Replica of the Jessup Wagon used by Carver as a mobile agricultural classroom.

We recently had the pleasure of visiting the George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, MO, Carver’s birthplace.  For the Route 66 fans, that’s not far from Joplin, MO.  Since Carver lived until 1943, we had no doubt that radio would play an important part of the exhibits.  And we were not disappointed, as one of the galleries contained the stylized antique radio shown above, which allowed visitors to listen to several radio broadcasts made by the scientist and inventor.  In addition, there were microphones and headphones which visiting students could use to create a similar radio interview.

You can find a sampling of broadcasts by Carver at the Iowa Public Radio website.  At this link, you can listen to the 1939 broadcast of “Strange As It Seems” about Carver, including an interview.

The monument also includes a classroom and laboratory.  The classroom is a non-specific period room, while the lab is modeled after Carver’s laboratory at the Tuskegee Institute.  The Monument is geared up for school field trips.  I noted that there were a number of rules written on the board in the lab, such as “four on the floor.”  One of the rules was the mortar and pestle must stay together, as I’m sure the mortar and pestle would otherwise make interesting toys for the students.

Carver died 83 years ago today, on January 5, 1943.