Titanic exhibit sails into Lubbock

The RMS Titanic has come ashore in Lubbock at the Science Spectrum Museum. The touring exhibit, which includes artifacts recovered from the infamous shipwreck, will continue at the museum through December.

The exhibit is owned by salvage company RMS Titanic Inc., parent company to Premier Exhibitions Inc., the company overseeing the traveling exhibit.

According to Premier public relations director Katherine Morgenstern, an estimated 17 million people have seen the exhibit in 70 cities worldwide. Lubbock’s is the smaller of the exhibit’s two versions, with 120 artifacts in 5,000 square feet, about half the size of the larger version.

The company owns around 5,000 artifacts. “They like to rotate artifacts so they are out of light and humidity,” said Science Spectrum administrative manager James Nesmith.

“We rotate the paper goods such as currency after every exhibition because of light,” said Morgenstern.

RMS Titanic, in its role as sole salvagers of the wreckage, owns the artifacts but cannot sell them, explained Morgenstern. The artifacts contain personal effects as well as items from the ship. Nesmith explained that the artifacts did not come directly from the ship since it is considered a mausoleum, so all of the artifacts are from a debris field.

Visitors at the exhibit are given a boarding pass that is a replica of the ones given to passengers who boarded the Titanic. On the back is the name of an actual passenger and information about that person, Nesmith explained. He said that a log at the end of the exhibit tells what happened to the person named on the boarding pass.

The artifacts depict the three classes of cabins. Dishes and silverware from each class are on display as well as personal effects such as handbags, clothing, pictures and letters. Pieces of the ship that have fallen into the debris field are on display as well as coal. Nesmith explains that the ship was coal powered, carrying 6,000 tons of coal on board. “It took 60 pounds of coal for every one foot that the ship traveled,” he said.

Showing on the museum’s Omni Theater is “Ghosts of the Abyss,” which is a Walt Disney/James Cameron documentary about the Titanic and the science that allowed for the filming of the wreck, according to a Science Spectrum news release.

Information

For more information, call (806) 745-2525 or visit http://www.sciencespectrum.org.

HOURS

Monday through Wednesday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. MDT

Thursday and Friday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. MDT

Saturday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. MDT

Sunday: 12:30 -5 p.m. MDT

Admission

Adults: $11.50 or $16.50 with the film

Seniors (60+): $10.50 or $14.50 with the film

Children (3-12): $9 or $13 with the film

Location

The Science Spectrum Museum is located at 2579 South Loop 289, Lubbock.

From Clovis, take U.S. 60/70/84 east approximately 92 miles to Lubbock. Turn right onto West Loop 289. Follow the loop approximately 12 miles and exit on Indiana Avenue. Keep going east, and the museum is located between Indiana and University avenues.

The drive takes about an hour and a half.