|
|
A new web exhibit based on a selection of works from the Bakken’s extensive collection of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and journals documenting the mesmerist movement.
A virtual web exhibit of what was on display at The Bakken in 2004 showing students and their inventions.
There is an "Electricity is Life" shocker machine from the 1920s, and a display case featuring rare books and manuscripts from the library collection. The current exhibit features a baker's dozen of books written by authors who conducted research at The Bakken Library. Embedded in the lobby floor is a compass rose made of stone, brass, and terra cotta that "orients" the visitor to the Bakken and to the earth's magnetic field. The Spark of Life Discover more of the rich history and science of Frankenstein in the on-line exhibit Frankenstein: Mary Shelley's Dream. Find out about the original story written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley when she was just 18 years old. You'll find real exhibit artifact photos with links to all kinds of interesting information about the science, literature, and life experiences that inspired Mary Shelley to write this timeless tale. The Frankenstein exhibit is supported in part by the Minnesota Humanities Commission , the
National Endowment for the Humanities
and the Minnesota State
Legislature. The Florence Bakken Medicinal Garden was created by integrating medicinal plants that thrive in Minnesota's robust climate with a pre-existing English landscape-style perennial garden. List of medicinal plants and their properties.
|
| The Bakken A Library and Museum of Electricity in Life 3537 Zenith Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55416-4623, USA Join our E-Mail List Contact Us Tele: 612-926-3878 Fax: 612-927-7265 |
 |
Museum Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10 to 5 |
Temporary Exhibit- 
This gallery offers
visitors a multitude of views on the pervasive role of electricity in the
environment and the human body. Visitors can generate a 60,000 volt spark
by operating a Wimshurst electrostatic influence generator. They can trace
electrical science through history in a 1937 French mural, La Fée
Flectricité by Raoul Dufy. Visitors can take a lesson on a working
theremin (the first electronic musical instrument) from Lydia Kavina, and
enjoy virtuoso Clara Rockmore playing The Swan by Camille Saint-Saens. The
gallery features one of the first EKG machines from more than one hundred
years ago. Other offerings include a Hopi kachina doll representing the
spirit of lightning, examples of early implantable pacemakers, an
acupuncture doll which maps the body's internal nodes of "energy",
electroconvulsive therapy electrodes, an electric belt once used to treat
certain physical ailments, and a Frankenstein doll. 
The Electrarium 
This gallery presents
an overview of magnetism. Here visitors can explore the link between
electricity and magnetism interactively by learning that a moving magnetic
field causes current to flow (as in a generator) and the opposite, that an
electric current produces a magnetic field (as in an electric motor). A
display case features several ornate medical magnetos from the 1800's when
electric current was thought to be therapeutic. A geomagnetic earth
display allows visitors to precisely locate the magnetic north pole on a
globe using an array of compasses, and they can view a collection of old
compasses from the Age of Exploration. A magnet play area offers children
an opportunity to learn about permanent magnets and to see their magnetic
fields on a TV screen. Kids can also operate an electric crane, watch a
video of a magnetically levitated frog, and learn about ways that animals
use their magnetic sense to navigate. 
This gallery explores
the diagnostic and therapeutic uses of magnetism, from Mesmer's animal
magnetism, to magnetic insoles, to magnetic resonance imaging. It
prominently features a giant "eye magnet" used to enhance the surgical
removal of iron fragments from the eyeball. A display of medical imaging
technologies features an interactive MRI computer display. A case contains
examples of radio frequency therapy devices from one hundred years ago
including the D'Arsonval spiral, an Oudin coil and a Guilleminot spiral. A
panel and exhibit case allow visitors to examine claims of magnetic
"cures" from one hundred years ago and today; it features magnetic hair
brushes, socks, a belt, and several "strap-on" devices to cure everything
from lumbago to tennis elbow. A bulletin board is posted with news items
including ones on the efficacy of magnetic cures, on the purported effects
of power line magnetic fields, and other current magnetic
research.
This gallery celebrates
the invention of the battery by Alessandro Volta in 1799. It features a
panel on how a battery works, a case with several examples of medical
batteries used to treat patients, an original voltaic pile and several
more recent battery types. An interactive "human battery" lets the
visitor test his or her own electrical conductivity. A panel displays the
history and applications of electrochemistry. 
This exhibit takes
visitors back to the golden era when Benjamin Franklin and other
scientists first explored the mysteries of the "electrical fire." The
gallery is located in the old dining room of the 
The Florence Bakken
Medicinal Garden recalls an era when plants were one of the principal
tools of medical therapeutics. The first formal medicinal or "physic"
gardens were established during the Renaissance and often connected to a
medical school. The discovery of the New World opened up a whole new
medicine chest of plant remedies, many of them learned from Native
Americans. 