Learn about Julius Rosenwald's inspiration and the opening of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry with the Coal Mine exhibit
A discussion of Julius Rosenwald and the founding of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, from the documentary Riches, Rivals & Radicals: 100 Years of Museums in America.
Great Museums Television (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
-
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, MainzLearn about the Christmas traditions of Advent calendars and wreaths.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Yule is one of the oldest winter solstice festivals in the world.
-
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.The riots outside New York's Stonewall Inn sparked a new era of LGBTQ activism.
-
© Chicago Architecture Foundation (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Take a tour of the Marina City towers in Chicago.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.It used to be treated more like a sewer than an ecosystem.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.An overview of the Eastland.
-
© Chicago Architecture Foundation (A Britannica Publishing Partner)A discussion of how the Chicago Board of Trade influenced the city's entrepreneurial spirit in the 19th and 20th centuries.
News •
Richard Posner, influential and iconoclastic federal judge, dies at 87
• Nov. 11, 2026, 11:31 PM ET (Washington Post)
Judge slaps DOJ effort to derail ‘Broadview Six’ hearing, calls AG’s evidence production ‘noncompliant’
• Nov. 11, 2026, 12:35 PM ET (Chicago Tribune)
Balloon technique may help improve circulation to heart and brain during cardiac arrest
• Nov. 9, 2026, 11:00 PM ET (Medical Xpress)
AI-interpreted echocardiograms comparable to human reports, cardiologists' time cut by about 50%
• Nov. 9, 2026, 8:40 PM ET (Medical Xpress)
The AMOC ocean current could collapse. If it does, it could change Chicago's weather for 1,000 years.
• Nov. 9, 2026, 7:15 AM ET (CBS)
Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears and Roebuck Company.
MARJORIE SCHWARZER: He goes to Germany, and he visits a museum called the Deutsches Museum, and he sees for the first time scientific exhibitions where you can touch things and you can push buttons and you can pull levers. And he says, "I wanna build one of those for Chicago." And he comes back, and he founds the Museum of Science and Industry. And this is an ode to technological progress.
NARRATOR: The museum opened in 1933 with the famous Coal Mine exhibit. Coal was fueling the Industrial Revolution then. Even today coal is the single largest source of electricity worldwide.
MUSEUM GUIDE: Just imagine having to work in here eight hours a day, five days a week. What do you think...?
KATHLEEN MCCARTHY: It was based, in part, on an actual coal mine, with a bit of theater added to it, so you really felt like you were traveling a mile down in the earth.
MUSEUM GUIDE: First, the coal has to be blasted, and then it's put into these shuttle cars.
KATHLEEN MCCARTHY: They manufactured a special perfume that smelled just like a coal mine.
MUSEUM GUIDE: Now what we're going to do next is walk this geological crosscut on...
KATHLEEN MCCARTHY: Everybody has a role to play in science and industry. And that was actually Julius [music out] Rosenwald's goal, was to interpret science and industry within its social context. It always impacts people's life. And that's the story we want to really explore here at the museum.
NARRATOR: Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears and Roebuck Company.
MARJORIE SCHWARZER: He goes to Germany, and he visits a museum called the Deutsches Museum, and he sees for the first time scientific exhibitions where you can touch things and you can push buttons and you can pull levers. And he says, "I wanna build one of those for Chicago." And he comes back, and he founds the Museum of Science and Industry. And this is an ode to technological progress.
NARRATOR: The museum opened in 1933 with the famous Coal Mine exhibit. Coal was fueling the Industrial Revolution then. Even today coal is the single largest source of electricity worldwide.
MUSEUM GUIDE: Just imagine having to work in here eight hours a day, five days a week. What do you think...?
KATHLEEN MCCARTHY: It was based, in part, on an actual coal mine, with a bit of theater added to it, so you really felt like you were traveling a mile down in the earth.
MUSEUM GUIDE: First, the coal has to be blasted, and then it's put into these shuttle cars.
KATHLEEN MCCARTHY: They manufactured a special perfume that smelled just like a coal mine.
MUSEUM GUIDE: Now what we're going to do next is walk this geological crosscut on...
KATHLEEN MCCARTHY: Everybody has a role to play in science and industry. And that was actually Julius [music out] Rosenwald's goal, was to interpret science and industry within its social context. It always impacts people's life. And that's the story we want to really explore here at the museum.
Last Modification: