January 30, 2023 – If you ever got a Columba House collection notice or called your friends on a payphone when they beeped “911”, The Illinois State Museum has an exhibit for you!
ISM new exhibit is shining a spotlight on the last “unreachable” generation. . also known as Gen X, with the opening of its new exhibition, Growing Up X.
The exhibition explores the toys, technologies, and cultural touchstones surrounding Gen Xers in their childhood. Museum visitors will see items familiar to anyone who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, from telephones with cords, record and cassette players, and an Apple IIe computer to Teddy Ruxpin and parachute pants. Additionally, they will learn how growing up in the shadow of the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the AIDS crisis, and the War on Drugs shaped Gen Xers as individuals and a generation.
For those looking to immerse themselves in the experience of “growing up X,” the exhibition offers an interactive rec room space where visitors can sit on a floral sofa, watch a movie on VHS, play a video game, or listen to a record album or cassette tape. The exhibition also includes a jukebox where visitors can dial up their favorite nostalgic tunes and interactive screens to watch commercials and news broadcasts from the ’70s and ’80s.
“We’re excited about this exhibition,” said ISM Curator of History Erika Holst. “We hope Gen X feels seen by this show – that they come in and say ‘I had that!’ or ‘I remember that!’ Beyond that, we hope this sparks some great conversations between Gen Xers and their kids and parents about different experiences had by different generations growing up.”
More than 1,000 results from a public survey the Museum sent out last year inform the exhibition with the inclusion of insights, quotes, photographs and loaned objects from Gen Xers.
“One of the challenges of doing this show is how to accurately represent the experiences of a group of people that is large, diverse, and still very much alive,” Holst said. “So we went right to the source and asked Gen Xers to share their experiences in their own words, images, and meaningful objects.”
Growing Up X is on display at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield through Sept. 4, 2023. Admission is free.
