September.

And initially it used to be held on the grounds of the museum and it was really beautiful.

I've seen photographs of these craftspeople setting up their tents and people from the community came to, I mean, just see creative people at work, but also to purchase things.

- We have great artists.

They have to make all their stuff from scratch.

I mean they have to submit something and it's really a higher level than just a regular, like a bazaar craft fair.

- The Pink Palace's Crafts Fair has lots of different artists.

We have demonstrating artists.

We also have fine craftsmen and we have handy craftsmen.

We have culinary people that come to sell food and we have kids crafts activities and we have like a petting zoo.

We have a, let's say a climbing wall with some different things back there.

But it's really the artist and these artists, we have some that have a few that have even been here fifty-one years with us.

- They have the demonstration tent and you can watch the demonstrations they make different stuff, brooms that they have, glass blowing, things like that.

That's interesting.

- Even today you can go in the guy that makes the handmade straw brooms.

That's the best broom I've ever used.

- They would make donuts that were extremely tasty.

- Well, I tell you, yes, the donut tent was my favorite arts and crafts at the crafts fair.

- They would make, have people there making homemade biscuits, a sorghum mill with the mule that would go around crushing the cane.

It was very much an old timey feel to it.

And it was just, Memphians look forward to it every year.

- And then we get the same people year after year after year.

And you can just count on seeing them.

- I always love all the like pottery and jewelry and it's kind of interesting to see how people are able to be so creative and do it in very kind of quiet but powerful ways.

And you see them there showing the stuff that they've done.

There's something very, I dunno pure about that.

- One of my favorite memories is at, when I first started, my children were still fairly young and they would come out with me and they would get to do some special things.

So a lot of my memories are tied in with my children and just them having fun out here.

- The organization, the friends ha ve been just the right arm of the museum over the years.

- So the Friends of the Pink Palace, they are a fundraising wing of the museum.

So a certain percentage of what they earn from this crafts fair is given back to the museum.

So it's been a wonderful partnership that we've had.

- They have aged with the crafts fair and they are still at it and they, just some of the best hardworking folks you'll ever meet.

- It's an opportunity to really al so showcase craftspeople, which is something that is, I don't think done as much nowadays.

- Our friends of the museum here that put it on, do an exemplary job.

I'm amazed at what they do because I know that the work that goes into it is just unparalleled what they pull off every year.

- In the next segment, we'll learn more about how the Pink Palace, now MoSH the Museum of Science and History has evolved over the years straight from the mouths of the dedicated workers, the guests and the faithful volunteers who have experienced its wonders firsthand.

While the museum's mission has gained focus over time, the stories its people tell of its early years and its evolution sense form a rich tapestry with heartwarming humor, amazing anecdotes, and more than a few surprising secrets.

- Welcome back to the Channel 10 Studios, I'm Sally Stover.

I'm here with Caleb Suggs and our special guest, Wayne Dowdy, and we are really enjoying watching this newest of the Memphis Memoir series, Inside the Pink Palace.

This is such a treat, you know, it's been a few years, it's been four or five years since we've had a new Memphis Memoirs, and this one really is great.

For those of us who've lived in Memphis a long time, it was bringing back a lot of memories of trips there when we were children, I know I used to, gosh, field trips from Snowden Elementary, we'd go over there and we'd see the shrunken head and all the memorabilia at the Pink Palace.

And now, of course, I have grandchildren and I take them over there to see the Enchanted Forest, so it's such a part of Memphis.

And here at WKNO, we are so happy to bring you the best of Memphis history, the best memories of Memphis in our Memphis Memoir series.

We've got a way for you to add this to your own DVD library if you'd like.

If you'll call the number at the bottom of your screen, or you can go online to wkno.org and make a pledge, for a pledge of $5 a month, we'll send you the DVD of the program you're watching right now, Memphis Memoirs: Inside the Pink Palace.

So you could also make a pledge of $20 a month as a sustainer, and we'll send you the whole set, fifteen different DVDs on the history of Memphis.

A little something for everybody.

And I gotta tell you, I have li ved in Memphis my entire life and I have learned something new every time I've watched one of these.

So whether you want them for your own library or you want it as a gift for maybe somebody who is moving to Memphis and needs to know more about Memphis, what a great thing to do to give to somebody as a gift.

All right, let's go over now to Caleb and Wayne.

