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Mandarin Museum News
November 2023
Embrace the Mandarin Experience
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Dear Friends,
October was a wonderfully busy month at Mandarin Museum! More than 500 guests visited our brand new exhibits as daily admissions. Another 200 guests visited as part of a field trip, group tour, or daily walking tour. We also hosted our first volunteer interest meeting, resulting in the addition of several new volunteers who have begun training at guest services and in the archives.
This past month, we also learned Mandarin Museum will receive $11,786 through the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and the City of Jacksonville's annual competitive grant process for Duval County arts & culture nonprofits. This award amount represents a marked increase over previous years thanks, in part, to the City Council and Mayor's Office for supporting arts & culture with a historic increase in funding for the Cultural Service Grant Program. We thank them for this vital support of our operations and programming!
November promises more quality programming at Mandarin Museum. You'll notice staples such as Music Under the Oaks and Meet the Maple Leaf Divers, plus an exciting evening planned with famed artist Brenda Councill. There is truly something for everyone at Mandarin Museum, and we can't wait to see you!
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----Brittany Cohill
----Executive Director
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First Saturday at the Museum
Saturday, November 4th
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Meet the Maple Leaf Divers
Saturday, November 4th
10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Maple Leaf Shipwreck Gallery
Meet the men who dove the Maple Leaf Shipwreck! This is an informal, conversational-style event. Drop in anytime between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm to hear about their story of discovery, recovery, and preservation of artifacts from the Union steamboat Maple Leaf that was sunk by a Confederate mine off Mandarin Point in the St. Johns River.
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Mandarin Frog Painting
Saturday, November 4th
10:00 am
Museum Front Lawn
Mandarin Museum will host its monthly Mandarin Frog Painting on the Museum's front lawn. Paint your very own Mandarin Frog (or turtle or squirrel) and take it home with you same day! Registration is required. All spots are currently filled. Please email info@mandarinmuseum.org to be added to the waitlist.
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All Historic Buildings Open
Saturday, November 4th
10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Walter Jones Historical Park & Mandarin Store & Post Office
All historic buildings will be open in Walter Jones Historical Park. Stroll through the park and step inside the 1898 St. Joseph's Mission Schoolhouse for African American Children, the 1875 Webb Jones Farmhouse, the 1876 Barn, and the Losco Winery.
The Historic Mandarin Store & Post Office, located at 12471 Mandarin Road, will also be open.
Museum volunteers will be inside each building for guided tours.
Admission to Mandarin Museum, Meet the Maple Leaf Divers, and the historic buildings (on the first Saturday of each month) is FREE!
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Music Under the Oaks
Sunday, November 5th
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Museum Front Lawn
Join Mandarin Museum and North Florida Folk Network for an afternoon under Mandarin's historic oak canopy. Bring your acoustic instrument and join the jam session OR bring your chair or blanket and enjoy a day in the shade, taking in the melodic sounds.
Mandarin Museum and the 1898 Schoolhouse will be open to visitors during the event.
Admission is FREE; donations support Mandarin Museum's programming and operations.
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Artist Brenda Councill: Celebrating 50 Years
Thursday, November 9th
6:00 pm
Mandarin Community Club
Mandarin Museum is pleased to host an evening with artist Brenda Councill on Thursday, November 9th. Attendees will enjoy cocktails & hors d’oeuvers, a pop-up exhibition of Councill’s work, and hear from the artist, herself, regarding the evolution of her career and her current project, Harriet Beecher Stowe in Mandarin, the first and only life-size bronze sculpture of this monumental figure in U.S. history.
Cocktails & hors d'oeuvres will begin at 6:00 pm; the program will begin at 7:00 pm. This event is hosted in partnership with and will be held at Mandarin Community Club, 12447 Mandarin Road.
Reservations are required. A suggested $10 donation per person supports quality programming at Mandarin Museum.
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Thank you to those who have already committed their support to making "Harriet Beecher Stowe in Mandarin" a reality. Donors will enjoy recognition on a permanent plaque alongside the installation in Walter Jones Historical Park.
Mandarin Oaks | $10,000 - $24,999
Rosemary McCorkle
Magnolias | $2500 - $9,999
Sandy & Tracey Arpen
Friends of Historic Mandarin | up to $2499
Pam Neumann
in memory of Dave Neumann & Ed Ralph
Mr. and Mrs. James M. Barker, IV
Virginia B. Barker
Peggy & Bill Armstrong
Carol & Jeff Anderson
Claire King
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Mandarin Museum will host its 23rd annual Mandarin Winter Celebration on Saturday, December 2nd from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. Thanks to our presenting sponsor, TC Federal Bank, we are happy to offer free admission to this event!
Would you or your business like to support Mandarin Museum and this annual community celebration? Visit our event page for more details.
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The Duval County Master Gardeners
by Paula Suhey
"It has been a dream working in the most beautiful park in Jacksonville," said Master Gardener Brenda Miller, the newest Duval County Master Gardener Volunteer at Walter Jones Historical Park.
Candace Barone, who is our beloved "butterfly lady," recently researched the history of the Master Gardeners in the park who have contributed to that beauty over the years.
