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IUPUI STUDENTS DEVELOP MUSEUM EXHIBIT SHOWCASING HOOSIER WHO INVENTED THE FIRST MACHINE GUN: RICHARD GATLING; EXHIBITS OPENS AT MONUMENT CIRCLE APRIL 20

INDIANAPOLIS - IUPUI museum studies students are the curators of a new temporary museum exhibit showcasing the life and contributions of physician and Hoosier resident Richard Gatling, inventor of the first machine gun.

"Richard Gatling: The Man and His Gun," opens Friday at the Colonel Eli Lilly Civil War Museum, located on the lower level of the Soldiers & Sailors Monument on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis. The exhibit will run through October 14.

Students in Assistant Professor Elizabeth Kryder-Reid's museum methods class at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis assembled the exhibit as the culmination of the semester-long course that introduces students to technical and ethical aspects of museum work.

The exhibit commemorates another contribution to the Civil War effort in the Hoosier state, complimenting the Civil War Museum's mission statement. It includes a pre-1900s Gatling Gun, secured on loan for the exhibit, and photos of an updated model in use during the Vietnam War.

"It's a rare weapon. It's neat to be able to show it to the public," said David Buchanan, museum operations director of Indiana War Memorials, the organization that runs the Civil War Museum. "We had about 129,000 people come through the museum last year. With the exhibit running through the summer, we are going to be able to show this to one heck of a lot of people."

Gatling was an Indianapolis resident during the Civil War era. Gatling's observations of the war's toil on soldiers he saw passing through Union Depot inspired him to invent the first machine gun.

"It occurred to me if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a great extent, supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease be greatly diminished," Gatling said in a 1877 letter, 15 years after the invention of the famous Gatling Gun.

The Gatling exhibit is one of two semester-long projects by IUPUI museum studies students. An exhibit exploring the history of the Indianapolis Retirement Home opens April 29 at the home, 1731 N. Capitol.

The Gatling exhibit was created with assistance and support from Buchanan, Tex Kline of the Indianapolis Gatling Gun Club, and the Murat Gun Club.

Museum hours are 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

Admission is free. Donations are welcome.

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