- All right, thanks, Sally, I'm Caleb Suggs back here again with Wayne Dowdy of the Memphis Public Library.

Like Sally was saying, there are so many interesting features and exhibits and pieces of the Pink Palace that have really just become a staple of the museum, there's, you know, the polar bear, there's, you know, the dinosaurs, there's the circus, there's exhibits like the Scoop on Poop, which I really just wanted to say on TV.

But one thing I really wanted to ask you in particular about was the Enchanted Forest, which has really become a holiday staple of the museum.

But it's my understanding that it didn't start at the Pink Palace.

- That's right.

The Enchanted Forest was first opened in Memphis in 1964 at the Goldsmith's Department Store downtown.

And it was created, it was inspired by the It's a Small World exhibit that Walt Disney had done for the New York World's Fair, then it was transferred over to Disneyland and then recreated Disney World.

So animatronic animals and children.

And so you would, Goldsmith's had this tunnel from their parking garage and you would take this tunnel down and it would have exhibits, advertisements and things, you know, the Enchanted Forest and all of that, and then you'd go in and you'd go through the Enchanted Forest and go down the escalator and Santa Claus would be there.

Well, when Goldsmith's Department Store, when the downtown location closed, there was nowhere for it to go and, but Memphians so loved the exhibit that it first went out to the Agricenter for a couple of years but fortunately, the Pink Palace rescued it essentially.

And now it remains an important part of Memphians' Christmas activities.

- Wow, I mean, seeing it in person, we're gonna toss it back to Sally, who's gonna talk about more how you can see the Memphis Memoir about the Pink Palace digitally.

- Thanks, Caleb.

You know, hearing Wayne talking about the Enchanted Forest and seeing it here, third generation.

I remember going as a child, going down through the tunnel in the basement of Goldsmith's, I took my daughters and I still have a picture somewhere of my daughter Elizabeth shrieking and trying to get off the lap of a Santa that was taken at the Enchanted Forest.

And now this year, I'm going with my grandchildren, so what a great historical tradition here in Memphis.

And, you know, okay, here's a segue for you.

Another tradition here in Memphis is WKNO.

We have been your public television station bringing you the best not only in the national PBS shows, which we bring to you every night, but local productions like the Memphis Memoir series.

We've got them, we've got 15 of them now in a package, and we're able to create these new documentaries, these new local productions because of the support of viewers like you.

Now, you hear us talk a lot about sustainers.

More and more of our members are joining as a sustainer, and that's very simple.

You decide how much you'd like to have contributed each month.

It'll come directly out of your checking account, or you can put it on a credit card.

That way, we know how much money we have coming in each month that helps us to budget.

You don't have to think about a renewal, it'll go on until you either tell us to stop or tell us to change the amount.

So consider becoming a sustainer.

And if you do become a sustainer, as little as $5 a month as a sustainer, one of the benefits that comes to you is Passport.

Now, this is PBS' version of a streaming service.

You'll be able to watch over 1800 hours of your favorite PBS shows and some local WKNO programs as well on any device you want to, if you're one of those folks who likes to watch TV on your phone, it's there, you can stream it to any device you want and have all of your PBS favorites available to you on demand whenever you want, including shows that aren't even available on broadcast.

So support your public television station and get Passport to boot.

Let's go back now over to Caleb and Wayne.

- Thanks, Sally, honestly, couldn't agree more, programs like the Memphis Memoir series and many other local things like that that are made for Memphis, for the Mid-South, wouldn't be possible without the contribution and the work of WKNO and other local stations, would you agree, Wayne?

- I would agree completely.

You know, my profession is trying to preserve local history and to make it accessible.

No one makes local history accessible more than WKNO, the Memphis Memoir series is just wonderful.

And I can remember when the first one debuted, people were so excited about this, people all over the city were talking about it and watching it and wanting to watch it again.

And they saw some of their neighbors being interviewed on the video, so it really touched a nerve, I think, for people, and fortunately, WKNO continues to do these because they are so not only rich in history, but they are rich in Memphis culture, and we get to share all this.

- Well, let's talk about the Memphis Memoirs in particular.

I mean, the newest one, of course, is Inside the Pink Palace, which you are featured in, by the way.

But also, I mean, this isn't your first time being involved in the Memphis Memoir in this capacity.

- No, that's right.