In 2005, former Mandarin Museum Director Hugh Palmer contacted the Duval County Extension Office inquiring about master gardeners who might start a few small gardens on the park grounds. Gardeners George DeMarino, Peggy Reed, and Mike Jobes agreed to help create the first garden located alongside the museum.
In 2010, Sandy Arpen asked George to assist a girl scout troop in creating a butterfly garden. Betty Taylor maintained that garden until Candace Barone assumed that responsibility.
When the St. Joseph's Mission Schoolhouse for African American Children was moved to the grounds in 2015, the original garden was dismantled and a boy scout troop built a 20x20 raised bed in front of the Schoolhouse. Master Gardener Juliet Jones now tends that garden, home to Florida-friendly plants that thrive in the shade.
Brenda Miller joined the group in 2022. She waters the Shade, Butterfly, and Vegetable Gardens on a regular basis. In the last few weeks, Brenda has been busy cleaning out dead palms and plants near the entrance and pathways throughout the park.
School tours are always delighted when Candace becomes the "butterfly lady," teaching the children all about the life cycle of butterflies, their habitats, and their place within a healthy ecosystem. Candace has been a Duval County Master Gardener for 8 years. With a prior career in law enforcement, caring for gardens in the park and throughout the community has been a nice change of pace for her.
And George is the person who keeps it all together. He loves gardening and is also an expert on bees and turtles. His love of gardening was influenced by his father, and he has been a Master Gardener for 20 years.
Mandarin Museum is fortunate to have these Duval County Master Gardener Volunteers as partners in preserving and sharing Mandarin's history, culture, and natural resources.
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Stop by the Museum Shop to take a piece of the Walter Jones Historical Park gardens home with you! The Master Gardeners have been potting seeds dropped in the gardens by the various plants. Carefully nurtured, these plant starters are now available for a suggested $5 donation to Mandarin Museum. Varieties include cranberry hibiscus, blue pea vine, cigar plants, and more. Care instructions are included. | |
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A Special Word from Museum Vice-President Sandy Arpen | |
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It is with great sadness that we share that Jim Towart, one of the pillars of our organization, passed away in October, at the age of 95.
Jim graduated from Cornell University College of Engineering in 1951 and had a long career with Exxon/Mobil before moving to Mandarin. He was always a Civil War history buff and it was this interest that brought him to us - through the Maple Leaf. Jim served the St. Johns Archaeological Expeditions Inc. (SJAEI) as the official historian of all the activities and records related to the exploration of the sunken Union steamship, which helped obtain the National Historic Landmark Shipwreck status tor the Maple Leaf.
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He was also an author and editor for the book Maple Leaf: An Extraordinary American Civil War Shipwreck. Dr. Keith Holland, who found the wreckage and created SJAEI to explore it and recover artifacts states, "Jim did a great deal of research, organized all of the records, and took on oversight of the book. There were several contributors, but it would have never been completed without Jim's expertise - he wrote so much and put it all together to be published. It was his book, really."
When Maple Leaf artifacts were ready to be loaned to museums, Mandarin Museum was able to obtain some to display when the new organization was located in the old Kate Monson Well Baby Clinic at Mandarin Community Club. Jim was on the board of the museum after we were founded in 1990 and served as President from 1997-99. He was very involved with the renovation of the Mandarin Store & Post Office, and he and Joyce Kennedy were responsible for obtaining the National Register of Historic Places designation for the 1911 building.
When the opportunity arose for Mandarin Museum to be involved with the new Walter Jones Historical Park, Jim, along with Carl Davis, took the leadership roles working with the City of Jacksonville. Jim was even responsible for drawing the general plans for the new museum. They and the board selected the exhibits that would tell the stories of the community in 2004 when it opened.
Jim stayed on the board well into the 2000s and continued to be a generous and important supporter of Mandarin Museum. When it was decided in 2020 to expand the museum with the addition of an archive room and a designated Maple Leaf room, Jim provided preliminary plans for how he thought it should be done in order to maintain the "old Florida" appearance of the original building. Sadly, he never saw it completed.
Karen Roumillat described Jim in a way in which all of us who knew him would agree. "He was the most honest, kindest, sweetest person - just a sweet soul. He was brilliant, yet quiet, and he did SO much!"
Jim leaves behind his loving wife Pamela, sons Jeffery and James, and daughter Jean, who all live in Texas. And...his grateful Mandarin Museum & Historical Society family of friends.
The following is a quote from the Rev. Robert Lee, upon the grand opening and the blessing of the brand new Mandarin Museum in Walter Jones Historical Park in 2004. He prayed for all those who helped make Mandarin Museum a reality and to bless all who come through the doors in the future. This truly fits Jim's drive to be the wonderful historian that he was.
"May we be guided into the future by appreciating the past."
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Mandarin Newsline
Read 2023 current and past 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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From our Friends at Mandarin Community Club
MCC's Annual Veterans Day Tribute will take place in Ballard Park, Sunday, November 12th at 1:00 pm.
The Club is also participating in the Holiday Mail for Heroes program sponsored by the American Red Cross. MCC will collect holiday greeting cards from November 1st through November 17th. The collection box is at Mandarin Community Club's front door. For complete details, visit Mandarin Community Club online.
(Pictured: art by Lucinda Halsema)
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Do one good thing for your community in honor of Jim Towart and those like him. | |
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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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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