St Joseph Museums Inc.

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe - Patron Saint of the Americas, aka the Virgin Mary This year our American Girl Doll Club was able to learn more about Josefina, the Latinx culture, and support a local store, Tienda la Estrella to try some traditional snacks. They are also learning more about Las Posadas during our Holiday Doll Tea. Our educational programs are great ways to support local businesses and share all the different cultures within the St. Joseph community. #DonateDecember #ShowMeSaturday #education #buildcommunity

Happy Hanukkah! Want to know more about the Jewish community in St. Joseph? Well then stop on over at the Convention and Visitors Bureau, 911 Frederick Ave, St Joseph, MO 64501. They have a few pop up exhibits there now, including these panels from us. Visit St. Joseph, Missouri #DonateDecember #buildcommunity

This #ThankfulThursday we want to highlight our membership program and the wonderful individuals that choose to support us in that way. Their support allows us to create innovative exhibits, preserve or historic sites, care for our collection, provide research, and welcome visitors every day of the week. Members receive benefits when they join such as discounts and our Museum Graphic publication. Our members are special to us as many support our mission not only through monetary donations but also through volunteering their time and talents. Photos are of a museum membership drive. To learn more about the program or to sign up please call us at 816-232-8471 or visit https://www.stjosephmuseum.org/become-a-member #DonateDecember

Today in 1872: B. S. Pinchback is elected as the first African-American governor in a U.S state when he is elected to be Louisiana’s governor. He may have been the first, but certainly not the last! Stories of grit, success, businesses, and professionals like Mr. Pinchback are what we strive to highlight in our own area. The Black Archives museum was added under the St. Joseph Museum, Inc. umbrella in 2001. Originally it was the Knea-Von Black Archives, founded in 1991 by Je...well Robinson at 1901 Messanie Street. A need was seen to preserve an aspect of this community. Their history in the community was not being saved, told, and slowly forgotten as generations passed on. Unfortunately, that is not an uncommon thing in history, but thankfully we have seen a tide turn to correct the gaps in celebrating history as a whole, to include every aspect of a community, not just a white male perspective, but a women's, black's, latinx's, native's, and the list goes on. We are blessed to be able to highlight aspects of the St. Joseph community that were not at the forefront of traditional history. Our Black Archives committee is working hard to preserve stories of individuals still in the community, research the past, and motivate future generations. Some pretty major projects are underway to accomplish this goal; compiling a virtual civil rights educational video, and a revamp of its exhibits. #DonateDecember

Most of you have visited our exhibits, but you may not know that we house and care for over 200,000 objects and archival materials in our collections. We are only able to display about 3% of our collection at any given time, which means there is a lot going on behind the scenes. Caring for our collections is a round-the-clock commitment. Whether our objects are on display or in storage, we constantly monitor light, temperature, and humidity to ensure the preservation of our c...ollection for future generations. Every day our staff and researchers are learning more about our objects and their histories. We need your support to continue to care for these important artifacts and share their stories. You can help us help preserve the past, while getting a peek inside our impressive collection through our new Adopt-An-Object program. Choose an item you would like to sponsor, and those funds will support the continued care of our collection. https://www.stjosephmuseum.org/adopt-an-object See more

This #ThankfulThursday features Clark Hampton. Clark has served the museum in many varying facets over his numerous years of volunteering. He served terms as president of the board of trustees, sat on committees, fundraised, and even polished floors. Thank you for your amazing years of commitment to the museum. We are extremely lucky to have such dedicated supporters in both Clark and Nancy Hampton.

The St. Joseph Museum was founded in 1927. That is 93 years and counting of community! Your donations help us provide special events and community projects. #DonateDecember Give to Build Community. The museum's first exhibits were located inside the Public Library annex. These first exhibits were mostly loans from individuals in St. Joseph that wanted to give back to the community by having a children's museum. The museum's collections grew, meaning the site also changed thro...ugh 2 historic mansions in town. Today, the Museum operates both the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion and Frederick Avenue location as museum sites. We preserve and make accessible over 200,000 objects and archival materials. That massive growth is in part, because the museum incorporated the Black Archives Museum, the Society of Memories Doll Museum, and the Glore Psychiatric Museum to keep them local and intact. We also founded the Pony Express Museum which became its own separate private nonprofit. We welcome visitors at our two locations and take the Museum out into the community with special pop up exhibits at sites such as East Hills Mall. Due to the pandemic, we are increasingly providing virtual programs to a national community. We have loved reaching more people but cannot wait to have those closer in person connections again with you all. Many remember fondly our ceramics classes in the carriage house of the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion as well as our camera club, painting classes, chess club and more. We host many annual events such as Mah Jongg at the Mansion, Super Science Saturday, Easter at the Mansion, and our Past to Present Car Show. The Pandemic has affected our ability to bring our community together through these treasured events, but we remain passionate about serving our community. We hope you will visit during these challenging times. What has been your favorite experience at the museum?

