Tomorrow we will begin remodeling our Reading Room with wonderful furniture contributed by a beautiful memorial and a wonderful friend of the museum.  The furniture is the best quality library furniture available, and we were able to purchase it at a bargain basement price thanks to connections from a special friend.  The biggest challenge of a museum director and board are to balance the needs and demands of the museum enviornment with opporutnities that are presented.  This one is a win win for everyone.  Each patron can enjoy a lovely place to sit and research--or a pretty room to walk by on their way down the hallway (everything matching!)  We will have an attractive space to meet together, and a place to bring families who are looking for their ancestors.  Thank you everyone on staff, and all of our museum supporters for this wonderful opportunity.  Please come and help with the moving in if you can, tomorrow, 12:30pm.  I'm bringing a simple picnic lunch for all of our helpers.

Our beloved Betty Weber is recovering beautifully from her hip replacement surgery.  I have missed having both Betty and Doris around, and I can't wait until they are back working with us.  Our prayers are answered. 

A special thanks to Terrence Flemon, Mickey Jordan, and Jacob McIntosh for moving out the old Reading Room shelving/books/stuff so that we can redo the room.  I appreciate you guys, and thank you.  Let's remember to be grateful for the people who don't come from our town, or even from our region.  Let us remember to tell them thank you.  They don't have to be invested in our site, but they are.  Thank God.

Have a great weekend.  I'll be at the museum all weekend.  Come by and see me or leave me a blog comment.  On Monday I celebrate my 30th wedding anniversary.  What a wonderful journey I've had with Doc over the past decades.  We are planning a little trip in May, but frankly, everyday with Doc is awesome!

Take Care, Carla Jordan

In 1995, our former Historical Society president, Leonard Kuehnert, received a letter from the University Archivist at Saint Louis University Archives.  It was regarding our Grosse Schulle-1845 Altenburg church-bell.  The archivist was John Waide, and he stated that he is certain that our bell is indeed the fourth bell that came here to St. Louis in the 1830s, and that the other three bells did end up in the tower of the St. Francis Xavier College Church on the campus of St. Louis University.  All three bells were cast in Spain, most likely for a Carmelite monastery.  They were named in honor of St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and St. Franics in 1762. The inscription on the bell is, "Nuestra Madre de piel del Carmen, Algona, 1761."  Vernon Meyr's translation is, "Cast in Algoana [Spain], 1761, dedicated to Our Mother of the Scapular of the Carmelite Order."  St. Teresa of Avila founded a Carmelite order of nuns in 1562 in Spain. She thought that the original Carmelite Order (most likely founded in the 12th Century at Mount Carmel) was too wordly, and along with her spiritual advisor, John of the Cross, they founded a reformed Discalced (barefoot) order for monks and nuns. 

Vernon Meyr referred to our bell as the "Liberty Bell" during his writings about the 1838-39 immigration during the Bi-Centennial (1976.)  I'm not sure if it was ever thought of in that way prior to his writings that year, however, the comparsion is a nice one, in my opinion.  The Liberty Bell was also cast in the 18th Century (1751) at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, and was delivered to Pennsylvania in Aug. or Sept. of 1752.  The Liberty Bell and our bell were cast during the same historic period, but their original purposes were quite different.

According to an 1945 excerpt from the St. Louis Lutheran, our silver bell was one of four bells brought here during the 1839 Lutheran immigration to St. Louis and Perry County, MO.   The smallest bell stayed in St. Louis.  Our bell, according to this periodical, was cast in 1761.  This article states that the bells came to Germany via the Napoleanic War--to a Lutheran church in Dresden.  "About 1839 the congregation and minister came to th U.S."  The bells were stated to be shipped from Germany to New Orleans, and then to St. Louis where they stayed on the river front levee for several years.   The Jesuits reportedly bought the remaining three bells at an auction in 1843.  This article also states that our bell, in addition to the inscription, has a cross made up of 24 squares, each containing an eight-pointed star.  Bob Schmidt is working on some photography so that we can see the inscriptions.

