What can I expect to see at 'Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition' at COSI?
On a recent weekday morning at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), one could hear the pounding of hammers, smell wet paint and feel a general sense of activity and hubbub.
It was almost as though the final touches were being placed on the building of a ship — which, in a certain sense, they were.
The workers at COSI were busy completing of the elements in the massive new show “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.”
The exhibition — which opened March 9 and will continue through Sept. 2 at COSI — presents about 240 actual artifacts retrieved from the site of the RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912 after striking an iceberg. About 1,500 people died.
“I know so many Titanic history buffs,” said Kristy Williams, director of communications at COSI. “It means something different to each of us.”
The story of the ship and its sinking blends “romance, tragedy and human resilience,” Williams said. “I think it’s also learning about the mistakes of the past.”
If you choose to go on the voyage at COSI, here are the essential things you need to know.
How is the Titanic exhibition laid out?
As visitors enter the space, they will first encounter a room dedicated to the discovery of the wrecked Titanic, including a recreation of the type of submersible, with manipulator arms, used to find artifacts. The exhibition then winds its way into rooms dedicated to the design, construction and launch of the ship.
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The Grand Staircase — recognizable to anyone who saw James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster movie "Titanic" — and the First-Class Promenade have been recreated with sufficient splendor to evoke the real ship. No detail appears to have been spared; doors in the Promenade even have room numbers.
“We’re super-excited, because it’s really the only way for you to experience the luxury that was the ship of dreams,” Sanders said of those recreated sections of the ship.
The exhibition winds up in rooms focused on the ship’s striking of an iceberg and subsequent sinking.
Actual artifacts under glass cases are dotted throughout, and wall displays provide information along the way, including about passengers and the ship itself.
Who were among theTitanic’s passengers?
The exhibit also includes photographs and information about of a number of passengers who perished with the sinking of the Titanic.
Those whose lives were lost include major figures such as business magnate John Jacob Astor IV and Macy’s department store co-owner Isidor Straus and his wife Ida.
Passengers from all classes are represented in exhibition displays.
One photo display focuses on a family of eight who traveled via third class and who did not survive the sinking: Frederick and Augusta Goodwin and their six children, ranging in ages from 1 to 16, who were en route from England to Niagara Falls, New York.
The life of Capt. Edward Smith was lost when he went down with the ship.
What are some highlights in the Titanic exhibition?
One of a series of permanent and touring Titanic artifact exhibitions presented by RMS Titanic Inc. — the lone organization permitted to take back artifacts found during expeditions — the exhibition features a number of huge items, including a watertight door shaft which was designed to help seal watertight compartments on the ship.
Equally impressive are mooring bollards, which were used to tether the ship to a pier.
Numerous other artifacts, though, are far tinier — and many more meaningful.
Those include personal items that were in the possession of passengers, including a workman’s clothes and a postcard from Paris. Items that would have had uses aboard the ship include a fragment of a first-class dish, a coat hook and a megaphone with its rim weathered and worn-away. There are even Champagne bottles that have survived the 112 years since the ship’s sinking.
How were the Titanic artifacts found?
The RMS Titanic Inc., company has been embarking on expeditions to the site since 1987.
“As you go through the expeditions, the first two numbers on the artifact cases will tell you which expedition that artifact was recovered in,” said Jessica Sanders, president of RMS Titanic, Inc.
Generally, the recovery of artifacts is based on what those at the helm of a submersible vehicle might encounter during a given expedition, she said.
“If you’re in an area, you see an item of interest and then you recover it,” Sanders said.
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The next expedition, set for May, will take ultra-HD imaging of the site to identify more items to recover in future expeditions.
Why does Titanic still fascinate us?
For people today, there are multiple “entry points” into the story of Titanic, Sanders noted.
Those include, she said, “the construction or the design or the Edwardian period or passenger stories or the opulence of the ship of dreams.”
“I also think it was the first international tragedy that affected three classes (of people) at one period of time,” Sanders said.
Plus, each of us can likely mentally place ourselves aboard the ship.
“What would I have done that night?” Sanders said. “Could I have left my loved one? Could I have watched as the ship sank? And if I did survive, how would I live with that?”
Is photography allowed in the Titanic exhibit?
Non-flash photography is permitted, according to COSI.
Are the tickets to the Titanic exhibit timed?
Yes; those buying tickets will need to pick a day and time to attend.
How much do tickets to the Titanic exhibit cost?
Timed tickets to “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition,” which include general admission to COSI, cost $45, or $43 for senior citizens, $40 for ages 2 through 12, $15 for teachers with valid ID, $43 for members of the military and free for ages 2 and younger.
At a glance
For more information, to buy tickets and to reserve a date and time to go, visit cosi.org/titanic/.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Titanic exhibit at COSI to feature 240 artifacts from the ship
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