#WhatsitWednesday reveal time! Elvis was a part of the air-brushed paint job of the Juke Box Hero. This truck was one of two cars restored by students of Woodson Academy. Woodson Academy was a self-contained school which served the Woodson Children's Psychiatric Hospital. The Yellow Rose was a 1968 Chevy Monte Carlo that was totaled in the 1977 flash flood in the KC Plaza area. The car was donated to the school's vocational training program. Likewise the 1987 Toyota pickup was also donated to the program to become the Juke Box Hero. Both cars were wildly popular and won many awards at local and regional car shows. You can see the Yellow Rose and the Juke Box Hero in the basement at our Frederick Avenue site, as part of the Glore Psychiatric Museum.

We have 2 famous Missourian birthdays this week. Photographer, Walker Evans was born in St. Louis on November 3, 1903. News Anchor, Walter Cronkite was born in St. Joseph on November 4, 1916. Both of these men had huge impacts on America through the media. Evan's photo journalism greatly increased awareness of the toils of the Great Depression. Cronkite was noted as the most trusted man in America during his time as a reporter in the 1960s and 70s. "And that's the way it is"... became the departing message he had on all his reports. Remember everyone makes a difference and even small impacts add up. We decided to honor them this Tuesday as it is Election Day and will return to #ToyTuesday next week. #GoVOTE2020 Here is a essay on Evan's photography work from The Met. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/evan/hd_evan.htm The Walter Cronkite Memorial is housed at the MWSU campus. https://wcm.missouriwestern.edu/

Do you cohabitate with a Scrooge who won't let you decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving or *gasp* wait until December? Well, you can get your early festive juices flowing by helping us decorate the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion on November 17th. #MansionMonday

Have you given to the museum in the past? We would love to hear about why you are such an awesome individual. Keep those feel good stories coming in folks! In case you missed them we posted 2 more #Unselfie stories on Saturday the 5th from ladies that adopted an object in our collections. Full adoption program details at www.stjosephmuseum.org #DonateDecember

Remember to get your orders in by 4 PM Monday! Pickup desserts and entrees on November 14. Order by calling the St. Joseph Museum at (816) 232-8471 or go to our website www.stjosephmuseum.org

Next scheduled kids event. American Girl Doll Club - Kit. We will be doing some depression era baking, looking at ways we can reduce, reuse, recycle, and getting a glimpse of a newspaper reporter life. #SundayFunday

Happy Halloween! We get asked A LOT at the Glore Psychiatric Museum, "Did they really call it the State Lunatic Asylum?" Yes, yes they did. Lunatic was the proper legal and popular term at the time for those people with mental illnesses. Today legally it is still "insane" person. Asylum was a place of rest and safety. Asylum really did not get negative connotations until some horror movies started to also use the term. Like the 1972 film Asylum. #mentalhealthawareness #asylum #ShowMeSatruday

We had a blast out there last night. Thank you to the nearly 500 kids we passed out treat bags to for sharing your night with us, and all the parents that took the time to bring them out.

October 30, 1945: Jackie Robinson signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. This makes him the first African-American baseball player in history to play in the Major League Baseball. October 30, 1974: Muhammad Ali and George Foreman take part in a boxing match that is known as The Rumble in the Jungle in Kinshasa, Zaire. It’s Foreman’s first professional defeat and Ali regains the title of World Heavyweight Champion. #FrederickAvenueFriday

This #ThankfulThursday features Brent Larson. Brent works on the grounds of the Wyeth - Tootle Mansion as well as spearheads the annual Past to Present car show. Thank you Brent for all the volunteer hours you have put in over the years!

Some awesome work being done to preserve these documents!

Close up photo for #WhatsitWednesday. The one and only, the King, Elvis Presley. Does anyone remember what artifact features this painting of Elvis? Fun historic fact: October 28, 1956: Elvis Presley gets vaccinated for polio on national television. This act is credited with raising immunization levels by over 133%.