Does anyone have any information regarding the touring Titanic exhibit, or where I might be able to track that information down? It was recently in Memphis, but has since moved on, and I don't where.

-- Michael Klimek (foo@bar.com), February 25, 1998

Answers

The Titanic exhibit that was in Memphis has moved on to Florida in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. It opened in November and runs through May. Try this website: www.floridamuseum.org/gate14.html for more information.

-- Kathleen Marcaccio (dkosh@msn.com), February 25, 1998.

Thanks Kathleen!

-- Michael Klimek (foo@bar.com), February 25, 1998.

I went to the Titanic Exhibit in Memphis back in September, and seeing it was what made me want to see the movie. Before that I always just thought of the Titanic's sinking as a historical event. I had never thought about the fear and sadness the passengers must have faced as they realized their fate.

The facts in the movie matched perfectly with the exhibit, and I was amazed at some of the items salvaged from the Titanic, such as pieces of china without a chip, a waiter's jacket with his name still written on the tag, and letters passengers were going to send home that were still legible! It was a very emotional experience, just as the movie was.

-- Julie (joiner@stsplus.msstate.edu), February 26, 1998.

I just got back from a weekend in LA; I spent a full day at the Queen Mary, where she is permanently docked at Long Beach harbor. A touring Titanic exhibit is currently showing on board QM, which was one of the reasons I went (the other being I haven't seen QM in about 15 years).

First, about the Titanic exhibit: it is good, but not great. I'd say it is worth the money, $6. Seeing items like a real Titanic porthole and other artifacts was a moving experience. I must confess to mixed feelings about what RMS Titanic, the organization behind the exhibit, is doing. If they bring up items from the debris field, or remove a few rivits and small hull pieces for analysis, that seems fine. If they start doing serious damage to the main body of the wreck this bothers me more. I realize that the site is going to continue to deteriorate into a pile of ruble anyway, but does it contribute to our understanding to have large, anonymous chunks of Titanic hull brought up picemeal? I have heard from some quarters that the RMS Titanic people are not first-rate salvagers and preservers of artifacts. If this kind of thing is to be done, it should be done by the best people.

In better news, I highly recommend touring the Queen Mary to anyone on this group. Many parts of the ship still have the feel of the days when ocean liner was "the only way to cross." Although QM is from a different generation of ships than Titanic, the scale and degree of luxury are at least similar. If you can afford to stay in one of the original staterooms that have been preserved on board as a hotel, do it! While some parts of the ship are in shabby condition, from age, there is a group called The RMS Foundation Queen Mary (no relation to RMS Titanic) that is currently taking donations and doing very fine restoration work on the ship. Their goals are to restore as much of the original ship as pratical and make the QM a profitable venture. At both goals they seem to be having good success. I'll be sending my donation in this month.

-- Thomas Shoebotham (cathytom@ix.netcom.com), March 02, 1998.

The year 2000 will see the RMS TITANIC traveling exhibit visit Chicago and Denver. A new item going on display in Chicago is an exterior door from the Titanic, recovered from the seabed. Perhaps one of the loading doors where the Third Class were supposed to go to enter lifeboats already in the water. By the time everything was brought together, these doors were under water! The "Big Piece" will not be displayed--it is going to Virginia for conservation. Visitors to Branson, MO can see wax figures of Cal and Rose on the bow of the Titanic at the Hollywood Wax Museum, and also a mini Titanic museum.

-- Robert Hardy Gibbons (hhardley@hotmail.com), September 11, 1999.

I'm selfishly glad to see that the "big piece" is going to be "Mothballed" for a while. I was able to see this in Boston shortly after it was recovered and the way it was displayed there you were able to see both sides and actually put your hands on it (which was probably not the best thing for the piece but it was a memorable experience). I understand that in the following exibitions it was laying down and not at all accesable. I can understand RMSTI's thinking on putting this away for awhile as it must be a huge expense to cart this 20 ton hunk of iron around. I only hope that it does not disappear into some warehouse and that the preservation that they say will be done, is done. Needless to say, I have my reservations about RMSTI's motives and preservation techniques but I will say that when I saw the exhibit in Boston everything seemed to be well taken care of but then again, I'm no expert on artifact preservation.

Regards, Peter

-- Peter Nivling (pcnivling@capecod.net), September 13, 1999.

Forgive me for chiming in again but I just wanted to clear up a couple of points. First of all, I am not, nor ever have been, a proponent of salvaging anything from this wrecksite but what's done is done. I do not trust George Tulloch and company to keep their focus on the importance of the preservation of that which they have chosen to remove from the site. Think ahead a few years. What happens to all of this when the money stops rolling in (and it will)? There has been no statement, to my knowledge, of a definite plan from RMSTI as to what will happen to all of these artifacts when that eventually happens. For that matter, there is *no* inventory of public record of these items so we really don't know what has been recovered. Although RMSTI is in no way legally obligated to provide that inventory to the public, it would be the better thing on their part to do, public relations-wise. Bottom line is that I am very concerned about the future of these artifacts that are in the hands of an untrained businessman rather than a historical expert or scientist. Just my opinion.

Regards, Peter

-- Peter Nivling (pcnivling@capecod.net), September 13, 1999.

Hey, stumbled along your board here researching stuff for my town. But I noticed alot have you have been to the traveling titanic Muesum's. I figured i would tell you about the one opening up here in my own town. Check out the link below .. http://www.titanic-titanic.com/news/04/titanic_news_081204.shtml

-- Travis M (Cuzerz@hotmail.com), February 22, 2005.