MOSH's last exhibit at its current Southbank site will run through Aug. 31. | Michelle Corum, Jacksonville Today
Published on May 23, 2025 at 3:40 pm
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As Jacksonville’s Museum of Science & History looks to move to a new, bigger facility across the St. John’s River, it’s opening its archives for all to see.
MOSH has been collecting things for a long time: 80-odd years. It’s been in its current building on the Southbank since 1969, but it will close Sept. 1 until it reopens in the old Shipyards area in a few years.
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MOSH’s last exhibit in its current home explores the human nature of collecting things.
Anthony Mortimer, vice president of education and exhibits, says the museum wants to “go out with something exciting” and this exhibit will help tide the public over until the new museum opens in the old Shipyards area.
“This is to build that anticipation, and godspeed on the fundraising and construction to get that open as quickly as possible,” Mortimer says.
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This last exhibit has many cabinets of curiosities, nuggets of nostalgia and relics of the past including one of the last working telephone booths and a 1921 Model-T Ford, donated by the Mike Davidson family, who opened their Ford dealership in Jacksonville in 1934.
The exhibit, called MOSH Archives: The Story of Us … And You!, explores the science and psychology behind collecting — everything from coins and dolls to animal specimens and other oddities — and delves into how the things we gather reflect our evolving identities.
MOSH collections coordinator Julia Wicktor says the museum is tapping into a collection of 40,000 items. “Most of them haven’t been on exhibit ever, so we’re using this opportunity to showcase as much as we can of things that have never been seen before,” Wicktor says.
That includes real curved elephant tusks embedded in preserved elephant feet, acquired by donation from a museum board member in 1952, (before the Endangered Species Act).
Mortimer explained that the ethics of collecting is important in the discussion and there can be negative aspects of private collecting. He wants visitors to take away that “collecting isn’t always good; there are ethics to it, and not to call that collector ‘unethical,’ because that was accepted practice at the time this was done.
“There are some important nuances we want people to consider. It still exists in modern hobby collecting,” said Mortimer.
The exhibit will runs through Aug. 31. MOSH will be open Memorial Day, which is a Vystar FREE admission day for visitors.