I've been involved in many of them over the years, going back to the Overton Park documentary that Willy Bearden did.

You know, I just got a call one day at work asking, would you be interested in doing this, and I'd never done a documentary before or anything, been involved in any of that.

So I said yes and did it, and Willy was such a great director in the sense that he was so encouraging, 'cause I didn't know what I was doing and, but he moved me along and helped me go, and so from there, you know, other directors asked me to participate and it's been wonderful, of course, for me personally.

And there's nothing like leaving the cupboard and some guy coming up to you as you're in the parking lot and says, "I saw you on television, you did great," I mean, that's an ego boost right there.

But it's been wonderful way to share the knowledge we have at the library and the knowledge I have about Memphis history.

- Gotcha, wanna talk more about how Memphis history is accessible to the public?

Here's Sally.

- Okay, we're going back now into the last segment of Inside the Pink Palace, I was about to say Behind the Pink Palace, which reminds me, I also went to the little theater when it was in the basement of the Memphis Pink Palace.

A lot of history going on here.

But just as a quick reminder, you know, here at WKNO, we wanna meet you where you are technologically.

So just so you'll know, there's a PBS app, and that'll let you stream PBS programs on any, again, wherever you want to, on any of your devices.

If you go to the WKNO website, you can stream our programming there.

We wanna meet you where you are so that you can enjoy the PBS and the WKNO programming on your terms when you want to.

And we do this because we appreciate your support.

Now let me go back one more time and let you know that, for a pledge of $20 a month as a sustainer, we will send you 15 of the Memphis Memoirs DVDs.

This includes not only the one you're watching right now, but Beyond the Parkways, which is one of my favorites, one on downtown, Sacred Spaces takes you inside some of the beautiful churches around the city, Lost Memphis, things that aren't here anymore.

Great programs for you to enjoy at home whenever you want to, but first, let's go back to more of Inside the Pink Palace.

[upbeat music] - So one of the things that's interesting about this museum is the way in which it evolved.

It started off in the 19', opened in the 1930s and initially it opened with just a lot of taxidermy 'cause they had a taxidermy and a bird collection.

And they opened with that and they used to initially actually have live animals in here.

And the woman who lived here, she used to live in the museum, believe it or not.

So it was kind of her workplace and her residence.

And there is a tour that some people in the museum can give and sometimes you get a chance to take that tour.

That basement apartment is still there.

It's of course not a functioning apartment.

It's basically just a rundown rooms.

But you can see her bathtub, you can see the kitchen area.

And she used to actually steward and take care of the live animals that we had here.

That is how this space started.

You know, that it had a real homey kind of thing that happened here when it opened as a museum.

And I think on any given day, there's interesting things that happen here.

- Well, one of my most favorite programs that we did in the education department was Family Science Night.

And we did that with the eclipse, was it in '17, '18?

We had an amazing program.

We had over a had over 1000 actually, I think I remember 1,008 people in attendance here.

One of the comments from a board member, he came up to me jokingly and said, you know, I had to park on the street.

There was not even any parking in the parking lot.

Those are the kinds of complaints I love to hear when we're too full.

- My favorite guest complaint comment that we had refers to Ralo, who's our triceratops behind us here, Ralo for many years, he was one of the first animatronic dinosaurs out there on the market.

You'd put a quarter in or 50 cents into this little box and he'd snort and huff and stomp his feet like he was gonna charge at you.

And well, after so many years, Ralo started to break down and we couldn't get parts for him anymore following one day it was just like, okay, we're never gonna, he's never gonna work again, because they stopped making the parts.

And so he sat there for a couple of years and it said, sorry, he is not working.

We had signage and so forth explaining it.

But somebody wrote up a comment card saying, please fix the broken rhinoceros.

So that was that to me I got a big laugh out of that one.

So they're probably gonna write about the size, but wrong animal.

Yeah.

- Well there were stories that preceded my arrival.

They used to have an armed guard walking around in the Pink Palace.

They had, as part of the education program, a Native American mannequin.

It was very realistic, seated with the legs crossed and with the hands on the knees, kinda like this very realistic.

One night they had moved the ma nnequin into a different room and he walked into the room, saw the mannequin, pulled his pistol and shot it.

So let's just say after that, that there were no more firearms allowed for the guards in the museum.

- Another story is, every year our education department would get educator guides.

And these were, they were printed in the thousands to give out to teachers at the various schools to let them know what exhibits we would have here, how they could mold their lessons to what we would be offering.

And very important guides for the schools.

And one year I saw a bunch of educator guides here and I thought, oh, well these are the old ones.

They were in boxes, they were open.

I thought, I'm a big recycler, so I'm gonna take these to our recycle bins.

And took, I don't know, dozen, 20 boxes of old educator guides.

And I came back and the education manager eventually wanted to know where the educator guides were.

And she came to me and she said, Tammy, where are the educator guides?

I said, well, those were the old ones.

I went, I threw 'em in the recycle bin.

And it was like, no, those were the new ones.

And so she and I went dumpster diving, and we got down in and there were all the guides.

They hadn't emptied the bin yet.

And we fished every one of those suckers out of the bin.

- As far as the Etruscan exhibit itself is concerned.

Of course the material was packed by a well-known French packing firm.

And so when it arrived in Memphis, it was very carefully unloaded and there were actual representatives from the conservation department at the Vatican.

And so they were unpacking, the French were unpacking it, it was terrible.

And there were these bronze candelabras that probably dated to about 3 to 400 years BC.

It was in multiple pieces.

And at the top was a little figurine, a green bronze figurine of a human being and a little spike that you put the candle on.

He dropped the figurine bam, into about 30 or 40 pieces fragments.

So again, to say that stuff like that happens and that even the most expensive, reputable packing company, companies in the world make mistakes.

- The museum staff always got to take really fun trips.

Sometimes it would be with kids in field schools, that sort of thing, going out west to dig for fossils.

A trip that the staff got to ta ke that's one of my favorites was back in I think the late '90s, there was a construction going on, on a road cut down near Boonsville, Mississippi.

And when they came through with all their earth moving equipment, they discovered a fossil bed.

And this was where Highway 45 was going through and word got out pretty quickly th at there were thousands and thousands, if not millions of shark's teeth.

Collectors from all over the place would go down there and the museum got to take staff down there and collect for shark's teeth.

And you would just sit on the ground right up against a bank and just have a trowel and just start scraping.

And teeth came out by the thousands and it's one of the perks of working in a museum.

- One of my favorite memories of the museum involves working with the volunteers 'cause that's what I do.

A volunteer came in and this was someone who, their partner had recently passed and they were starting to just get back out and she contacted me and I invited her over to the museum and we met and we walked and we, we talked and walked through the museum.

I just told her what we had to offer and from that we were able to find out what would be the best place in the museum for her to start getting back out there.

That's one great thing about volunteering any place it connects you with people and you feel like you are really, you're given your time to someplace that you really like.

We could not do 95% of the things that we do at MoSH without our wonderful volunteers.

We couldn't, it just couldn't be done.

- If I could just, if it was just one thing you asked me what stands out the most to me more than the building, it's the people.

You have a, I like to call 'em odd ducks.

You have a, they all have these assorted backgrounds and stories and expertise and things, and I always found the people so interesting.

I mean, just, and when I first started working here, they always told me, people don't quit the museum.

They either die or retire.

- It's nearly 100 years since Clarence Saunders's unfinished Pink Palace came to life as a museum for the people of Memphis.

And its story is still being written, but even with the high tech updates, new exhibits and fresh new name MoSH is still serving the same critical mission it always has.

- In a nutshell, the mission of the museum is just to expose visitors to different cu ltures, different events, and help them learn about different people.

- We really want to tell our history and our story through the lens, both the geology that shaped our region and then the cultural history that shaped us.

As we move forward we are really looking to be a hub is how I would best describe it.

We've really reached out to do some partnerships with Memphis-Shelby County Schools, early childhood.

There's such a need in our city to create a workforce that can inspire those kids in school today to go to college and then to get a job here and stay.

And that's a core piece of who we're trying to be.

- One of the neatest things that I think is that the intergenerational dialogue when you hear a parent or a grandparent talking or explaining something to the young child, or a teacher or chaperone, explaining something to a young child.

And then also in the reverse that you see the children, if they're learning something at school, then they're explaining it to the chaperone or their grandkids.

To me that's the most impactful piece is that learning as a family or learning as a community.

- It's like very much like an educational Disneyland.

I think there's the best way to describe what we do is edutainment, educational entertainment.

And the kids learn things here that they've never learned anywhere else.

Like we showed a film on the Apollo moon landings a few years ago that was geared towards kids.

It was called "Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon".

And I would have kids run up the theater stairs during the credits, lights hadn't even come up yet.

They would run up the stairs and jump up and down And went "We went to the moon, we went to the moon," and I'm like, "Yeah, we did."

And they were like, more than once.

And I'm like, you bet.

And we drove a car on the moon, like, you bet.

And so a lot of kids aren't necessarily being taught those types of things.

That is includes everything else too, dinosaurs or anything else that we've got going on here or local history or anything.

They're always learning more and so they just get really thrilled and pumped up about it.

- Yeah, I mean kids are just, they're always running around, oh, look at this, look at that.

And it's really cool to see that they're paying attention.

- It's like, what did I do to deserve to be here?

This is a really exciting place.

It's easy in any job for anyone to get jaded, you have to think about what you're involved with and the impact that you're having upon people, especially young people.

And I've had adults walk in here and say, "When I was here 24 years ago, "you had this great impact on me and this is what I'm doing with my life now."

And that's a great thing to hear, you don't really expect it, but you know that you're influencing people in a good way and putting good energy out there into the universe.

You go home at night and you go to bed and you think, well, we did good today.

And so that's a nice feeling to have.

- It was a very special place, but it also taught people a lot about Memphis, about the natural history of this region.

You had no doubt excited many children who would go on to become scientists or historians or what have you.

- So I moved to Memphis in 2008, in the fall of 2008, and it was just my oldest two.

And so we started going just as a something to do, get out of the house.

I had heard about it, but didn't quite know what it was.

I learned so much about Memphis there, just the inner workings of the city.

My oldest, he's 20 years old now, but he's deaf.

And so the first thing that we saw were the dinosaurs.

The, and so he just, I think we spent about three hours just in that space.

- When we were growing up, I've got two brothers.

The three of us would often go to the museum with mostly my mom because my dad traveled and worked outta town a lot.

But I have great memories of going as a family, we'd go see the shrunken head, we'd go see the circus.

To this day I still love that circus.

- I think the Pink Palace is just something that you can do as a family and your children can also they can also learn things in the process.

And it just, I feel like it makes for a fun indoor activity, especially when you do have younger children.

I think I have been going since I was about three, so it's probably been over 30 years.

I started going as a young child till, to now where I can take my own children and hopefully they'll be able to pass it on to theirs.

- I can't imagine that there's any museum that has that history and existed within such a beautiful building.

A building meant to be a home and turns into somewhat a home for all Memphians, in a sense.

It was simply one of those places that was Memphis.

- But MoSH is not just tales of lost Memphis in years gone by.

It's a vital community gathering space that reflects contemporary concerns.

Recent exhibits shed light on the movements and the people that have shaped our world.

- The most recent exhibit that I was a part of was our LGBTQ exhibit.

We got an exhibit from a traveling exhibit, but we also added our own component to it, Memphis Proud.

This was a first for Memphis.

It was a first for the museum and we were thrilled to be able to present the Memphis gay and lesbian and trans community stories to Memphis.

It was a very important step forward for us.

- I think a big part of MoSH's mission is to really introduce people to Memphis history in a much more holistic way and to create opportunities for communities that don't always see themselves re presented in this museum.

Memphis Proud served that purpose.

That for me was an amazing exhibit.

It really had an effect on the community.

I mean, people came out to see it, whether they're allies of the community or not, but certainly allies of the community and members of the LGBTQ community really responded very positively to it.

And they were very emotional about it.

It was very touching to see the response that we got to it.

- We've got a guitar exhibit, did a great in-house piece to that and really did a little showstopper and created this, what is it, twenty, thirty-foot guitar right in the center of the exhibit.

Guitars are a great story for Memphis.

We're making some great progress in exhibits.

Ultimately, I would love to see some of these things that we're doing in-house get to the level we could travel the regionally and show them at some of the smaller museums, something we're working towards internally and got a few years to go before we can get there.

- From the hidden treasures tucked away in storage, patiently awaiting their moment in the spotlight to the vibrant arts and crafts fair where creativity and passion intertwine like a beautifully woven tapestry.

This remarkable museum is a growing, living institution, but its beating heart are its people and the stories that have echoed through its corridors and the new memories of visitors make every day within its walls.

The Pink Palace still proudly stands behind its green lawns and the Museum of Science and History is ready to serve Memphis for the next 100 years.

- Welcome back to the Channel 10 Studios.

I'm Sally Stover, I'm here with Caleb Suggs, and our guest Wayne Dowdy.

And we're enjoying watching this Memphis Memoirs: Inside The Pink Palace.

I've been here for a long time, and I remember the very first Memphis Memoirs that we did.

And I had people ask me from time to time, "When are y'all gonna do another one?

'Cause it's been four or five years."

But now we have a new one, a new documentary on the history of Memphis.

This time behind the scenes and inside the Pink Palace, which we all know now, is the Memphis Museum of Science and History, MoSH.

Some of us old timers may take a while before we can get around to saying that on the first try, because I grew up with the Pink Palace, as I know a lot of you did.

But that's just one of the Memphis Memoir series that we've done.

We've got 15 different shows, DVDs that we have available for you right now.

If you'd like to make a pledge of support at the $20 a month level as a sustainer, we'll send you 15 DVDs.

Each one, exploring in depth a different aspect of the history of Memphis.

Talking about Sacred Spaces, taking you inside some of the beautiful churches here in the Memphis area.

Or Historic Homes, I particularly like that one because they're buildings and homes that I've driven by all my life.

And always thought, "Ooh, I'd like to get a look inside there."

This is your chance.

For your pledge of support to WKNO, twenty dollars a month as a sustainer, we'll send you these 15 DVDs.

We've got 'em here in stock so we can get 'em out to you right away.

You know it would make a great gift for somebody if you've got somebody who maybe grew up in Memphis and has moved away.

Just thinking about it.

Okay, let's go over now to Caleb and Wayne.

- Hey, thanks Sally.

Caleb's Suggs here back at it again with Wayne Dowdy of the Memphis Public Library.

Talk a little bit more about MoSH, or the Pink Palace, especially those experiences with it being really Memphis' museum.

I remember, when I was younger I used to want to be a zoologist.

So my favorite part about going to the Pink Palace was actually the animal-themed exhibits, and the prehistoric sections of that.

What was it like when you first started going to the Pink Palace?

- Well, my memories, of course, back then the addition hadn't been built yet.

So you'd come up, walk up the steps to the front door, go inside.

The first thing you would see is the polar bear.

And then you would go upstairs, and there's the Burton Callicott DeSoto discovering the Mississippi River, and all of that.

Then you would go in where the shrunken head was, and eventually end up at the Clyde Park Circus, which was my favorite.

And back then it ran constantly.

And so you'd get to sit there, and there'd be a soundtrack and you'd watch the parade of all the circus performers and animals, and all of that.

And it was just fascinating because you'd lean down, and of course you're much smaller, and you're looking through the tent and seeing what's going on in there.

And then it's outside, and it's just so much movement and it's so beautiful.

And then, getting a little older and realizing this was created by one guy.

- Yeah.

- Just with a knife he carved all this stuff, and it's been a hallmark of Memphis children's experiences for now almost, what?

seventy, eighty years, yeah.

- All right, so many things that are different, so many things that are the same.

- That's right.

- Still a staple either way.

- That's right.

- We're gonna give it back to Sally, to talk about more about the Memphis Memoir.

- WKNO is so proud of the Memphis Memoir series, and we are able to do it because we have had tremendous support from viewers just like you.

The biggest part of the operating budget here at WKNO comes to us through these pledge drives.

It comes from folks just like you who watch Channel 10, who appreciate the program that we have.

And invest because you want more programming like this for you, for your family, and for the entire community.

More and more people are becoming members, and becoming sustainers.

And this is a model that has worked very, very well for us.

And our members seem to really like it.

By becoming a sustainer you determine how much, five dollars a month, twenty dollars a month, a hundred dollars a month, you would like to contribute to WKNO.

We set it up so that comes out of your checking account directly, or it can be charged to a credit card monthly.

And then you're set.

You don't ever have to do a renewal, you don't have to worry about writing a check or sending it in.

Your sustaining membership just keeps us on the air, and keeps us bringing you great programming going on and on.

Consider becoming a sustainer.

And if you do become a sustainer for as little as $5 a month, we've got a very special thank you gift.

