A Visit to the Museum - XVIII
There are two BIG news items at the Marching Pageantry Arts Museum.
In the first few weeks of January, the Museum has received $13,000 in cash donations. The largest was an anonymous donation of $10,000. A $2,000 donation was received from Larry Hershman, his second contribution and equal to the amount he sent to the Museum last year. Larry, with a drum corps heritage that includes the Westshoremen and the Bluecoats, has become has become one of the Museum’s most consistent supporters. An additional grant of $1,000 was received from Bill Kardash. Bill was a member of the Garfield Cadets from 1952 to 1961. Imagine the changes in the activity that he experienced during that span. The Museum is greatly appreciative of these and all donors.
As this year progresses, Curator Bill Ives will be seeking larger donations from individuals and particularly from the business community and various other grant programs and agencies. He is seeking those hard-to-get contributions in the 7-figure range with the idea of using those funds to secure a permanent location. The Museum’s current location, at the Archer-Epler VFW Post in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, is simply running out of space to accommodate and house everything in the constantly growing collection. Portions of the budget are already being used to rent a climate-controlled storage facility for some of the Museum’s fragile paperwork and photographs, particularly the collection of Moe Knox which the Museum obtained several months ago.
The other news is the merger of MPAM with DCX, the Drum Corps Xperience, headed by Chris Mahar. DCX maintains an online presence preserving the history of the activity. The two organizations, having similar purposes, are natural partners in this endeavor. Full details of the merger are currently being developed at press time and more information will be available in the future weeks.
In addition to the thousands of physical items – musical instruments, colorguard equipment, uniforms, jackets, trophies, magazines, program books, newspapers, photographs, buttons, patches, and media content – currently in the collection, the Museum has been archiving interview content recorded with various movers and shakers in the marching arts. These podcasts, entitled On a Water Break can be found on YouTube and, at some future point, will be available on the Museum’s web site at https://www.mpamuseum.org. The most recent interview, with Drum Corps World publisher and editor Steve Vickers, can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywt-OPH_ZVQ.
During 2024, the Museum received 120 packages of items for the museum. This is, by far, the largest number of donations received in a single calendar year. Bill and the museum staff are grateful for these items. A big thank you to all who took the time to help preserve a piece of the history of the marching pageantry activity with memorabilia and to those who made cash donations. During the holidays, Bill created displays of some Christmas trees made from snare and bass drums.
For the coming year, Bill is working out a schedule and budget for upcoming contests, conventions, and other event at which he will be creating and offering displays of many of the Museum’s items. You’re invited to inquire as to whether your upcoming event can be placed on his schedule. And despite recent generous cash donations, his budget for traveling to these events outside of the local southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware and Maryland areas is quite limited.
Visitors drop by from time to time to drop off items or simply to view portions of the collection on display at the post. A recent visit was received from Terry Shaw, secretary to the Museum Board of Directors, Amy Chess, an in-house assistant, and new volunteer Christa Casciolini. Sarah Fabian, a member of the Museum’s educational group, also stopped by to see the collection in person for the first time.
The first donation of the year, a Christmas ball of the Loretto Knights of Brooklyn, New York, was received from Toni Somma. Brian Prato delivered a small collection of DCI program books, adding to the Museum’s growing collection of printed items such as program books, newspapers and magazines, and photographs.
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, a member of the American Alliance of Museums, 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.
The Marching Pageantry Arts Museum – “A story worth telling and worth knowing”