View Current Exhibitions
lists the special exhibition currently on
display at the Sioux City Public Museum

View Upcoming Exhibitions
lists exhibitions that will be on display
at the Museum sites in the near future

View Past Exhibitions
lists prior Museum exhibitions

Permanent Exhibits @
the Sioux City Public Museum

Peirce Mansion Library (First Floor)       
The library was originally used as a gentleman’s parlor, but was extensively renovated in 1927 when the wood paneling was added. A large drawing of the first owner of the home, John Peirce, is featured in the room. Furnishings reflect the Victorian style popular in the late 1800s.

Featured artifact   Black Forest Cuckoo Clock made in Germany in the 1860s.

Pioneer Hall (First Floor)
Located on the first floor, the Pioneer Hall features a “hands-on” log cabin that children may enter.  Children are welcome to handle the reproduction artifacts and “play” in order to learn more about pioneer life. Display cases also exhibit a variety of farming, tools and ranching implements.

Featured artifact   Mounted Bison Head reputed to have been left in Sioux City by Buffalo Bill Cody

Restored Victorian Bedroom (Second Floor)     
The colors, window treatments, and furnishings of this restored second floor master bedroom reflect the Victorian style of the late 1890s and early 1900s around the time the John Pierce Mansion was originally built.

From River Town to Boom Town (Second Floor)
From River Town to Boom Town covers the history of Sioux City from 1868 to 1893, the period when John Peirce made and lost his fortune. The city’s massive expansion with booming commerce and the glorious Corn Palaces was cut short by the Crash of 1893. 

Featured artifact    Street Car Fare Box  

A New Century…A New Beginning (Second Floor)
A New Century…A New Beginning tells the story of Sioux City following the crash through the 1920s.  Among the artifacts featured are clothing and china from the family of Governor William Harding and a 1900 smoke helmet.  

Featured artifact Leather smoke helmet used by the Sioux City Fire Department during the 1890s and early 1900s. 

Native American Hall (Third Floor)
The Sioux City Public Museum has one of the largest and most complete collections of Indian artifacts, articles of clothing and ritual in this area. Renovated in 1999, the Native American Hall places special emphasis on the Plains and Woodland tribes of this area. Examples of the early use of quillwork and the later use of beads for ornamentation are on display, as well as a large variety of stone and bone tools.

Featured artifact Beaded Winnebago
(Ho Chunk) moccasins, made by Mrs. Frank Beaver.

If you have any suggestions regarding exhibitions or subjects you'd like to see at the Sioux City Public Museum, please
e-mail us.

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