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Mandarin Museum News
March 2025
Embrace the Mandarin Experience
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Dear Friends,
It has been just over three months since we unveiled "Harriet Beecher Stowe in Mandarin" in Walter Jones Historical Park. Commissioned by Mandarin Museum and made possible through the support of so many, artist Brenda Councill crafted the bronze vignette to represent Harriet's advocacy for accessible education for the newly freed during the U.S. Reconstruction Era.
Since the sculpture's unveiling, countless museum visitors have enjoyed its interactive quality. The empty seats on Harriet's bench beckon the viewer to sit alongside her. School children pile on, trace their fingers on the letters carved into her open book, and form core memories as we all did on much-anticipated field trip days during our youth. These moments reinforce the value of this remarkable project, illustrating the importance of the arts and culture sector in connecting our community with our shared past.
During the month of March, we're excited to share more about Harriet Beecher Stowe to a broader audience. At the invitation of The Woman's Exchange of St. Augustine and the historic Pena-Peck House, Mandarin Museum will participate in their multi-day Women's History Month program. With a theme of "Harriet Beecher Stowe in Florida: Literature, Legacy, and the Fort’s Forgotten Voices," it will be an immersive experience exploring Harriet's impact on Florida, early tourism, and the often-overlooked history of the incarcerated Native Americans at the Castillo de San Marcos (then called Fort Marion). Information for each tour, lecture, and luncheon can be found below.
In addition, March is the perfect time to visit Mandarin Museum and Walter Jones Historical Park. The azaleas are blooming, creating a cheerful scene. And our slate of programming and exhibits provide many opportunities for making memories with family, friends, and neighbors.
As always, I'll see you at the Museum!
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----Brittany Cohill
----Executive Director
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Throughout the entire month of March, visit the Museum Shop to enter for your chance to win this one-of-a-kind Mandarin Frog created by Don "Frogman" Bowden!
It is free to enter! One entry per visitor.
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Evolution in Clay: A Vina Schemer Retrospective
On display through April 19, 2025
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First Saturday @ the Museum
Saturday, March 1
10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Join Mandarin Museum the first Saturday of every month from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm when all historic buildings throughout Walter Jones Historical Park will be open to the public.
The young and young at heart can pick up a free scavenger hunt at Museum Guest Services to complete as you visit the museum's exhibits and stroll along the park's paved pathways.
Learn more about the area's 19th-century past as museum volunteers greet you at the 1898 St. Joseph's Mission Schoolhouse for African American Children, the 1892 Losco Winery, the 1876 Barn, and the 1875 Webb-Jones Farmhouse.
The historic Mandarin Store & Post Office, located just down the road at 12471 Mandarin Rd., will also be open to visitors.
Admission is free.
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Mandarin Frog Painting
Saturday, March 1
10:00 am
Museum Front Lawn
Limited spots remain! Purchase, paint, and take home your very own Mandarin Frog (or sea turtle). The cost is $22 per person and all supplies are provided. Advanced registration is required, payment is due upon arrival to the event. To sign-up, please email info@mandarinmuseum.org.
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Meet the Maple Leaf Divers
Saturday, March 1
10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Maple Leaf Shipwreck Gallery
Meet the men who dove the Maple Leaf Shipwreck! In the early morning hours of April 1, 1864, the Union steamboat Maple Leaf was sunk by Confederates in the St. Johns River just off Mandarin Point. For 120 years, the ship's cargo hold remained undisturbed and preserved beneath the surface of the muddy riverbed. In the 1980s, Dr. Keith Holland and his team of divers located and excavated the site. Now designated a National Historic Landmark, the nearly 3,000 artifacts they recovered have been entrusted to the State of Florida for preservation. Mandarin Museum displays many of these artifacts through a longterm partnership with the State Archives of Florida.
Dr. Holland and the Maple Leaf Divers will be in the gallery from 10:00 am to noon on Saturday, February 1st to meet with visitors. This is an informal, coversational-style event. Drop in to hear their story of discovery, recovery, and preservation.
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Music Under the Oaks
Sunday, March 2
2:00 to 4:00 pm
Museum Front Lawn
This month marks 12 YEARS of Music Under the Oaks! Join Mandarin Museum and North Florida Folk Network as we celebrate with delicious goodies, gorgeous weather, and a super fun music jam underneath Mandarin's historic oak canopy. Bring your acoustic instrument and a song to share as part of this community jam session. Listeners are most welcome to attend! Bring a chair or blanket, set up outside the song circle, and enjoy!
Mandarin Museum and the 1898 Schoolhouse will be open to visitors during the event. Admission is free.
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Third Thursday Lecture
Larry Figart, Urban Forestry Extension Agent
Thursday, March 20
6:00 to 8:00 pm
Mandarin Museum Lawn & 1898 Schoolhouse
Join Mandarin Museum and the UF/IFAS Duval County Extension Office for an informative evening as Larry Figart, Urban Forestry Extension Agent, presents "Enhancing Your Yard with Trees: Tips for Beauty and Function." Discover what trees are not only beautiful but also well-suited for your landscape. Learn about the proper planting and care to ensure your yard is truly Florida friendly.
Refreshments will begin at 6:00 pm on the lawn alongside Mandarin Museum's Florida-Friendly Landscape Garden at the 1898 Schoolhouse. Duval County Master Gardeners will be on hand sharing Florida-Friendly Landscape principles, answering all your plant questions, and providing information on how to have your soil tested by the UF/IFAS lab.
"Enhancing Your Yard with Trees: Tips for Beauty and Function" will begin at 7:00 pm in the 1898 Schoolhouse.
Mandarin Museum will be open during the event. Admission is free. All donations support the museum's programming and operations.
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Thank you to Endless Summer Roofing Co. for generously sponsoring our Spring 2025 Third Thursday Lecture Series! | |
Big announcement! We are thrilled to share the news that Mandarin Museum & Historical Society was selected by the University of North Florida as a partner site for an exciting new 3-year program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities! Read on for more information from UNF and NEH. | |
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The University of North Florida proudly announces its selection as one of only eight institutions nationwide to receive a Preservation and Access Education and Training grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2025. Grants are awarded to support projects that address major challenges in preserving or providing access to humanities collections and resources and prepare the next generation of conservators and preservation professionals.
The $350K award will support the establishment of a three-year Archivist-in-Training program, an initiative designed to provide undergraduates with comprehensive archival training and hands-on experience while preserving significant historical collections in Northeast Florida. Thirty UNF undergraduate students will receive paid internships, intensive training in archival preservation and processing and professional development under the mentorship of UNF faculty and library staff.
Key community partners include the Eartha M.M. White Museum, Ritz Theatre and Museum, Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center in St Augustine, Mandarin Museum and Historical Society, and Durkeeville Historical Society.
| “It is my pleasure to announce NEH grant awards to support 219 exemplary projects that will foster discovery, education, and innovative research in the humanities,” said NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo). “This funding will strengthen our ability to preserve and share important stories from the past with future generations, and expand opportunities in communities, classrooms, and institutions to engage with the history, ideas, languages, and cultures that shape our world.” | We are so grateful for Dr. Laura Heffernan, Professor of English, and Susan Swiatosz, University Library Head of Special Collections, for their forward thinking in developing a program that not only connects students with current needs in the workforce but also builds capacity at small cultural organizations as they work to preserve and share the past. Each fall and spring semester over the next 3 years, Mandarin Museum will receive an Archivist-in-Training fellow who will work with staff and volunteers to process and preserve special collections. Additionally, museum staff and volunteers have been invited to participate in the fellowship's intensive training sessions at the University. Mandarin Museum will also receive an annual $5,000 stipend to support operations. More on this exciting partnership will be featured in future newsletters. Stay tuned! | |
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New in the Museum Shop! We've added new items that allow you to take a little piece of Mandarin Museum home with you.
Did you know Mandarin Museum's permanent art collection includes an original oil on fabric painted by Harriet Beecher Stowe? Her Magnolia Blossoms, painted circa 1883, was the center of a quilt constructed and raffled off by the women of Church of Our Saviour (Mandarin, FL) that same year. Harriet Beecher Stowe, along with her husband Calvin, worked for years since 1867 to help establish a church in the community. The group raised one hundred dollars to help fund the construction of a new church finished in 1884. Located a half mile south of Mandarin Museum, the original church was partially damaged in 1964 by Hurricane Dora. It was rebuilt in 1965, honoring the original design and architecture.
