There are several purposes for this museum. I was first inspired to fill the void of a auto museum here in Omaha. Omaha has a deep automotive history, including the Model T assembly plant in our downtown area. According to “Standard catalogue of American Cars 1805 – 1942, there were 17 car companies that called Omaha home. After doing research on the early automotive industry, I thought it would be interesting to allow people to drive the early cars and trucks. Using vehicles causes wear. This led to the idea of having the same types of repair shops as in the days those automobiles were originally made. Now, the shops needed are black smith, mechanics, machinists, wood working, metal working, upholstery, and paint. This led to the idea that if those shops are working, we could have people apprentice in those shops. These shops would also allow the museum to build replicas in the same way they were originally built. OK, if we can do that for our own autos, we can do that for potential customers.
The next advancement came when I thought it would be fun to drive those early autos with period authentic clothing. I know there are sources available for those costumes. I see no reason for us not to make them ourselves. This leads to the idea that all trades from 1860 through 1930 could be included. This does make for a large project, but if we’re exposing people to the trades that are forgotten, why not? These are a few of the trade shops we hope to establish. 1. 1905 recording studio. 2. 1925 recording studio. 3. Photography dark room. 4. Photographic plate and film manufacturing. 5. Black smith shop. 6. Machine shop. 7. Mechanical shop for bicycle, buggy and automobile. 8. Carpentry shop. 9. Finish shop. 10. Upholstery shop. This is not a complete list, there are more shops that would benefit the museum.
If we have trades shops and technology that has been forgotten, and visitors would be allowed to use them, there’s one more inspiration. Being a member of several small clubs, I realized that there is a problem here in Omaha. Convention space has been shrinking. I don’t mean they’re smaller, there are fewer of them available and more expensive. In 2006, my Studebaker Driver’s Club hosted the annual International Convention. The downtown convention center was out of or range. And no, the hotel we did hold the convention at, is gone. This means the small clubs wound not be able to afford hosting a national convention, or even a regional meet. Knowing the size of property we need, we could support the smaller clubs in the Omaha area to host those conventions and regional meets. Being a non-profit, we could also help those clubs plan their meets. And also, being non-profit the costs could be much lower than the remaining convention centers.
I hope you don’t see this as rambling. The summary is this. The Omaha Transportation and Technical Museum would be a place that people can see and experience the old technology and trades. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life until I had auto mechanics in high school. The museum would be a merger of Pioneer Village and the Living History museum. We could also be able to host clubs for their weekly or monthly meetings.