The Kentucky Library and Museum is unveiling two traveling exhibits this weekend, one of them from the Smithsonian.

&#8220We used to have them every four years or so but it’s been some time since we’ve had a Smithsonian exhibit,” exhibits curator Donna Parker said of &#8220Caves: A Fragile Wilderness.”

The other exhibit is a collection of folk art paintings and sculptures: &#8220Slow Time: The Art of Charley, Noah and Hazel Kinney.”

Three of the 39 photographs from around the world are of Mammoth Cave, where museum advisory council member Bob Ward is acting chief of Science and Resource Management.

Ward said being on the advisory council is a perfect outreach for the park.

&#8220It is an opportunity for the park to participate as a partner in the community,” he said. &#8220It’s very personally gratifying for me, but also an opportunity for Mammoth Cave National Park to participate in the larger community in all matters related to it.”

Parker said the pictures give a glimpse of things people in Kentucky aren’t used to seeing.

&#8220We are so used to seeing caves made out of limestone, it is interesting to see different features,” Parker said. &#8220And you get to see wild areas where even caves that have tours don’t allow the public to go.”

There is a picture of an ice cave that shows formations that look like enlarged ice crystals, pictures of blind crawfish and salamanders and one titled &#8220Planet Seeds” that shows what appears to be tight balls of rock in a cave in Mexico.

Ward said Mammoth Cave loaned several items for a section in the exhibit that contains artifacts from local caves – lighting used to illuminate visitors’ ways, pictures from the caves’ early days more than 100 years ago and a replica of cave costumes that were worn by the women when they went into the cave.

&#8220Women in the day would have been dressed like this,” Parker said pointing to a drawing of a scene with a woman in a large dress with a bustle and corset. &#8220They couldn’t go into the cave like that.”

Cheryl Messenger, education coordinator for the park, made the cave costume on display.

&#8220They would have been made from a variety of materials – wool, cotton, depending on the season,” Messenger said. &#8220I just made that one from some leftover fabric I had.”

Messenger said the costumes would have been rented for 50 cents a day from the hotel at Mammoth Cave.

&#8220People would have been coming in their Sunday silk best and that wouldn’t have lasted long,” she said. &#8220Ladies were encouraged to make their own costumes but they could rent them if they didn’t.”

Often, the ladies and their male partners would coordinate their costumes, she said.

An article in the Glasgow Times from about 1938 recalls how the ladies’ costumes included a blouse and a pair of bloomers as long as skirts and the men had overalls and jackets. Each purchased bandanas for their heads.

Parker said she is excited about the exhibit that will run Saturday through Nov. 24.

The folk art exhibit, which depicts scenes from life in Eastern Kentucky including pictures of &#8220haunts and devils” and a carving of a red fox, runs through Feb. 10.

Bringing the exhibits here cost $6,500, paid for with museum foundation funds. Each took several days to unpack, inspect and install. Periodically changing exhibits is what helps bring people back to the museum and keep it fresh for the 70,000 visitors who come annually.

Ward said the Kentucky Library and Museum is a great repository for &#8220all things Kentucky.”

– The Kentucky Library & Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Sunday admission is always half price. Regular admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for seniors and $10 for families.