The Shell Game tells the story of 100 years of clam fishing in the Mississippi beginning when John Boepple, a German immigrant, convinced skeptics that freshwater mussels were ideal for making buttons. Boepple's success with pearl buttons spawned factories up and down the Mississippi and its tributaries. By World War II, however, the advent of plastic buttons and depleted resources signaled the end of pearl buttons.

The end of the pearl industry did not, however, end clam fishing, as the harvest was called. Today shells are harvested and shipped to Japan, where they are cut into cubes, shaped into spheres, and inserted into oysters to form the nuclei of cultured pearls.

The mussel is an interesting creature in its own right. An understanding of their biology is essential for an appreciation of the difficulties mussels face from human interference. The exhibit highlights the unusual biology of the mussel and shows human impact on this slow-growing, slow-moving filter feeder.

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