The Chandler Museum exhibit hall features 6-8 exhibitions each year. The schedule includes a combination of in-house produced exhibits exploring Chandler history topics and nationally traveling exhibits showcasing culture, history and art.
Gaman: Enduring Japanese American Internment at Gila River
Dec. 8, 2018 - April 19, 2020
During World War II over 16,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from the west coast to Gila River Internment Camp, near Chandler, simply because they looked like the enemy. This poignant exhibit demonstrates how the Japanese value gaman, enduring the seemingly impossible with patience and dignity, guided these American citizens, through loss and incarceration in the Arizona desert. See the photos, hear the stories, read the names of incarcerees, and view the community contributed paper cranes in this transformative exhibition.
History of Walls: The Borders We Build
Jan. 14 - March 1, 2020
For as long as there have been nations, those nations have built walls. This exhibit explores four significant historic walls built by nation-states—the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, the Israel/West Bank Barrier, and the US/Mexico Border Wall—by way of understanding these feats of architecture in their historical, cultural, and political context. The exhibit explores each wall through words, images, video, and written interactives. Presented in both English and Spanish. A History of Walls: The Borders We Build is an Overland Traveling Exhibit.
The History of the (Berlin) Wall: German Experiences for Arizona
Jan. 30 | 7 p.m. | Saguaro Room
Patios, Pools, and the Invention of the American Backyard
March 14 - May 24, 2020
The suburban backyard is an American original—an invention so familiar it hardly seems invented at all. Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard explores the mid-century backyard from the rise of the suburbs and tract houses, to the beauty of postwar garden design, and the birth of the environmental movement. Filled with vintage photographs, historic drawings, and fun period advertisements, the exhibition reveals how these spaces became such an integral part of American popular culture.
Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard is presented by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the Smithsonian Garden’s Archive of American Gardens.
Image: Lakewood Plaza, outdoor living space. Long Beach, Calif., 1950s. Maynard L. Parker, photographer. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
Beyond Bollywood
May 2 - July 12, 2020
In the Western imagination, India conjures up everything from saris and spices to turbans and temples—and the pulsating energy of Bollywood movies. But in America, India’s contributions stretch far beyond these stereotypes. From the builders of some of America's earliest railroads and farms to Civil Rights pioneers to digital technology entrepreneurs, Indian Americans have long been an inextricable part of American life. Today, one out of every 100 Americans, from Silicon Valley to Smalltown, USA, traces his or her roots to India. This exhibit explores the Indian American experience and the community's vital political, professional, and cultural contributions to American life and history.
Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation was created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.
Image: Decorated Indian table player Pandit Shankar Ghosh and noted Indian classical vocalist Shrimati Sanjukta Ghosh with Vikram (Boomba) Ghosh at Samuel P. Taylor State Park, Lagunita, Calif., ca. 1970.Photo courtesy of the Ali Akbar Khan Foundation