Significance of Route 66 examined at Arizona museum

Significance of Route 66 examined at Arizona museum

KINGMAN, Ariz.

Tens of thousands of people visit the Arizona Route 66 Museum each year, aiming to get a feel for what it was like to take the old highway route that crossed eight states to connect Chicago to the West Coast.

Visitors to the Kingman museum spend hours looking at displays, photographs and life-size dioramas of the groups and events that depict the evolution of the highway that came to fame in the mid-20th century, the Kingman Daily Miner reported recently.

In his four years volunteering with the museum, T.R. Srigley said he sees just as many foreign tourists as Americans. The diverse appeal of the museum is evidenced by shelves of brochures, which describes the more than 20 exhibits in six different languages.

Visitors can see a 1950 Studebaker Champion, originally priced at $1,487. Another exhibit features a rusty old Ford truck loaded with pots and pans, furniture and other worldly belongings of an Oklahoma family fleeing the Dust Bowl, emblematic of the Joad family in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath.”

Grand Rapids unveils rendering of famous LOVE sculpture

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.

A rendering of the famous “LOVE” sculpture is showing some love to Grand Rapids.

The western Michigan city has welcomed a reproduction of the Robert Indiana sculpture last week morning on Louis Campau Promenade in its downtown district.

It was unveiled by members of the Frey family representing the Frey Foundation. The Grand Rapids-based philanthropy bought the sculpture and has invested in other public art in the city.

The city joins several others across the country and globe with renderings of the sculpture. They include the original in Indianapolis and others in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Jerusalem and Lisbon, Portugal.

Diamond city of Antwerp now has a diamond museum

ANTWERP, Belgium

Antwerp has long been known as the world’s greatest diamond city. Now it has a new museum to go with a vibrant diamond trading scene that goes back six centuries.

The DIVA museum opened its doors in the Belgian city this month to highlight the beauty and dazzle of the precious stones and the jewelry and silverware they have adorned through the ages.

The museum now has everything from diamond-encrusted boots to a diamond-adorned tennis racket and stunning historical pieces.

Curator Romy Cockx says the museum also teaches visitors about the history of diamonds and jewelry-making.

Paul donates Linda McCartney photos to V&A museum

LONDON

The Victoria & Albert Museum says Paul McCartney has donated 63 photographs taken by his late wife Linda to the museum’s new photography center.

The collection includes Linda McCartney’s portraits of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix as a well as images from nature and photos of her family.

Linda McCartney worked as a professional photographer from the mid-1960s and was married to the former Beatle from 1969 until her death from breast cancer in 1998.

The photos will go on display at the V&A’s national photography center, which opens Oct. 12.

Associated Press