In the St. Louis University News, 11.2.1984, it states that the bells are some of the oldest bells in the United States. 

It was fun to do this bit of research this afternoon.  I'm working on an informational exhibit to be opened by the October Conference.  What a special artifact.  My fondest memory of the bell was when Bob Fiehler rang it at the beginning of each quarterly Historical Society meeting for the past 5 years of my tenure here.  What a lovely tone it has. He would lean forward with much grace, combined with somberness and pull the bell rope. The room became completely quiet so that we could hear the bell through the thick walls.  What a joyful moment to hear the tone and to hear the bell rocking in the cradle.  l miss Bob Fiehler conducting  this amazing ritual, most likely in the same fashion he played the bugle morning and evening for his unit during WW II.

Take Care, Carla Jordan

Kathy, you are not going to believe what color of magic hat I made yesterday-AQUA!!!  It is on the way to you.  I made it before I even knew--so I spent some time praying for you today, and wishing you very well.  I feel so strengthened to have you out in the world working for us and rooting for us here.   Thank you, my dear friend.  (see Kathy's cool comment on a previous blog a few days ago.)

I had to spend a day of rest today.  I have had a few probs with my M.S. and took a fall yesterday.  It is common for me to do this--so don't worry.  I did not seriously hurt myself--just time for a chill day.  I should be "back in the buggy" tomorrow.  This disease seems to be the great equalizer for me--but I must respect it or it will put me behind my goals even further--or I end up breaking a bone or something.  If I don't take a rest when this happens I end up worrying my family--and they have put up with enough with this disease.

Tomorrow I'll be at the museum, but probably not ambulating a lot.  I'm planning on returning museum correspondence and will work on the "small manuscripts" files.

Our Jacob and Mickey are going to move out the Reading Room on Thursday to prepare the way for the big move on Saturday. 

Did you know that our internship article in the SE Missourian newspaper hit the Associated Press (national news)?  Google "Lutheran Museum" and you will find all sorts of wonderful things.  The most exciting for me is that our museum comes up FIRST!! when you type in those search words--yipee.  A special thanks to Diane Schmidt for keeping track of our web presence and letting me know about all of the cool places the article turned up last week.

Take Care, Carla

I opened Midwest Living magazine this morning and their was an article on glassware, and it included Heissey glass!  I hope that all of you can see our beautiful Heissey exhibit.  Ray and Carolyn Schmidt did such a nice job putting it together.  I'll try and get some photos of it on the web.

A special thanks to Arlene Lohmann and Emil Lohmann (the great brother and sister-in-law team) for holding down the museum today.  It is a lovely sunny day, hopefully we will have many visitors.

I'm working on my presentation to Beta Sigma Phi for March 22.  I'm presenting "A History of Hats" for their spring meeting in Cape Girardeau.

We received another paper presentation from Universtiy faculty at SEMO.  What would be do without that wonderful institution.  Our conference is shaping up beautifully.  Bob Schmidt is going to do a poster session on the Schmidt family.  Bob is descended from two very different strains of the Schmidt family in Germany.  I think the branch he is presenting was from Paitzdorf.  He visited his family homeplace while he was in Germany last Autumn, and he and his wife, Diane, worshipped in the Lutheran church where his ancestors worshipped.  That must have been a very powerful experience.

This week we have to get the Reading Room completely cleared out because our new shelving is coming on Saturday.  I'm excited.

Take Care, Carla Jordan

Have any of you heard about the museum "magic hats?"  I have always wanted to knit, and I'm SO left-handed that no one has been able to teach me.  A friend introduced me to circular knitting looms and I CAN KNIT!!  I have been making hats for all of my friends and family and I call them "magic hats" because I pray for and think about the person I'm making it for the entire time I'm knitting.  These powerful hats are so fun to make, and it gives me an opportunity to focus on and pray for all the wonderful people who support me in my journey as a wife, mom, business owner, and museum director.  Dear bloggers, you all inspire me--so send me via a "comment on the blog" (emails don't count) your favorite one or two colors and I'll make you a magic hat and send it to you.

