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We were really fortunate to be able to explore the with our new friend Jacque (the curator) popping in from time to time telling us great stories. The great thing about the museum is it is very kid friendly. If it is out, you can touch it, play with it, and experience it. All other displays were beautifully presented behind glass cases. I wish I could show every display! The museum gave a beautiful homage to Martin and Osa Johnson great adventurers from the 1930s. In later years, they went to Borneo with my uncle, Jim Laneri. Jacque was so gracious to share special stories about him with us. A great one involves the photo below. Martin and Jim were flying, out of gas and looking for a place to land. There was nowhere. Martin took this picture as his last photo, because he knew they were going to crash. The plane was gliding at this point when my uncle sees a straight away in the river. He manages to safely land the plane with no fuel in this river. |
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When my uncle was flying Martin and Osa Johnson around, he was in good company. Martin and Osa were pilots as well. Their pilots licenses were on display in the museum. The original Spirit of Africa plane is in the Gulf of Mexico, but this replica was on display. |
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Osa Johnson was a spunky little thing. I love this photo of her carrying all these fish! To the left you can see she was also an accomplished author, and even had a line of stuffed animals produced by WWF to promote awareness of protecting wildlife. |
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Of all the things in the museum, these were the kids favorites. Left, are a bracelet and ring you would wear when walking on the safari in Africa. You left the sheath on, because it was covered in poison. When the lion attacked, you would slice him with the poison blade! Cool huh?? |
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As the Johnson’s popularity grew, their sponsorships became more lucrative. Above you can see many of the items strategically located in photos for advertising purposes. There were also many books written by the Johnsons. |
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The Johnson’s did not like killing animals. So, when one would attack and had to be destroyed they used every portion of the animal. |
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Another really great thing we discovered is Martin and Osa were buried right in town! So, before we left, we stopped by. Another great story Jacque told me was that Chanute, KS was featured in an article as one of the top lovers vacation spots. This is because of the love between Osa and Martin was known world wide! The funniest part of that story is, out of all the top 10 locations, Chanute was the only one that had to have the state KS after it, so people would be able to find it!! |
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Another interesting fact: My uncle and Martin both died on October 9th. |