INCLUDES VIDEO TOUR | See more than 100 real artifacts from Titanic’s wreck site has dropped anchor at OMSI, inviting visitors into an immersive, emotional journey from the ship’s birth to its tragic end …
Now, through the summer, “TITANIC: The Artifact Exhibition” is showing in OMSI’s Featured Hall.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
The story of Titanic has been told and retold for more than a century, but rarely as intimately as it is now, at Southeast Portland’s Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI).
“TITANIC: The Artifact Exhibition” has arrived at OMSI with more than 100 authentic objects recovered from the famed ship’s Atlantic resting place.
Take our video tour of this fascinating exhibition:
Together, they trace the liner’s journey from bold idea to broken hull — and ask visitors to think not just about that disaster long ago, but about the choices we’re making with technology today.
At this exhibition’s grand opening, OMSI’s President and CEO Erin Graham greets guests.
“The Titanic is really a human story, a technology story, and it’s all wrapped together,” Erin Graham, OMSI’s President and CEO, observed. “We think it is important, because it is about innovation – an incredible innovation for its time period. It’s also about incredible hubris – really, the results of that.”
Graham believes that tension makes the show especially relevant now. “We are inventing and innovating things at a remarkable pace,” she said. “And we also need to think about the downstream implications of those inventions, as we are considering the kind of future that we are building.”
In this exhibition, the story of the Titanic is told through massive graphics, and genuine artifacts.
Hunting for the right exhibition
Behind the scenes, Titanic’s arrival in Portland was no foregone conclusion. OMSI sifts through potential exhibitions looking for more than just a famous name. “We always look for exhibits that have really great science content,” Graham explained. “We also look for exhibits that have an immersive experience that our guests can’t have anywhere else.”
What set this one apart, she continued, was the rare combination of artifacts and stories.
“There are other Titanic exhibitions, but this one stands out because it has more than 100 artifacts that are from the ship itself,” Graham pointed out. “They have been carefully curated, alongside the human stories [of those] who were on the ship.”
Presenting their own “Titanic Boarding Pass” to each visitor is Sedelle Reddix, of OMSI Guest Services.
A ship, its passengers, and a long shadow
For visitors, Titanic’s history unfolds room by room. Guests receive a replica boarding pass, adopting the identity of an actual passenger or crew member, as they step into the exhibition. They move from the ship’s conception and construction to passenger life on board – in first, second, and third class – and, finally, to the chaotic and fatal night of April 14–15, 1912.
This artifact on display is one of the Titanic’s steam whistles.
The artifacts – personal items, pieces of the ship, and everyday objects – come from RMS Titanic, Inc. (RMST), the only company legally permitted to recover items from the wreck site.
Tomasina Ray, President of RMS Titanic, Inc., talks about the display – along with Ed Schmieding of Experiential Media Group, the production manager and lighting designer of this exhibition.
“Our company is in the sole possession of the Titanic,” Tomasina Ray, president of RMS Titanic, Inc., told East Portland News on opening night. “Our whole mission is the stewardship of the legacy. Part of that is sharing it with the public.
“We are the only ones allowed to recover artifacts from the wreck site. We’ve been doing so for almost 40 years now. We have 5,500 artifacts. And what’s in this exhibition has been curated from those artifacts – ones that tell the story from the construction and conception of Titanic to the passenger experience on board – all the way through the sinking on its maiden voyage.”
This room gives visitors an immersive experience of luxurious living aboard the Titanic, before its fateful final night.
Ray, who pointed out that no Titanic exhibition has been mounted in Portland since 2004, said bringing this one here is especially meaningful.
“Being able to be here and be able to spread the legacy – grounded in 100% real objects, brought up from more than two miles beneath the ocean’s surface – especially to a new generation of Titanic fans; that is something that we’re super-passionate about,” she remarked.
In this gallery, guests connect with the personal stories of many of the passengers who died on the Titanic – and of some who survived.
An immersive, emotional journey
OMSI’s presentation includes an Immersive Gallery that uses projected images and recorded voices of passengers and crew to depict Titanic’s scale, its shipboard life, and its final hours.
Graham said the exhibition is designed to be as emotional as it is educational.
“This exhibit has so many different moments in it, that it really is, as one person described it, an emotional journey,” she remarked. “I hope that people feel reflective, thinking about ways that science and technology can advance the human experience, and also where the potential dangers are if we’re not thinking enough about the potential experience, as we are inventing the future.”
Visitor Austin Poulin, with his friends Jessica Schultz and Bowie, are amazed by the collection of China tableware recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at the Titanic wreck site.
TITANIC: The Artifact Exhibition
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Through October 18
For more information, visit OMSI’s website: CLICK HERE.
© 2026 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