Our friend, Kurt Mueller, will be joining our book group on April 15.  We will be discussing his memoir, Dogwood, that we have been thoroughly enjoying for the past few weeks.  There is no book club on March 11.  We will have a session on March 18.

I want to thank Rudy Bodenschatz for holding down the museum fort today.  It was such a beautiful day. 

Take Care, Carla Jordan

We received more paper presentation proposals for the October conference today, "Lutheran Immigration to Altenburg, Missouri and the Perry County, Missouri Region."  This is so exciting for me, I'm having to tell myself to "calm down."  Dr. Jedan is doing a super job of communicating with scholars in the U.S. and Germany.  Tyson Wunderlich will be working with the Lutheran Chorale on some special music for the Sat. eve. banquet.  They are preparing some Reformation music, and since it is Reformation weekend--I think that would be PERFECT.  We have an amazing cast of special speakers from both countries, also.  Please let me know if any of you would like to help with this amazing event--we are already having fun.

This morning I worked on our museum tax credits project--please pray for success.  It will help us upgrade our climate control system, have a restroom downstairs, and many other wonderful things!  If you know any business people in Missouri, please refer them to our webpage and tax credits link.  They can call me ANYTIME for a packet, or a personal visit.

I also had a meeting this afternoon in Cape with my dear friends, The Vincentian Marian Youth leadership.  I help them do fundraising and program development because I believe in the mission work they do.  These Perry County kids traveled to New Orleans, after Katrina, and did some amazing work.  They just got back--in January--from the National March for Life in Washington D.C.  In addition to the march, they fed and provided winter gear for homeless people in D.C.  I don't have much time for volunteer work anymore, but this group and the Neutral Lands Cherokee people are my two "special projects."  The amazing thing that was accomplished today is both of my special groups might be working together in June on a mission project in Kansas at the Neutral Lands headquarters.  NLC runs a food pantry, clothes folks who have had personal or weather disasters, and have a beautiful social ministry.  The Vincentian Youth want to go there and work for a week with this amazing American Indian group, and help them with some neighborhood construction projects for elderly citizens, single parent homes, etc.  I'm ready to get back to museum work in the a.m. but I had a fun afternoon working with these two groups.

Take Care, Carla Jordan

This day has been full of historic revelations!  Some of us have been working on a dream I have had for 5 years.  We are putting together a small manuscripts subject filing cabinet for all of the wonderful paper ephemera, pamphlets, etc. that we have on a myriad of subjects related to our mission. Yesterday I started our research on the 1845 Church Building bell, and today I worked on Womens' History.  OH MY GOODNESS!  Those of you who know me, are aware of my fascination with Pastor Loeber's sister--Christiane (they called her Christel.)  I found an entire manuscript on her with loads of info. that I have never heard--translated from her letters home and translated from Pastor Loeber's diaries.  Lillian Fiehler brought in a Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly (from ages back) that was FULL of wonderful info. (not only of Christiane, but also her sister-in-law Wilhelmine Zahn Loeber--Pastor Loeber's wife.)  What a glorious find!  We can beef up our interpretation on the bell and on our "women of the Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum."

We had quite a few guests here today due to the publicity that we have been blessed with.  It was a secret until this morning, I was the only one who could know, but our "East Perry Band" Monument--a sculpture at the rear of the museum vista was the object of interest for the "Perry County Hidden Treasure" contest for this year.  I have yet to hear who won--but it was a fun thing.

I will be speaking to a lovely Beta Sigma Phi group in Cape on the 22nd of March about the "History of Hats."  They are having a "Kentucky Derby" themed meeting and I'm the guest speaker.  I'm looking forward to this opportunity, and they are all planning a trip to the museum as a follow-up activity.  We are blessed!

Tomorrow I have to work on Tax Credits contacts and the Immigration Conference.  I will return to the museum on Tuesday.

The new Reading Room furniture will arrive here, complete with our beloved Ken & Judy Craft, on March 13.  Please come and help us unload and welcome our friends back to Altenburg.  Ken will then be traveling for a few days, and will return to Altenburg a bit later to help us get the Zion Roots research portal up and running.

