A Visit to the Museum - II
One of the long term goals of the Marching Pageantry Arts Museum is to develop a display of many of the items accumulated at the museum for display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. This is in the proposal stage. Within in the next five years, the logistics will need to be fleshed out and cash contributions will be needed to make this happen.
Among other projects, Museum President and Archivist Bill Ives has begun preparing a display to be shown at the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania on Saturday, November 12th. Expected to be included are uniforms, jackets, instruments, documents, buttons, and other artifacts more recently added to the collection.
In recent weeks, Bill Ives brought a display to the Collegiate Band Festival in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a first for the museum. The Marching Pageantry Arts Museum includes uniforms and other memorabilia from high school and college bands. He was able to make a number of excellent contacts at this event. He has also attended a number of high school marching band contests in the Greater Delaware Valley.
Another recent project of museum staff is the establishment of a web site. It is expected that the web site will list all the items in the collection, including uniforms, headgear, audio and video recordings, photographs and posters, drum corps publications, contest program books, circuit yearbooks, color guard equipment, and numerous other accessories which have been used in the marching activity. The text of a number of interviews with drum corps luminaries and participants will also find its way onto the web site, with more interviews planned in the future. This column will list the website when it is completed and accessible through the internet.
One note relating to the display at this year’s DCI Championship 50th Anniversary History Experience in Indianapolis. One of the visitors was a visually impaired young lady attending with her guide dog and her mother. She had the opportunity to hold a valve/piston horn and feel the weight of it. This brought a smile to her face and to her mother. The museum makes every effort to accommodate those with disabilities and make the activity accessible to everyone.
The museum wishes to acknowledge a recent $5,000 financial contribution from Chris Maher. Chris is a well-known drum corps photographer and co-creator of the www.DCXmuseum.org web site. These funds were the catalyst for preparing, transporting, and establishing the exhibit, part of the DCI History Experience in the Indiana Convention Center, which was so well-received at the 2022 DCI Championship in Indianapolis. It is financial contributions such as this which are needed to maintain the existing facility and its contents, professionally appraise and insure the current collection, and to start the process of receiving corporate donations which will ultimately lead to the construction and operation of a permanent museum facility.
A financial donation of $625 was received from the friends of the late Chuck Quackenbush. Many remember Chuck as the “elephant” contrabass player for Blue Rock, when they performed Baby Elephant Walk. Chuck also played with the Yankee Rebels, Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights, Rhode Island Matadors, Archer- Epler Musketeers, Music Express, and Brooklyn United. He passed away in July and had asked that, in lieu of flowers at his service, cash donations be made to the museum.
Along the line of financial contributions, the museum staff has brought Dr. Debby Hines and others onboard to solicit and secure various corporate grants. Dr. Hines grew up in a drum and bugle corps family. Her father, Frank McCormick, a World Drum Corps Hall of Fame Member, taught over 40 corps, was a national champion baritone player seven years running, and judged hundreds of drum and bugle corps competitions. She marched in the Pennsylvanians and the Earls of Bucks of Lower Bucks County, PA where she was Captain of the color guard. She graduated with BSN, MSN, and Doctorate degrees from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. She worked for many years as an emergency trauma nurse and sexual assault nurse examiner prior to teaching nursing. She retired as the Director of the Dixon School of Nursing where she wrote many grants to benefit nursing students and nursing education. The museum is fortunate to have her on the team. In the coming months, this column will highlight the work of others who have worked to establish and perpetuate this collection and work toward its future.
Recent donations include a uniform from Les Mariniers du Bic, of Bic, Quebec, Canada, donated by Jacques Langlois; a Crossmen 1982 Aussie hat and 1983 shako (the only season the Crossmen wore shakos), donated by Dave Reirden; Philadelphia P.A.L Cadets, New York Skyliners, and Archer-Epler Junior Musketeers buttons and a copy of The Encyclopedia of Drum And Bugle Corps from 1966, donated by Lynn Ogden; a package from Pat Dwyer-Houghton containing a number of drum corps hats, a Golden Lancers polo shirt, and several patches; and an assortment of flags, uniform parts, photographs, and other items from the Brookhaven Crusaders, donated by Denise Clark Schroder, daughter of the late David Clark, who was director of the corps.
Also recently added to the collection, a 2013 Jersey Surf color guard uniform and a 2014 cap from Spirit of Atlanta donated by Emily Graham Higgins; memorabilia from St. Ignatius All-girl corps sent by Debbie Guckenberger from her parents’ collection; a number of mugs and other memorabilia from Bruno Zuccala; Bob and Mary Ann Niedrich donated jackets from the 1964 Chicago Royal Airs, 1979 Sunrisers, and 1982 Cavaliers; and a jacket, program book, and other items from the 156 Challengers of Palmyra, New Jersey, donated by Director Don Stevens and facilitated by John and Mark Kozak.
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”