Designing Donkey Hodie, Victory at Home, and More!

A double-feature of Elmhurst Art Museum and Elmhurst History Museum

Hi everyone! Welcome to Austin’s Museum Musings!

Today I’m bringing you a special double feature of two museums located in Elmhurst, Illinois. I’ve highlighted the Elmhurst Art Museum before when I checked out the traveling Marvelocity: The Art of Alex Ross exhibit (which you can read here), and I couldn’t resist making the trip to see the absolutely adorable Designing Donkey Hodie: From Make-Believe to Someplace Else. I also visited the Elmhurst History Museum for the first time to see Victory at Home: 1941-1945! Though it deals with much more heavy subject matter than Donkey Hodie, I was excited to learn more about the history of World War II from a local perspective. In addition, their permanent collection, By All Accounts: The Story of Elmhurst, was full of fascinating artifacts that made for a wonderful exhibit!

I’ll admit that I didn’t know anything about the hit PBS TV show that follows the spunky niece of the original Donkey Hodie from Mister Roger’s Neighborhood, but come on, she’s too cute to pass up!

This exhibit really only has two modes: Big and Small. Lots of wall signage like the Character Development process above is large-scale, adding to the whimsical nature of the exhibit and making it especially easy for visitors of all ages to admire the art. I’m personally a huge fan of character creation and concept art, so I loved looking at all of the original ideas for what Donkey Hodie was going to look like before they settled on her final design.

Of course, once the design was finalized, the team needed to create the puppet version. Here you can see the many parts that go into making one puppet! It’s fascinating to look at all of the details and ways that the parts could be removable to facilitate the puppet performance and range of emotions.

I liked that the museum had different elements from the puppets, including eyes, fur, and feathers, but I do wish that there was a play element with puppets that visitors could use to get a physical feel for operating puppets of this caliber. Not being able to touch the real puppets is understandable, but to me it’s a missed opportunity.

The S.S. Fingerling was my favorite object on display in the whole exhibit. Part of the lore of Donkey Hodie is that her grandpa, Grampy Hodie, uses a big machine called the Potato Washer Dryer Sorter Dumper to provide his neighbors with the best quality potatoes. So, it’s no surprise that in the Season One episode “Potato Pirates”, Donkey Hodie and her friends have a big ol’ pirate ship made out of a big ol’ potato. The prop itself is pretty big, and that’s because it has to be in order to fit puppeteers within. Furthermore, one side of the boat can actually be detached to make it easier for filming. You really have to think of everything when it comes to puppeteering, and this is a great example of that.

I was also extremely impressed at all of the miniature scale models of some of the sets used on Donkey Hodie that were on display, including the neighborhood where Donkey Hodie, Bob Dog, and Purple Panda live. There are so many minute details: there are tons of balls in Bob Dog’s yard, a garden in Donkey Hodie’s, and a play structure in Purple Panda’s! Even their mailboxes match each of their individual aesthetics. The exhibit text highlights how sometimes, miniature diorama models are used for establishing shots and wide shots of locations like the full neighborhood, and full-scale sets are built for more concise locations.

And, of course, you can’t end the exhibit without saying hi to the puppets themselves! Duck Duck, Donkey Hodie, Purple Panda, and Bob Dog are on display. Not only are they incredibly cute, but I also was able to appreciate just how much must go into making these puppets come to life. Their design not only considers aesthetics, but function and control.

Overall, I had, as Donkey Hodie would say, a hee-hawesome time with this exhibit. It’s clear that there’s not only so much love, but so much care and craft that goes into making this show. The puppets, props, and set designs are all a work of art! I’m continuously impressed with how the Elmhurst Museum of Art highlights art in so many different forms!

Just a few minutes’ drive from the Elmhurst Art Museum is the Elmhurst History Museum, located in the historic Glos Mansion, which was built in 1892! I was really excited to check out Victory at Home: 1941-1945, since growing up, I learned about World War II on more of a global scale than a local one. Finding out about more about the war’s effect on everyday people, including those in Elmhurst, was fascinating!

Something I was incredibly impressed with in this exhibit was the numerous opportunities for interactive learning. These are just some of the interactive elements! Whether it’s identifying planes, practicing wartime rationing, planning a victory garden, or roleplaying as a code-breaker or mechanic, you really can learn so much by putting yourself in the shoes of the people who lived through it.

I’m also thankful that the victory garden station let visitors take some seeds to plant in their own gardens! I’m excited to see if the ones we picked out will grow!

The parts of the exhibit that focused on the stories of local soldiers was very moving. Highlighted figures included Private First Class Fred Bucholz of Elmhurst, who was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism during the Battle of Kwajalein. Also featured is Sgt. Andrew Joseph Dasback of Chicago, who was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his service in France. It’s a very sobering thought to think of the real people who gave their lives in service to their country, and of their loved ones who were left to grieve their losses.

The heavy stuff is juxtaposed well with some more lighthearted content, such as information about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was a trailblazing effort for women’s professional sports and gave folks at home something fun to take their mind off of the war. One notable team was the Rockford Peaches, located just over an hour away from Elmhurst. That team might sound familiar if you’ve watched the 1992 movie A League of Their Own or its 2022 TV adaptation!

Victory at Home: 1941-1945 was a great blend of interactive elements, plenty of educational text, and a real treasure trove of artifacts that combined to make a successful exhibit! I was really impressed with the multiple touchscreens involved with this exhibit. In my experience, those can be hit-or-miss elements, but I found them to be incredibly engaging, especially the ones where you could listen to real radio recordings or watch newsreels.

On the subject of touchscreens, I also want to shout out the Elmhurst History Museum’s By All Accounts: The Story of Elmhurst permanent exhibit. This huge touchscreen table lets visitors see an interactive timeline map of the growth of Elmhurst and its environs, and each section of the timeline has various labels with photos and more information about historic landmarks! I had a ton of fun with this!

By All Accounts, was, by all accounts, STUFFED with artifacts from multiple eras of Elmhurst’s history, from its first settlements to the present day. I really enjoyed these time capsules, in a sense, that captured the spirit of life in Elmhurst. The above photo is just a taste of what you’ll see if you go visit for yourself!

Overall, I can’t recommend these two museums enough! Together they made the perfect day out, and there’s truly so much to appreciate for visitors of all ages.

Designing Donkey Hodie: From Make-Believe to Someplace Else runs at the Elmhurst Art Museum through August 12, and Victory at Home: 1941-1945 runs at the Elmhurst History Museum runs through August 18th.

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