Take Care, Carla Jordan

We had fun researching the silver 18th C. bell in the belfry on top of the 1845 Grosse Schulle (Big School) today.  Our friend, Dennis Rathert, is working on helping the Xavier St. Louis Museum with their bell exhibit.  Dennis is the historian, extraordinare, of Historic Trininty in St. Louis.  We cherish him!  Our bell is from a Spanish monastery and was created in the 1700's.  It has some interesting inscriptions and is a part of a set of bells.  Imagine the classic Spanish belltowers, a rectangular structure with gradiated sizes of bells (3 or 4) placed vertically in the tower.  The 1839 immigration, from Germany, brought the bells to America.  The immigrants were only able to bring one of the bells to Perry County.  I am researching the story and it is FASCINATING!  This family of bells may be on of the oldest in the United States--wow!  There was a nice thesis done on the bells that ended up at Xavier in St. Louis in the 1930's.  There is quite a bit of historic documentation from Vernon Meyr, also.  I'll have read all of it by tomorrow, and will give you my conclusions.  I think we need to beef up our interpretation of this important artifact.  Kathleen Fischer Vogel told me yesterday that on VE-Day they rang the bell so much that it fell down...and then they paraded through the streets of Altenburg.

Please check out the following link on this webpage--under "View our Pages" click on "International Conference."  I need your feedback.  Our former, beloved, intern Catie (who is now in grad school in St. Louis) thinks that the registration form should be a PDF, but I'm not sure how to do that--I'll fix it tonight or tomorrow.  I'm so excited about the conference.  It is going to be wonderful.

We had a nice article in the Jackson Cashbook-Journal today.  Elane Moonier featured our "Hats Off to 100 Years" exhibit and talked about our Centennial Celebration.  We are blessed to have such great small town newspapers in this region.  The articles have brought many friends to our doors, already.

I have to go, I promised Lilly I would help her research a paper on Sir Isaac Newton.  I love European Intellectual History--yippee!  Doc says I'm a nerd--so be it!

Take Care, Carla Jordan

Dear Blog Friends!   I'm back.  So sorry to leave you for a bit.  I had too many deadlines, but they are met.  I spent the last week with the media--we needed to boost attendance during the winter doldrums--and it has worked.  Gerard Fiehler had a museum full on Sunday, and I was very busy today--yipee!  The Heissey Glass exhibit is incredible, and the "Hats Off" exhibit is a grand success. 

There are American and German scholars committed to the Immigration Conference.  There are wonderful plans on the horizon with SEMO and this project.

Last Friday there was a fantastic article in the Southeast Missourian about our internship program with SEMO Foreign Language/Anthropology, written by a journalism intern, Melanie Hoehn.  She is here on an exchange semester from Germany.  She did a super job, and we have had great positive feedback from the article--check it out online.  This feature made in on the front page--above the fold!

On Monday we had a great feature on the "Hats Off" exhibit and the Centennial in the Southeast Missourian, by Robyn Gauchey, with photos by our own Bob Schmidt.  What a treat. 

We were featured in the Perry County Monitor today--front page, above the fold!!!  Kate Martin and photographer, Amanda, did an awesome job.  One of the best features we have ever had.

Tomorrow, we will be featured in the Jackson Cashbook-Journal.  Elane Moonier is a great feature writer, and a good photographer.  I can't wait to see it.

We were filmed by KFVS last week, and it will be on TV at some point. 

So, please forgive my blogging--I really missed it, and it helps me--but I had to get this promotional stuff done, and it takes massive time.

We had folks from all over the country today:  Minnesota, Colorado, Springfield, MO, etc.  Great day!

More soon-take care, Carla Jordan

Folks are enjoying the "Hats of to 100 Years" exhibit.  It makes me feel so happy to see people participating in something our team has created.  We will be featured in the TBY Supplement of the Southeast Missourian newspaper on March 1.  Features are also planned in the Perry County Monitor and the Jackson Cashbook-Journal.