The Kansas City Museum makes available for loan objects from its collections to qualifying nonprofit museums and organizations who look to use the museum’s artifacts for exhibitions and educational programming.
This page will highlight an item or group of items that are currently on loan for display so come back every month or so and we’ll have a different item to share that is on loan and where to find it.
In June 2024
The Johnson County Museums are showcasing the fashions of the 1960s in its newly opened exhibit “Free to Be…” Three pieces of clothing from the museum’s collections are in this exhibit. Two are featured here.
Here is the museum’s website for more information: Museum | Johnson County Park & Rec, KS (jcprd.com)
Gay Gibson brand woman’s sleeveless dress made of acetate and lined in taffeta, with a back zipper. Made by Gernes Garment Company, Kansas City, MO. 1967-1969. From the Garment District Museum Collection.
TWA smock, or “apron cover-up,” was worn by hostesses on overseas flights over their uniforms. Johnson County Museum’s exhibit has chosen to highlight the uniform and just show a small portion of the smock. So here is the whole smock. Knee-length linen, designed by “Dalton” and was used from 1968-1974.
Kansas City’s Garment District manufactured quite a bit of the airline’s uniforms and accessories. From the Garment District Museum Collection.
In September 2024
We are proud to be participating in a new traveling exhibit from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The Museum is lending four Modoc of Oklahoma basketry hats and a burden basket (all 1875-1885), along with a Blackfeet child’s toy, a horse figure with female rider, saddle, cradleboard and baby (1870-1890), all from the Daniel and Ida Dyer Native American Collection. These pieces show the artistry in utilitarian and recreational items in tribal life.
Knowing the West: Visual Legacies of the American West is the first major traveling exhibition from Crystal Bridges to embrace and examine how people see the American West. It aims to tell a more inclusive story and show the diverse groups who shaped the art and life of the West.
photography by E.G. Schempf
The Modoc of Oklahoma today live on the northeastern edge of Oklahoma, headquartered in Miami, OK. The museum has rare examples of Modoc basketry in hats and what is called a burden basket, a conical shaped basket worn on the back to carry food, wood or personal belongings. They were made by some of the wives of Modoc leaders, including Captain Jack. The child’s toy of leather horse and rider, as well as all the detailed pieces that go with it, are what the Blackfeet were known for. Today, the Blackfeet Confederacy stretches across the U. S./Canadian border, with the Blackfeet Indian Reservation located in northern Montana.
photography by E.G. Schempf
Knowing the West: Visual Legacies of the American West will be on view:
September 14, 2024 – January 27, 2025, at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas
March 26 – August 31, 2025, at Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida
May 2, 2026 – August 9, 2026, at North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina