Art ‘n’ Facts May 2016

Volume 32, Issue 11

FRIEND-RAISING AT THE CUSTOMS HOUSE

MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER

As a non-profit organization, the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center relies on diverse sources of financial support to maintain our fa-cility and deliver the level of quality exhibitions, programs and activities offered to our community and its visitors. Much of our general operating support comes from the City of Clarks-ville, membership dues, admission fees, and sales through Seasons: The Museum Store. Sponsorships, grants, special events, and programs also contribute significantly to our pool of support. All of these sources offer “fund-raising” opportunities, but they are also “friend-raising” opportunities. We at the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center are continually looking for ways to make new friends and strengthen the connections with existing friends who value our mission and support our programming. It is important for members of this community to embrace us as their museum and be proud of what we offer. That sense of ownership will help sustain our future. We deeply value your commitment to our museum through your mem-bership and other past support of this institution, but you may be won-dering how you can further participate in our fund and friend-raising efforts. Consider giving a gift membership for a family member or friend. Perhaps you would like to take your own membership to the next level that offers additional membership incentives. In this issue, you will also learn about two exciting “crowd funding” op-portunities that can benefit the Museum: The Big Payback and the new Kroger Community Rewards Program. And, the date for Flying High—our premier friend-raiser—will soon be here on Saturday, June 4. Regardless of how you choose to support the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, we thank you; and, we are honored to call you “friend.”

Jim Zimmer Executive Director

HOURS OF OPERATION

Tuesday - Saturday:

10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Sunday:

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Closed Mondays and

Major Holidays

Model Trains run every

Sunday from

1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Phone: 931-648-5780

VISIT US ONLINE

CustomsHouseMuseum.org

Join us online on Tues-

day, May 3 for The Big

Payback!

STAFF DIRECTORY

Jim Zimmer

Executive Director

Chrysalis Cantrell

Receptionist

Terri Jordan

Curator of Exhibits

Stacy Keel

Special Events Coordinator

Sue Lewis

Curator of Education

Melina Ludwig

Media/Marketing Director

Kali Mason

Curator of Collections

Colin McAlexander

Chief Financial Officer

Brittany Morgan

Membership/Retail Sales

Coordinator

JD Richardson

Facilities Manager

Randy Spurgeon

Exhibit Preparator

Justin Taylor

Maintenance/Rental Tech

Karla Tucker

Store Associate

Skyler Gordon, a former intern in the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center’s Collections department, has been accepted as a intern in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. His summer internship will be with the social media department. The description of his internship reads: “The intern will assist in the planning and development of the mu-seum's social media department. Duties may include writing for the NMAAHC blog and social media, researching best practices for digi-tal history initiatives, and developing specific digital history and culture projects. Internships may focus on upcoming exhibits, development for the inaugural exhibits, or on-going projects.” Skyler served with us here while pursuing a bachelor in arts degree in History and Classical Studies from Vanderbilt University. While in the Collections department, Skyler helped catalogue collection items in the preparation area, assisted with our Flying High fund-raiser, hung banners, and performed other helpful tasks. He is set to graduate this month. Congratulations Skyler!

Thank you to our 4 for 5 Sponsors:

Former Customs House Intern Skyler Gordon Selected for

Smithsonian Internship

The Museum will be CLOSED on Sunday, May 8th for

Mother’s Day and Monday, May 30th for Memorial Day.

NOW ON EXHIBIT

Cast of Blues March 22nd – May 22nd

Erosion:

Studies of Finite Permanence May 3rd – May 29th

Carol LeBaron: Life Source May 5th – July 31st

Cumberland River:

An American Legacy May 5th – July 31st

Leisure Time May 5th – August 7th

Working the Spirit Close to Home:

The Portraits of

William Stamms Shackelford May 11th – July 31st

Taking a Look at Cave Johnson May 11th – July 31st

Gallery Talk with Lauren Brady

Thursday, May 5th, 6:15 pm

Program is part of the downtown Clarksville’s First Thursday Art

Walk. Admission is free!

Artist Lauren Brady uses layers of transparency and texture in her

landscape paintings, exploring the development that occurs with

time and what is seen in retrospect.

Join us in the galleries as she discusses her work that can be found

on exhibit in Erosion: Studies of Finite Permanence.

MS. SUE’S APRIL PROGRAMMING

Story & Craft Time: Brought to You by the Letter “M” 10:30 – 11:00 a.m. Join Ms. Sue for a story and a craft. This month is all about the letter “M”. Activities are free with your museum membership or paid admission. May 5th: Mother; May 11th: Mice; May 19th: Music (with live music by Justin Taylor); May 25th: May Flowers.

