Monrovia Historical Museum. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2359, Monrovia, CA

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1 MUSEUM MUSINGS Monrovia Historical Museum 742 E. Lemon Ave. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2359, Monrovia, CA Volume 3 Number 1 September 2017 MONROVIA HISTORICAL MUSEUM CELEBRATES FIRST 25 YEARS The Plunge had closed, and the building housing the dressing rooms stood empty. Monrovia was celebrating its centennial. What better time to begin a new project in the 100 year old city? A group of active Monrovians, including many on the Centennial committee, began discussing a new use for the beautiful old Municipal Plunge building. What better use than a historical museum in a town dedicated to enjoying and preserving its history? And so plans were laid, and five years later the Monrovia Historical Museum opened its doors to the public. The museum has had its ups and downs along the way, but it has continued to serve the community through cultural presentations and exhibits, tours for Monrovia s third graders, research on houses requested by interested owners, and regular open hours for people to just come in and browse. Currently we have a reinvigorated and expanded board eager to celebrate our successes and plans. The date for this celebration of the museum and those responsible for its creation is October 1, The museum will be open from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm with the program beginning at 2:00. Hors d oeuvres and beverages will be served, and, of course, there will be cake. Mark the date on your calendars. Brand New Exhibit A new exhibit has been completed! New Board Members ili Lobaco and Vicky Hansen have been busy designing and constructing the Museum s newest temporary exhibit. Located in the East Wing, the exhibit, replicating a millinery store, will showcase many of the Museum s artifacts, highlighted by our incredible collection of vintage hats. Millinery stores primarily made and sold women s hats but also sold additional items like purses, gloves, hat boxes, undergarments and more. The center of the exhibit is a vintage sideboard that was brought up from the basement, cleaned and polished to bring out its original beauty. Come on by to visit us and see our newest exhibit! We have some great old hats A collection that s supreme, Come on by and see them all Our collection is extreme! 1

2 TWO NEW BOARD MEMBERS Vicky Hansen Vicky Hansen, a Monrovia resident for the last thirteen years, is one of the new Monrovia Historical Museum board members. She will serve as member-at-large, working with board member Ili Lobaco in designing and constructing new exhibits. Exhibit development is an area in which the museum has needed an added boost, and Vicky s creative input is very welcome. Vicky and Ili s first exhibit design is a millinery store which is described in another article in this newsletter. Born in Pasadena, Vicky lived most of her life in Arcadia, but now lives in a landmarked home on North Sunset Avenue. Along with living in a landmarked house, Vicky has been involved for a long time in efforts to maintain the charm of many of Monrovia s neighborhoods. She is a member of the Monrovia Historic Preservation Group and has recently been appointed by the City to the Historic Preservation Commission. Vicky has been in the real estate business for over thirty years serving all aspects of real estate but her passion is specializing in vintage homes. Her experience in remodeling and staging vintage homes in Monrovia will serve her well in assisting Ili with designing exhibits. In addition to her artistic eye for decoration, Vicky is an accomplished seamstress, and will be handling much of the decoration and table arrangement for the museum s 25 th anniversary celebration in October. Stephen Zampiello Stephen Zampiello, formerly a full-time employee of Monrovia Community Services as an event coordinator, is the latest person to join the board. He will be serving as member-at-large and using his experience with the City to help plan events for the museum. Stephen never thought history very interesting until taking a class whose teacher engaged students by emphasizing that history is more than just dates. That turned Stephen s interest to history, libraries and...museums. Stephen s job with the City allowed him to become familiar with the museum and its staff. In fact, he was so interested and asked so many questions that he was finally asked by the staff if he might consider being on the museumboard. He submitted his resume and then went through docent training where he proved himself to be a natural at handling guests of all ages. With his ease around people and his experience in working with the City agencies and businesses, Stephen fills a very important niche for the museum board. Stephen has roots in Monrovia. His father grew up in Monrovia in the house Stephen s grandfather bought with his GI Bill. Of his family, Stephen says My dad worked for the city of Monrovia in the 80s. My mother was born in West Africa & grew up in Liverpool, coming to the United States in the early 80s. I have four brothers, my brother Paul works for Monrovia's water department. In addition to his job with Community Services, Stephen works with the Sunshine Company, a recreational therapy program run by the City for teens and adults with special needs. This program is very close to Stephen s heart as he loves the participants and has an older brother with Down s Syndrome. Stephen is presently a fulltime student majoring in history at Cal Poly, Pomona. He docents most Sundays at the museum. 2

