April 3, 2001 - Randy Pullen, Mike Hill and Chuck Applebee of Vinyl-Tech put up the life-size train mural for the Transportation Time exhibit. Fourteen feet tall and 13 1/2 feet wide, the mural is printed on a self-adhesive film only 2mm thick. Anyone who has ever installed wallpaper can appreciate what a great job they've done!

April 4, 2001 - The trucks arrived and were unloaded by the Academy Studios crew, so now the fun begins. See if you can figure how all this stuff fits into the History Lab!

Chris Sullivan, Omar Zaouk, Marty Marfin, Beth Haywood, and Matt McClaskey head up the installation team.

April 5, 2001 - The heavy equipment starts moving in, and exhibit components are prepped for hanging. Shown here are part of the roof to the Electronic Schoolhouse and the body of a large airplane model.

April 6, 2001 - Parts of the History Lab exhibit are arriving hourly now, and the crew is beginning to install bolts into walls and ceiling. The picture below (right) shows Matt McClasky of Academy Studios getting ready for a ceiling installation.

April 9, 2001 - The Electronic Schoolhouse roof, assembled now and ready to be hung, looks bright even in low light.

April 10, 2001 - The Place Arch assembly is underway, and Schoolhouse roof has its top fully installed. No, that's not one of the installers napping. It's Dave and Dandy's new driver awaiting his final placement.

April 11, 2001 - How do you hang a Boeing 747 from the ceiling? In this case, it took some heavy equipment, cables, and installers with no fear of heights to get it up there. Matt McClasky and Marty Marfin load the body onto the forklift, and Chris Sullivan holds the plane steady while Matt gets ready to attach the cables.

April 12, 2001 - The 1750 lb. Electronic Schoolhouse roof has been attached to the ceiling with cables that can support three times its own weight. Some new design mockups appear on several cabinets, and a slice of a large tree is readied for display.

April 13, 2001 - Another truck arrived this morning, unloading a new batch of large, mysterious looking exhibit components. Monica Maduro, of Academy Studios, prepares a mockup of the Time Gallery artifact arrangement.

April 16, 2001 - The Oregon Trail Wagon is under assembly by Marty and Chris (Sully), and with Omar's efforts, the Orientation area is beginning to take shape. Exhibit parts are everywhere and some are quite puzzling. Dave and Dandy are still hobbled with shrink wrap, but Marty is shown preparing their platform, so they'll soon be ready to plod onward again.

April 17, 2001 - Construction continues on the Oregon Trail Wagon. Soon the wagon bed will be joined to the wheels, and the bows will be put on. Beth works hard on the installation of handrails in the Orientation Area, while Matt and Marty begin setting up the Place Arch.

April 18, 2001 - Odd-looking exhibit components are beginning to show up in the Time Gallery. Dannie Salas of BBI is hard at work wiring up the electrical system for the Instant Reply machine. The Place Gallery is beginning to take shape now - the arch is in place and the arrangement of artifacts in the display cabinet is in the mock-up stage.

April 19, 2001 - The work progresses, although sometimes it doesn't all show up front. Here are a couple of tasks caught on camera. Alex Taylor, who recently joined the Academy Studios team, is working on elements of the Place Arch in the Orientation area, and Sully works on wiring for the Time Connector.

April 20, 2001 - The Oregon Trail Wagon bed is in place at last and looking very much like Ezra Meeker's original transportation. Eric Maschwitz applies plaster to the trail dirt base. The graphics are beginning to appear around the worksite, with some showing up on the Place Gallery arch.

April 23, 2001 - Sully, Alex and Beth are getting the Place Gallery cabinet ready to be filled with artifacts. Omar and Matt are busy installing the large Time Gallery graphics, and bicycles new and old are prepared for mounting on the arch.

April 24, 2001 - The Time Gallery arch is shaping up nicely, with the graphics all installed now. The Time Connector is still under construction, but looking great. By the end of the day, the bicycles are installed on the arch as well.

April 25, 2001 - The exhibits are starting to get a more finished look now, as can be seen by the Reading Rail being installed in the Model Railroad area. Sully and mark are still tinkering with the Time Connector, but it will soon be complete. The Viewpoint exhibit looks close to being done and Sully is making progress on the Viewpoint/Exploration wall.

April 26, 2001 - The Time and Place Arches are looking pretty good by the end of the day.

April 27, 2001 - The History Lab is beginning to resemble the planning drawings as new exhibits begin to appear. Matt and Beth work with the forklift in pretty cramped quarters.

April 30, 2001 - Progress is being made along many lines now as the exhibit work nears completion. Below you can see the nearly completed Time Connector, Beth and Omar installing one of the two History Lab signposts, the Decameter in its early stages, and latest incarnation of the Model Train Reading Rail.