Free Saturday Family Day: Amaz-ing Mammals! May 14th, 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. We’re celebrating the mammals whose names begin with the letter “M” this Family Day. There will be toy monkeys to play with, moose masks to make, mice stories to read, moles to match, and much more.

The Art of the Picture Book: the Winnie-the-Pooh Stories A Show & Tell for Adults

May 10th, 2:00 – 3:15 p.m. Contrary to what many people think, Winnie-the-Pooh was not Walt Disney’s creation. It was Ernest Howard Shepard, an English artist and book illustrator, who first brought him to life in “Winnie-the-Pooh” by A. A. Milne. (1926). Please join us in the auditorium for a discussion about E.H. Shepard, A.A. Milne, and their much-loved bear.

All activities are free with your paid admission or museum membership. For more infor-mation contact Ms. Sue at sue@customshousemuseum.org or 931-648-5780 ext. 28.

Coming this Summer:

Explorers’ Camp! Chrysalis Cantrell, who has conducted camps at other museums before joining our staff, is planning an exciting variety of art, science, and engineering activities which will allow kids to explore, learn, create, and play at the museum this summer. Explorers’ Camp will be held July 12th – 15th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The schedule of activities is designed for chil-dren ages seven to ten years old. Members $40 Non-Members $50 We will start taking reservations on June 1. Payment-in-full must be made at the time of registration. For more information call Chrys-alis (931-648-5780).

Members, please note:

Beginning May 1st, the Explorers' Gallery will

close early

at 4:30 p.m. daily to allow for clean up time.

Thank you for your patience.

Held the first Saturday of June each year, Flying High is an evening celebrating artists and works of art of from the region. Flying High is the Customs House Museum & Cultural Cen-ter's preeminent fundraiser of the year, supporting educational and exhibit programming of the Museum. This year’s theme is an Evening in Paris. Be looking for your invitation in the mail this May!

• Silent Auction - five o’clock • Dinner - seven o’clock • Live Auction - half past eight • Music and dancing to follow Artwork up for bid in the silent and live auc-tions reflect the generosity and skills of artists who support our mission at the museum. This year’s signature piece created exclusively for this event by Mr. Frank Lott is entitled "River Days With Pa And The Pups". Tickets will go on sale Monday, May 2nd.

New for Flying High 2016: Online Ticket Purchasing Available! Visit our Eventbrite page starting May 2nd at: https://flying-high-2016.eventbrite.com Additional online fees will apply. Tickets are also available for purchase here at the museum or by calling Colin McAlexander at 931-648-5780. Get your tickets now: numbers are limited!

Flying High 2016

The Customs House Museum and Cultural Center has recently acquired the diary of Kay Thompson, a local Clarksville woman. The diary dates to 1950 and gives us a look at Clarksville through the eyes of a teenager. Kay was between 15 and 16 when she wrote this diary. She writes mainly of school, football games, and of course, boys. Throughout the first entries in the diary, Kay speaks of a boy named Walter, and alternates between liking him and not liking him. Here is an excerpt from the diary: “Monday, January 30, 1950 Got up early as usual and went to school. We had a new English teacher, a Mrs. Patton from Keltonburg. I don’t like her too much. I had another algebra test today. I think I made 100 on it. I hope so. I’m getting so I don’t like Walter. Kathy Hill told me that Johnny said that Walter said I liked him.” If anyone knew Kay Thompson, please get in touch with the museum. We would love to hear from you! Kali Mason, Curator of Collections

Photo of Kay in Smithville, TN

NEW ACQUISITION TO THE COLLECTION

We are pleased to now be enrolled in the Kroger Community Rewards Program. With this program, you are able to give back to the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center every time you shop at your Kroger store! Simply register your Kroger Plus card with our organization and a portion of your purchase will be donated to us each time you use your card.

Here’s How:

Register online at www.krogercommunityrewards.com

Be sure to have your Kroger Plus card handy. Sign up for a Kroger Rewards Account by entering zip code, clicking on favorite store, entering your email address and cre-ating a password, and agreeing to the terms and conditions.

After registering for the program, login and register your card with the Customs House Museum by searching for our name.

Don’t have a Kroger Plus card? The cards are completely free and are available at the customer service desk at any Kroger store. You will need an online Kroger Plus account.

Need help signing up? Give us a call at 931-648-5780.

Kroger Community Rewards Program

MUSEUM WINS STATE AWARD AT CONFERENCE

The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center

was a recipient of an award at the recent Tennes-

see Association of Museums (TAM) Annual Con-

ference in Nashville, Tennessee.

The awards ceremony took place on March 16 at

The Hermitage, home of president Andrew Jack-

son. The Museum Excellence Awards were pre-

sented to museums across the state for excep-

tional projects and events during 2015.