3 Arboretum Staff Visits Museum On Monday, August 21 st, thirteen members of the Historic Preservation Volunteer Team from the Los Angeles County Arboretum had a special tour of the Museum which, coincidentally, was also the date of the solar eclipse. Museum Board member Ili Lobaco, who is also a member of the Arboretum volunteer team, arranged the visit to the Museum. Pam Barkas, Corresponding Secretary of the Museum, was on hand to assist with the tour. Everyone took a break from the museum tour to view the solar eclipse from the patio. Ili had prepared paper plates with pin-hole viewing, but several of the Arboretum visitors had come prepared with their special viewing glasses which they shared with Ili and Pam. The tour resumed after the eclipse, and, at the conclusion of the tour, several of the visitors lingered and admitted to being surprised that such a small museum has so much to offer with well-displayed artifacts. Those are great compliments coming from people who work at the Arboretum!! Viewing Police Exhibit Basement Update You will recall the flooding of the Museum basement during the Big Rains in January. Due to contamination, the museum staff had been told not to enter the basement until the City determined how best to fix the problems of contamination and moisture. Therefore, before contents could be removed or assessed for damage, it was hit by another flood this summer due to a sprinkler failure in the front yard. The pipe failed during a night time function being held at the museum by a private party. Fortunately, Community Services personnel were on hand and Public Works came right away Even so, more water entered the already damp basement, adding to the mold and mildew problem. Despite this, after the last flood, museum personnel Denise Trentalange and Pam Barkas decided to remove the American Legion Collection to assess its condition. Because the collection was mostly paper and packed in cardboard, it was severely compromised. It reeked of mildew, and Pam and Denise took the items outside for ventilation, wearing masks and gloves and to handle the items. Framed photographs were removed from the frames and were found to be okay, though the cardboard and paper backing was not. Metal items, of course, were not damaged. A member of the American Legion came to the museum to pick up the salvageable items as the museum no longer has any place to store them. Now that we ve have had a chance to see a sample of the state of a small part of the collection, we are fairly certain that anything made of paper and packed in cardboard is going to have to be discarded. At this time, the plan is to have the City provide a storage unit on the east side of the museum and assist museum personnel in moving everything out of the basement and either place items in a dumpster or in the storage unit until the basement is made safe for people and the storing of collections. Still in need of Volunteers Although the Board has expanded, the Museum is still in need of volunteers for various tasks around the museum and especially for docenting. If you are interested, please contact one of the current board members or us at monroviahistoricalmuseum@gmx.com Looking at Solar Eclipse on Patio 3

4 New Items for Gift Cart Bears, so often seen around Monrovia neighborhoods, have made an appearance at the Monrovia Historical Museum. But these bears are only six inches high and wear t-shirts with the name Samson and and a picture of the museum on them. Samson, of course, is a nod to Monrovia s famous hot tub bear. They, along with new pins and post cards, are being issued as part of the celebration of the museum s plans for celebrating the 25 th anniversary of its official opening. Come visit the museum and browse through the new gift cart item Monrovia Historical Museum Foundation, Inc. Board Members President Franci Bolen Vice President Betsy Woodford Curator Open Collections Manager Denise Trentalange Recording Secretary Ili Lobaco Corresponding Secretary Treasurer Membership Member-at-Large Member at Large Pam Barkas Laura Martorana Nick Baldry Vicky Hansen Stephen Zampiello MEMBERSHIP REMINDER September is the time for dues renewal for many of our membership. To check if your membership is due, look at the upper right hand corner of the address label on this newsletter. If you see the date "9/17", your membership is due. You may pay by filling out and returning to the membership form in the newsletter to P.O. Box 2359, Monrovia, California 91017; or you can pay online at our website monroviahistoricalmuseum.org; or you can pay on our Facebook site; lastly, you can bring your membership form and payment to the museum on Thursday or Sunday from 1-4. If the word "Life" is in the upper right hand corner of your mailing label, that means you have been given lifetime membership because of your contributions in the past to the museum. That doesn't mean, however, that you can't make a donation!! If you see "9/18" in the upper right hand corner you are paid up until next year. Thank you for your continued support! All of our current members will be invited to our 25th Anniversary party on October 1st, so make sure you are a current member! 4

5 Museum Tours Available The museum is regularly open on Thursdays and Sundays from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. In addition to those times special tours can be scheduled for other times. The museum annually is visited by Monrovia third grade classes which are studying Monrovia history. Thanks to one of our newer board members, we are now able to offer tours in Spanish to groups of six or more. If interested in a tour, contact the museum at monroviahistoricalmuseum@gmx.com. Membership Application Fill in the information below and mail it along with a check to the address listed below, or you can drop it off at the museum any Thursday or Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. Payment may also be made through PayPal on our web site, by selecting the DONATE tab at the top of the page. The Monrovia Historical Museum Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. Name Address - Home Phone Cell Phone address: One Year Membership (check one) Amount Enclosed $ ~ Family $25 ~ Individual $20 ~ Senior $15 (55+) ~ Student $10 ~ 1 year free membership plus a leaf on Donor Tree for $100 donation ~ One-time donation of $ Mail to: Monrovia Historical Museum Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 2359, Monrovia, CA

6 Monrovia Historical Museum Foundation, Inc. P.O. Box 2359 Monrovia, CA