May 1, 2001 - New exhibits appear to be arriving daily now, as the graphics are put in place on the exhibit structures. MapoMania, an exhibit showing changes over time in dowtown Tacoma, is approaching completion. Omar puts the finishing touches on the Wilkes Expedition mural for the Exploration wall. Traveling Through Time, a comparison of the time needed for various travel modes through the last couple of centuries, is pretty much ready to go. Monica is still busy in the office making mounts for artifacts, props and other items to be exhibited.

May 2, 2001 - Dannie Salas of BBI is busy wiring up the Traveling Through Time Exhibit. The Exploration Station mural appears to be in place now, and Postcard Place is coming along as well.

May 3, 2001 - There are chests full of birdskins, skulls, maps and tools now at the Exploration wall. The letters for the Daily Planet Theater are carefully laid out on the tree slice. The back side of Postcard Place is completed, and the Academy Studios folks are preparing to move on to another installation somewhere else.

May 4, 2001 - Academy Studios has just a few people still on the job, but one new person, Jim Slater, is working on the Model Railroad Reading Rail. The Electronic Schoolhouse is coming together at last, as the stations start going up. Alex, Jim and Greg Hibbard struggle with getting the Ephemera station upright. These things are REALLY heavy!

The software ladies from Chedd-Angier, Yachun Lin and Polly Heininger, are stepping up to the plate now and getting the software installed on the iMacs that are a crucial part of the Electronic Schoolhouse, as well as the Internet Gallery.

May 7, 2001 - The Tool Stations for the Electronic Schoolhouse are nearly ready, as is the Decameter, seen here from the other side of the exhibit. The iMac computers are being loaded up with the History Lab software. The Reading Rail is going up fast in the Model Train area.

May 8, 2001 - This was a very big day in the history of the History Lab. A group of students from Clarkmoor Elementary arrived today with their teacher, Mr. Endicott, to test the software. Project Manager Stephanie Lile started the day by showing the class the Time video, then assigned the students to test specific stations. In the interest of testing for accessibility, Stephanie asked for volunteers to use the wheelchairs. Everyone wanted to try it, but only three were chosen.

May 9, 2001 - Things are changing much more slowly now, as the major exhibits are largely in place. Postcard Place has it's computer system installed now, although the Instant Replay exhibit is still under wraps. The Decameter shines in the low light of museum like a giant jukebox, and the Map Station is ready to receive a set of gorgeous old maps.

May 10, 2001 - It's amazing to see all the computers in the History Lab now. Everywhere you look there's another brightly colored iMac. There are still a few odd pieces left to be installed, such as this big magenta clock hand. Academy Studios contractor, Frank Terrill, is busy lining up a variety of globes under the Place Arch. The downtown Tacoma buildings are ready for the MapOMania puzzle.

May 11, 2001 - Matt and Alex will be leaving tomorrow, leaving Jim behind to finish up. Frank Terrill is hard at work mounting the more than one hundred artifacts that will become part of the History Lab Learning Center. We bid a fond farewell to our Academy Studios friends!

May 14, 2001 - The big stuff is mostly done now, so today's pictures are just intended to tantalize you with bright colors and interesting shapes. This exhibit is going to be lots of fun!

May 16, 2001 - Here's another batch of closeup photos of the History Lab exhibits. These details are just a small sampling of the delightful and colorful displays that comprise the Learning Center.

May 18, 2001 - Frank Terrill (right), and his assistant, Lynn, prepare mounts for the artifacts that will be displayed in the cabinets of the Time Gallery and Place Gallery. The Decameter looms large in the low light of the 5th floor and stairs lead up to the Oregon Trail Wagon. The Evidence cabinet will eventually be filled with projects by Time Detectives in Training - the school children who visit the History Lab on class field trips.

May 21-25, 2001 - The History Lab exhibit is almost ready for prime time, and this week volunteer training classes were held. The Learning Center, with over 5,000 square feet of interactive exhibits, will require the time and effort of many of our wonderful volunteers to keep it running smoothly. Below are just a few pictures of our volunteer workers familiarizing themselves with the History Lab learning challenges.

May 28-June 1, 2001 - Things are pretty much complete from a construction standpoint. The artifacts have been carefully placed in the Time and Place Galleries, the Decameter cabinets and at the Tool Stations. The exhibits are all up and running, and the all-important Donor and Contributor panels are now in place. Only one more week until the exhibit is finally open!

June 4, 2001 - Before the History Lab goes live to the public, it is undergoing some very rigorous beta testing by some very sharp students. These kids are having a ball, and learning a lot about the Inquiry process at the same time.

June 8, 2001 - The Lab is ready to go, but there are preparations being made for Saturday's opening party. Invitations were sent out earlier, and are now being used to decorate the corkboard in the Student Gallery. Inflatable globes are ready to be hung from the light fixtures on the mezzanine. Cindy Finnigan, History Lab Project Assistant, is busy folding programs for the big gala event.