With the 111th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking this week, divers and researchers continue to recover new artifacts and uncover new truths about the events that occurred on April 14, 1912. With that date approaching, there’s no better time to visit Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, which houses an ever-changing collection of more than 250 items found in the wreckage.
“The truth that I am looking for is an accurate reflection of the events of the night; the exact circumstances of the sinking,” Bill Sauder, director of Titanic Research for RMS Titanic, Inc., told Las Vegas Magazine. “The single largest tragedy after the Titanic’s loss is that it has become clickbait … There’s a commercial motivation to make the evil people extra evil and the noble people extra pure, and it becomes almost a caricature.”
Reflecting that mission, the exhibit paints a very honest picture of the reality of the “unsinkable” vessel. From highlighting differences in treatment and accommodation between first-, second- and third-class passengers, to evaluating design and engineering shortcomings and telling passenger stories, each room unveils new actualities of the historic ocean liner. Personal belongings like binoculars, jewelry and money fill the exhibit alongside White Star Line property like an entire cabinet of dishes that was found still intact.
There’s something here for the science buffs, too. The information displayed covers some of the process required to preserve different materials, including the Big Piece, which is a part of the hull that is so large it occupies its own room.
“(Artifacts) are recovered from the wreck site ... and immediately need to be treated to remove salt from the materials,” Jeffrey Taylor, director of collections at E/M Group, and in charge of storage and handling of the artifacts, said. “They’ve been in a dark, cold environment for decades and decades, so when oxygen and light hits many of these artifacts, it’s a very dangerous, critical situation.”
Seeing these artifacts and learning about the preservation process is already well worth a stop here. However, if you need a few more reasons, this experience comes with a photo op at the Grand Staircase replica, and you’ll receive a boarding pass with information about a passenger who was actually aboard the ship.
Luxor, 702.262.4400
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