A Visit to the Museum – VI
Warmer weather will soon (we hope!) be upon us as we approach the beginning of the 2023 drum corps season. The Great Alliance of Seniors (G.A.S) Reunion and Buglers Hall of Fame events will precede the competitive seasons for both Drum Corps Associates and Drum Corps International with a number of corps returning to competition. And as we anticipate a more normalized spring and summer of competitions, the Marching Pageantry Arts Museum continues to grow!
A uniform and shako from the Golden Eagles of Northeast Philadelphia was received from Mike Lenox, nicely boxed. Dianna Davis contributed her step-father’s uniform and jacket from Satan’s Angels of Bellefontaine, Ohio. That gentleman, Larry Shawd, had marched with the corps and was later one of their drum instructors.
At a meeting in Poolesville, Maryland, Museum Curator Bill Ives met with Ed Dalton of the VIPs of Washington, DC. Ed, joined by his son, Joseph, brought a small treasure trove of memorabilia that had belonged to the late Steve Samuels. Steve had been instrumental in starting a number of all-black corps in Washington, DC, in an effort to recruit inner-city kids into the drum corps activity for brass, percussion, and colorguard.
Ed brought a valve/rotor contrabass he had played with the VIPs, three valve/rotor sopranos, a 1975 uniform from the Royal Eagles, six Royal Eagles shakos with plumes, a shako from the Diplomats, a shakos and Aussie hat of unknown origin, a Kenilworth Knights banner, three blue and gold Kenilworth Knights flags, and a black pistol holster.
A late February inventory now shows that there are over 500 uniforms, more than 320 shakos and hats, and in excess of 285 jackets in the Museum collection. Also included are approximately 85 horns and hundreds of program books, drum corps publications, and photographs.
Though many items are contributed to the Museum, by necessity some items need to be purchased. Recently, Bill was able to obtain 300 binders at a dollar each from a medical office that was digitizing its records. The binders, which are needed to contain program books, fliers, and other records, would normally cost many times that. It took four trips with a mail cart to move them from the office!
An individual who contributes much of his free time is Harold Barber. Much of his time at the museum is dedicated to sorting through paper: the program books, fliers, photographs, yearbooks, newspaper articles, marching activity publications, and the many other documents donated to the museum.
Harold started out in the activity playing cymbals in his church glockenspiel corps. He learned to play snare drum under the tutelage of William Allen and Danny Jones of the Bedford Stuyvesant Carter Cadets, who provided him with a solid foundation. By age 14, he was marching with a national contender – St. Rita’s Brassmen. Back then, he wasn’t required to pay any dues or touring fees and the activity was open to any child who wanted to participate. In later years, he marched in the New York Skyliners snare line from 1981-84, again from 1986-94, and 1996-2001.
Finally, much of the history of the activity was made by those members of the Buglers Hall of Fame, which recently announced the induction of its class of 2023. The Marching Pageantry Arts museum congratulates these new inductees:
Tim Allen
Jack Deal
George Douglas
Carol Ann Schaffer Fallon
Andrew Grilk
James Hosmer
Glenn Morimoto
Dick O’Dell
James Riley
Doreen Sandor
Posthumous inductions include:
Billy Bodnar
Jimmy Highsmith
John Knebl
Also to be inducted:
President’s Award, Outstanding Achievement: Ben Harloff
Executive Board, Outstanding Contribution: David Wendell
The Buglers Hall of Fame North American Championship II I&E program and induction banquet will be held at Batavia Downs Gaming Casino and Hotel, 8315 Park Road, Batavia, NY, 14020 on Saturday, May 13th. Information is available online at: www.buglershof.com
The Marching Pageantry Arts Museum is currently located at the historic Archer-Epler VFW Post 979, 6736 Marshall Road, in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. Bill Ives is President, CEO, and archivist of the museum corporation, an IRS 501(c)(3) charitable corporation. Donations of drum corps, marching band, and color guard memorabilia are always welcome. Cash donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law and may be made payable to:
Marching Pageantry Arts Museum
c/o Bill Ives
1024 Second Avenue
Media, PA 19063
The museum is currently open on Monday evenings from 6:00 to 10:00 PM by appointment only. Bill can be reached by e-mail at ivesbill@mac.com or by phone at (610) 937-6555.
It is asked that individuals consider making donations through their Will and/or that next of kin of a deceased loved one donate drum corps artifacts (equipment, jackets, uniforms, t-shirts, program books, flags, etc.) to the museum. We have heard a number of stories where valuable items have been disposed or destroyed by “uninitiated” surviving family members.
The Marching Pageantry Arts Museum – “A story worth telling and worth knowing”