Local artisan, Kimberly Wilson, has created coasters and kitchen trivets featuring Harriet's timeless piece. Available only at Mandarin Museum, they make the perfect gift for yourself and others! Sold as singles, the coasters can also be purchased in sets of 4.
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Get the kids outside! And help our pollinators at the same time. These adorable little Butterfly and Bumble Bee Garden kits include Florida native wildflowers seeds, a set of color pencils, a small garden stake, and instructions. Plant the seeds, color the compostable butterfly or bee, attach the stake, use it to mark your garden's spot, and watch your seeds grow into beautiful blooms! | |
Become an official Pollinator Protector with this activity kit that comes complete with a merit badge! | |
The UF/IFAS website provides wonderful information on pollinators you can share with the kids. So stop by the Museum Shop and then get to planting! | |
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Third Thursday Lecture
Thursday, April 17
6:30 to 8:00 pm
Mandarin Museum
Artist Vina Schemer will host a gallery tour of her exhibition, Evolution in Clay: A Vina Schemer Retrospective. Bringing with her the tools of her trade, Vina will also detail for the audience her methods used in creating the vibrant photo-transfer clay pieces she is known for.
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Be a supporter of arts & culture in our community through the purchase of an annual membership! Benefits at the individual, family, and patron levels include free guided walking tours of Walter Jones Historical Park, reciprocal benefits at other museums across the nation, discounts in our Museum Shop, and more!
Every contribution made through the purchase of an annual membership enables us to fulfill our mission!
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Mandarin Museum members at the Family Level and above automatically enjoy the benefits of NARM (North American Reciprocal Museum Association)! By supporting your favorite museum, you receive reciprocal member benefits at almost 1,500 museums, botanical gardens, aquariums, and more across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and The Cayman Islands. Simply show your Mandarin Museum membership card at participating locations! | |
We love to hear when visitors have found Mandarin Museum through their NARM benefits! Recently, Stuart and Cyndy Karon from the Boston area stopped in on a Friday afternoon. They were vacationing in St. Augustine and located us through the NARM website thanks to their membership at their home museum. Museum volunteer Mike Goldman took the Karons on a tour of Walter Jones Historical Park. We all know it's a small world, but it seems especially small at Mandarin Museum. Mike and Stuart realized they lived in Minneaopolis at the same time, knew many of the same people, and the late Rabbi Shapiro of Temple Israel performed the marriages of both Stuat and Cyndy and Mike's sister and brother-in-law. It was a lovely afternoon of reminiscing. | |
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Mandarin Newsline
Read 2025 issues of the Mandarin Newsline online now!
This free newspaper allows Mandarin Museum to share history, events, and programs with the public. The newspaper remains free to readers due to the robust local advertising. Please visit, shop, and eat at those businesses who support the community in this way.
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...spend some time delving into the past!
We had a very special visitor stop in to Mandarin Museum during February's Meet the Maple Leaf Divers event. Fritz Garrison, the great-grandson of Lt. George T. Garrison and great-great grandson of William Lloyd Garrison, traveled from the Northeast to see the newly expanded museum and Maple Leaf Shipwreck gallery addition. A supporter of the expansion project, Fritz also provided the images of Lt. George T. Garrison and the letter he wrote to his mother immediately following the Maple Leaf's demise. Lt. Garrison was onboard that fateful morning, serving as a Union officer with the 55th Massachusetts Infantry. These images have been an invaluable piece of the story and exhibit.
Fritz also spent time with the Maple Leaf divers while in the gallery. And you should too! Thank you for visiting, Fritz!
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More ways to stay up-to-date! | | |
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Thank you to all our community partners!
Mandarin Museum is funded, in part, through the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and the City of Jacksonville.
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OUR MISSION: Mandarin Museum & Historical Society shares the stories of Mandarin's history, culture, and natural resources by providing engaging programs that educate, entertain, and inspire.
VISIT. JOIN. VOLUNTEER.
Mandarin Museum & Historical Society
904-268-0784
info@mandarinmuseum.org
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