"Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition," which opens Saturday at the Great Lakes Science Center and continues through Jan. 5, is a visual and historical feast of 250 artifacts and video of the skeletal ship, which is two miles below the sea. It's incredible that these artifacts endure given that, as one story panel explains, they've been subjected to an inhospitable environment that included little light and oxygen, and pressures up to 6,000 pounds per square inch. The artifacts were retrieved by crews during seven dives between 1987 and 2004. The most recent dive, in 2010, was for preservation research and video footage.
The exhibit gives visitors a personal link to everyone who was on board -- those who survived and perished. Here's how:
At the beginning of the chronological tour, which was produced by Premier Exhibitions Inc. in Atlanta, each visitor is handed a replica of the original Titanic boarding pass. On the back is the name of an actual passenger. For example, Mrs. John G. Sage (maiden name Annie Elizabeth Cazaly), 44, Peterborough, England, and so on. The pass states Sage's final destination in America (Jacksonville, Fla.), class (third) and reason for travel (her husband purchased a farm). At the end of the tour, in the Memorial Gallery, a list of names, divided by class, tells whether that person lived or perished.
The exhibit, divided by rooms, is designed to make visitors experience what it was like to be on the ship, both in living and working conditions. There's a replica of a stately first-class suite, and you learn that a first-class ticket was $2,500, the equivalent of $57,200 today.
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