Campus Martius Museum offers a variety of exhibits. Currently featured are:
“American Icons: The Untold Stories of Ohio’s First Ladies”
In celebration of America’s 250th birthday, the National First Ladies Library & Museum (NFLLM) is proud to announce the launch of “The Untold Stories of Ohio’s First Ladies”—a dynamic, interactive traveling exhibit that will tour the state of Ohio throughout 2025 and 2026. In partnership with museums and cultural institutions across Ohio, this unique kiosk-based exhibit highlights the lives, leadership, and legacy of seven influential First Ladies with Ohio roots. Through interactive touchscreens, visitors can explore rare video footage of authentic dresses, hats, and accessories from the NFLLM’s permanent collection, along with educational content that shares the often-overlooked stories of these remarkable women. These “untold stories” offer deeper insight into the impact these First Ladies had on the presidency, public policy, and civic life in America.
This exhibit is featured on the mezzanine at Campus Martius Museum through January 31, 2026.
“Here the Pioneers Landed”
A plan to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Marietta was made publicly known in December, 1934 and a Celebration Commission was formed. The event would begin in 1937 and involved funding from the six states of the Northwest Territory: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. It also relied on the support of five other states: Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The goal of the celebration was to reach as large an audience as possible, appeal to all classes of people, and to be educational, inspirational, and light-hearted. The country wanted this celebration to show the shared history of the Northwest Territory and to create an event that could be taken in and understood by a wide variety of people. It would also serve as an uplifting event after years of suffering through the Great Depression. Organized into a caravan with a traveling play and pageantry, the committee hoped it would grab local and national interest, “taking the show to the people” instead of requiring people to come to the show. When the pioneer caravan landed in Marietta in 1938, it drew in Marietta’s second largest crowd.