Discover your inner ‘tourist’
Nothing said “I saw Mount Rushmore” quite like a plastic back scratcher with the four famous faces on the handle.
Paul Niemann, who spent years in the wholesale souvenir business at Rushmore Photo & Gift, said that souvenirs have a very fundamental purpose: proof to the folks back home that you really did take a vacation in the Black Hills.
“People buy souvenirs so they — and others — can believe they’ve been somewhere else. And God bless ’em for doing it,” Niemann said.
Over the years, that proof has taken many unusual forms. Mount Rushmore ashtrays, motel matchbooks, silk pillow covers and fuzzy felt pennants. And old picture postcards portraying idyllic scenes bathed in pastel colors that made even an old cow pasture look as if it’s just a quarter-mile this side of heaven.
These old Black Hills souvenirs, along with historic photos, maps, brochures, rare video footage and even a giant billboard, have been assembled into a Journey Museum show that tells the story of South Dakota’s second-largest — and most colorful — industry, tourism.
“Seeking the Hills, A Journey Through Black Hills Tourism” runs through Aug. 11 at The Journey’s Stanford Adelstein Gallery.
“I think people will be interested in the tourism show. All of us grew up with this,” Riner said.
Summer hours at The Journey Museum are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For more information, call 394-6923 or go to www.journeymuseum.org.