The exhibit has landed

Borden library hopes space display will bridge generation gap

By Lenore T. Adkins
ladkins@dailyherald.com
Posted Saturday, June 02, 2007



If you’re old enough to remember when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969, you know exactly what you were doing when it happened.

But those born after July 20, 1969, missed that emotional experience and have only read about it in history books or watched it on subsequent documentaries.

The challenge of the Gail Borden Library’s new exhibit “Space: Dare to Dream,” is to bring that emotional and awesome experience to the younger generation, said Denise Raleigh, the library’s spokeswoman.

“For us to experience it in real time, it’s a different memory,” said Raleigh, who was 12 in 1969 and has vivid memories of the moon landing. “That was a big deal. This was our country and this was a man walking on the moon.”

The library held a private opening of the exhibit Friday that doubled as a fundraiser for the library’s new west side branch — officials say about 200 people attended. The exhibit opens to the public today and is a follow-up to the wildly successful dinosaur exhibit that closed in December 2005.

And if Friday was any indication, the library is already well on its way to closing that generation gap.

Dean Schmeltz, 15, of Elgin, said his favorite part of the exhibit was the 3.9 billion-year-old moon rock on display.

His 11-year-old sister, Dinah, said she loved the part of the exhibit where you push a button to launch a rocket to the moon — if you push it at the wrong time, you’ll receive an error message.

She enjoyed the exhibit’s interactivity.

“You didn’t just read it, it was like, hands on,” she said.

Don Tuttle, an 86-year-old astronomy teacher at Elgin Community College, remembers he was glued to the television set when Armstrong declared “The Eagle has landed.”

“You’ll never forget it,” Tuttle said. “It’s something to realize that, hey, we’ve got a person on the moon.”

He said the exhibit impressed him with its accuracy and marveled at how small the windows were on Apollo 11, the rocket that landed on the moon. The windows, shaped like triangles, measured 10 inches across.

“It’s amazing that they were able to land looking through a window that big, it’s incredible,” Tuttle said.

Friday’s event raised more than $6,000 in ticket sales. In addition, The library’s foundation donated $150,000, the Elgin Enrichment Series gave $10,000 and the Rotary Club of Elgin Noon contributed $1,500.

All of the money will help buy materials, books and technological equipment for the library’s new branch on the city’s west side.

The library hopes to raise $500,000 toward those efforts.