Soule Mississippi Industrial Museum displays new exhibit

A new exhibit has been put on display at the Soule Mississippi Industrial Museum, and it all explains how water was once used as an energy source several years ago.

“The exhibit is here from the Smithsonian Institution, and largely it is focusing on facilitating a conversation about water, and why it’s important, and how we use it in our daily lives, and how we can kind of be focused on that, how we can conserve better, and just be mindful of the fact that it’s so integrated in our lives from the fact that we drink water to the fact that we bath with water to where we enjoy fishing, and to the use of the facilities that water brings.”

Amanda Holland says it’s important to remember steam history and the several ways energy was used then in comparison to now.

“ You can never really understand your future or your present without knowing your past, and this is our past. The start of the Industrial Revolution was with steam engines largely, and so if you can’t understand what brought you to the technology that you have today, you’re not going to appreciate it as much, and I think that’s why I really enjoy working for the museum, and why I think it’s important to preserve that knowledge, it’s because if you don’t understand all the difficulties, and all the trials that came with the previous technology, and the previous history that we have, you can’t move forward with appreciation of how easy it is now.”

According to Holland, water is still in use today but is not being used commonly like years before.

“It’s still used in other capacities, it’s not just the thing that is most upfront and visible, so steam power is still very important and understanding that is important, but again I think it goes back to that question earlier of why it’s important to know the history of manufacturing”