The DVD of the program you're watching right now, "Inside the Pink Palace".

This can be yours for $60, which is a pledge of just $5 a month as a sustainer.

We have these in stock, so we'll be able to get it right out to you.

Might make a nice gift for somebody, if you're thinking about it.

There's additional footage on the DVD as well.

So call right now, call the number at the bottom of your screen or go online to wkno.org, and make your pledge now.

Caleb.

- Thanks Sally.

Well, Wayne, you brought up before that there's additions to the museum now, the planetarium and that IMAX theater which is 50 feet underground.

I don't think a lot of people notice when you're just walking down the ramp there where you're going.

But just talk a little bit about those, the experiences there are so wild.

- Indeed.

The planetarium was built in the mid 1950s, 1954, when planetariums were not terribly old at that point.

And nowhere else in the region could you go and be able to see the solar system through the planetarium.

That was an incredible addition, and it shows the forward thinking of the museum staff at that time, who was looking for something new.

Moving beyond the exhibits they already had, to do something new, something fresh.

- Yeah.

- And it taught a lot of kids about science, and about particularly the solar system that they would've never gotten in a textbook.

- It's so cool that we have those experiences right here, I think a lot of people may take those for granted.

- I'm sure we do.

- Yeah.

Well, we're gonna toss it back to Sally to talk more about how we can get some of those experiences right at home.

- Okay.

You come to PBS knowing you're gonna find great history, nationally PBS is the best.

Just think about all the great Ken Burns' series PBS has brought you over the years.

Of course, the civil war, which to which we all remember that one.

Baseball, the one on jazz, the most recent one on the American buffalo.

But here locally, we have taken that to heart as well, and we bring you Memphis history, nobody else does that.

We are your local television station, and we are happy to bring you local community programming.

And we do that with the support of viewers just like you.

So let me remind you again, if you're enjoying the show and you'd like to have it in your library to watch whenever you want, or to give to someone else, make a pledge right now.

For a pledge of $5 a month as a sustainer you can have the DVD of the program we're watching right now, Memphis Memoirs: Inside the Pink Palace.

There's additional footage in this one, or if you'd like to make a pledge of $20 a month, we'll send you 15 DVDs.

A collection of documentaries we've done over the last almost 30 years about so many things in Memphis, and so many things that are gone.

One of the DVDs is Lost Memphis, things that used to be here that some of us remember that are gone now.

All of these great DVDs can come to you, or to someone you love as a gift with a pledge of $20 a month as a sustainer.

We can send that to you just almost right away if you'd like.

So call the number at the bottom of your screen, or go online to wkno.org and become a member now.

Caleb.

- You're right on the mark there Sally, there are so much history that is really cataloged by WKNO, and made available in such a great format, in a accessible format to the public.

To know where Memphis has been, and why things are the way they are, and where we really came from.

- That's exactly right.

WKNO brings local history to life in a way that no one else can.

Because our history, our culture, when we know that and we belong to it, when it's a part of our day-to-day experience, then we know our city better.

And if we know our city better, we know our neighbors better.

And it's not... an exaggeration, I don't think, that WKNO helps bind the community together by teaching the community its history.

- Right, and they're the only ones here that are really, really invested in that.

- That's right, that's exactly right.

- Sally.

- All right, let me remind you just one more time of the special gifts we have available right now.

For your pledge of $5 a month as a sustainer, we'll send you the DVD Memphis Memoirs: Inside the Pink Palace, again with extra footage on it, that's yours for a pledge of $5 a month.

For a pledge of $20 a month as a sustainer we'll send you 15 Memphis Memoirs DVD for you to watch at your leisure, and enjoy over and over again.

You are also supporting your public television station when you make that pledge.

So call the number at the bottom of your screen, or go online to wkno.org and make your pledge now.

I wanna say thanks to Caleb, and thanks to Wayne for sharing your time with us and your stories about the Pink Palace.

Some of us have more stories than others, but I'm so happy that it's going to be with us for a long time.

And my children and now my grandchildren, will be able to enjoy going to the Museum of Science and History to see the great history of Memphis, and whatever's coming in the future.

We appreciate you watching, and we appreciate your support.

Thanks.

[upbeat music] [uplifting music] - (male announcer) This program is made possible by the WKNO Production Fund with major funding from the Plough Foundation.

[acoustic guitar chords]