The Customs House Museum was recognized in

the special/novelty publication category for the

design of our parking lot banners. This project

was completed in-house as a branding initiative

and as an effort to distinguish our visitor park-

ing from the county jail. The project was de-

signed by Marketing & Media Director Melina

Ludwig.

Exhibits Curator Terri Jordan was also named

Middle Tennessee Vice President on the TAM

board at the Annual Conference.

The purpose of the Awards of Excellence is to

recognize, encourage, and promote excellence

within the activities of the Tennessee museum

community.

Each entry is presented to the TAM Awards

Committee, which is composed of six regional

representatives, two at-large members, and the

committee chair. The committee makes the final

decisions for the awards.

Awards are based on creativity, originality, re-

sourcefulness, success, support of museum mis-

sion statement, and utilization of staff and vol-

unteers.

We would like to thank to Tennessee Association

of Museums and its Awards Committee for rec-

ognizing our project with this award.

Outgoing TAM President Adam Alfrey presents award to Marketing & Media Director Melina Ludwig

MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

Annual memberships contribute substantially to the Museum’s support, helping us offer entertaining, thought-provoking exhibits and programming. We would like to thank our members, both the new and the faithful. Listed are those who have joined or renewed as of March of 2016.

NEW MEMBERS SOLO: Ms. Marcella Culver Ms. Rose Matlack Ms. Rosanne L. Sietins Ms. Alicia Suggs Mrs. Kathy White Ms. ViLinda York ACTIVE MILITARY FAMILY: Mr. & Mrs. Elliott Brown Mr. & Mrs. Maximillian Curtner Mr. & Mrs. Sergio Garcia Mr. & Mrs. Michael Kellogg Mr. & Mrs. Sam Leslie Mr. & Mrs. Blake McIntire Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Moracco Mr. & Mrs. Tyler Pilkington Mr. & Mrs. Paul Plevinski Mr. & Mrs. William Salter Mr. & Mrs. Kyle Thompson DUO/FAMILY: Mr. & Mrs. Eric Johnston Mr. Richard Cayce & Mrs. Laura Kelly Mr. & Mrs. Nick Kirby Ms. Frances Shaffer & Mr. Jason Weible Mr. & Mrs. Wesley Sumner Mr. & Mrs. Ramiro Velazquez

RENEWING MEMBERS SOLO: Ms. Dianne Albright Mrs. Rita A. Mullins Ms. Jean Norman Mrs. Helga C. Ricci Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Sasaki Ms. Michelle Tipton ACTIVE MILITARY FAMILY: Mr. & Mrs. Jordan Bagley Mrs. Ciera Hannah & Mrs. Joy Thompson Mr. & Mrs. Adam Heppe DUO/FAMILY: Mr. & Mrs. Michael Altfillisch Ms. Jenifer Barnes & Mr. An-drew Jennings Mr. & Mrs. Dan Black Mr. & Mrs. Mark R. Briggs Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Calderon Mr. & Mrs. Mel Denish Mr. Michael O. Dinsmore & Ms. Donna Simpson Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Doss Mr. & Mrs. C. David Elliott Mr. & Mrs. John D. Freed Mr. & Mrs. Danny Grant Mr. & Mrs. Roger Halliday Mr. & Mrs. Robert Hoffman Ms. Susan L. Marks Mr. & Mrs. Josh Medvecky Mr. & Mrs. John Mince Mr. & Mrs. Kevin Palmer Mr. & Mrs. Ed Pennington

Mr. & Mrs. Charles W. Persinger Sr. Mr. & Mrs. Larry Richardson Dr. & Mrs. John Stanton Mr. & Mrs. David Straka FRIEND: Dr. John T. Leddy Mrs. Martha B. Lester Mr. & Mrs. Jeff Robinson Ms. Ann Ross Mr. & Mrs. Richard Tucker SUPPORTER: Mr. & Mrs. Gary W. Hamm BENEFACTOR: Mr. & Mrs. Robert Langford Mr. & Mrs. Lawson Mabry EAGLE: Mr. & Mrs. Ben S. Kimbrough Sr. Mr. & Mrs. James E. Orgain Questions about your membership? Contact:

Brittany Morgan Membership & Retail Sales Coordinator Brittany @customshousemuseum.org 931-648-5780

YOUR LOGO HERE

Customs House Museum

P.O. Box 383

Clarksville TN 37041

931-648-5780

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Bill Wyatt, Chairman

Carmen Reagan, Secretary

Suzanne Langford, Treas.

Mike Alexander*

Tommy Bates

Charles Booth

Dee Ann Colburn*

Thomas Creech

Carol Daniels

Solie Fott

Katie Gambill

Tracy Jackson*

Jennifer Johnston

Charles Keene*

Brad Martin

Ray Runyon

Dianne Todd

Eleanor Williams*

*Denotes Ex-officio