In lieu of our annual in-person Holiday Tea event, we invite you to pick up a PAL Holiday Tea Take-Home Kit on Saturday, December 5, 2020 from 10am-12pm in our Post Reading Room inside Joplin Public Library. Coinciding with the distribution of the take-home kits is the opening of TEA, a display consisting of teacups, teapots, and tea-related items, in the library’s display cases. TEA will be on display from Saturday, December 5, 2020 through Sunday, January 3, 2021.
Each PAL Holiday Tea Take-Home Kit includes: 1 paper tea cup and saucer, 1 paper napkin, 1 paper doily, 1 individually wrapped stirrer, 2 individually wrapped bags of tea (one holiday, one black), 2 individually wrapped creamers, 2 individually wrapped sugar packets, individually wrapped candies, and a bookmark. One kit per person. First come, first served while supplies last. FREE and open to the public. Registration not necessary. Reservations not permitted.
Since 2016, we’ve hosted an annual Holiday Tea event inside the library. Held on the first Saturday each December, this event typically features a live musical or other performance: local Harpist Amanda Kimble, Father Christmas, and the Ellis Sisters with Historic Murphysburg, Inc. (2016); Still Waters String Ensemble (2017); a Heartland Opera Theatre collaboration (2018); and the Thomas Jefferson Cavalier Chorus and Thomas Jefferson String Ensemble (2019). Due to concerns regarding COVID-19 we are unable to program an in-person event for our 2020 Holiday Tea.
Post Art library is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit arts-related organization located inside Joplin Public Library. For more information, or to make a tax-deductible donation, visit PostArtLibrary.org or contact Jill Sullivan at 417.623.7953 x1041.
This display features the steps and tools of bookbinding as practiced by Sullivan Book Arts, a bindery based out of Pittsburg, Kansas.
Olive Sullivan is obsessed with books. She is a writer as well as a bookbinder and recently opened her own Little Free Library. Her poetry collection, Wandering Bone, was published in 2017 (Meadowlark Books, Emporia). She began bookbinding with Sharen May in 2011 and is now training her own apprentice, Angel Abshire, in this art.
Sullivan Book Arts specializes in restoration, custom bookbinding, art books, and more. For more information, visit them HERE.
Bookbinding is on display inside Joplin Public Library now through November 15, 2020.
Click HERE to see a news feature about Sullivan Book Arts’ Bookbinding.
Above: Bookbinding by Sullivan Book Arts
Above: Restoration In-progrss Bookbinding by Sullivan Book Arts
Now through November 30, 2020 Paula Giltner’s Places I Have Been is on exhibit in The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery and the Local History Room inside Joplin Public Library.
Places I Have Been features watercolor and oil paintings that take viewers to Colorado, Wyoming, California, and several Missouri locations, including Joplin.
Giltner is an award-winning artist who is part of Local Color Art Gallery in Joplin, Missouri. For more information, visit HERE. Click HERE for a news feature about this exhibit.
Artist’s Statement
If only I could show paintings of all the places I have been! Although I’m someone who has had very few dreams of traveling, my life events have taken me all over the globe. I have been to 48 states in the US and to 9 foreign countries.
Watercolor was the first medium to challenge me artistically. Eventually I experimented with acrylic and finally oil. What’s my favorite? That’s like choosing between steak and lobster. It’s all good, but in different ways.
I find that local people enjoy seeing paintings of familiar places around the four states. I love to paint the landscape in all seasons along with the wildlife, domestic life and architecture. I think the world is a beautiful place and there’s no place like home.
Paula Giltner | jnpgiltner@hotmail.com
Above: “Colorado Waterfall” by Paula Giltner
Above: “California 1” by Paula Giltner
Above: Places I Have Been Exhibition The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery | Joplin Public Library
The Joplin Historic Preservation Commission (JHPC) awards the 2020 Jeff & Carolina Neal Award, an award that’s part of the Commission’s annual awards program, to Corner Greer Architects (CGA) of Joplin, Missouri.
The Jeff & Carolina Neal Award is for those who made significant developments to historic preservation in Joplin by way of developing and restoring/revitalizing buildings and property within Joplin’s commercial corridors.
CGA has been committed to improving and preserving the downtown commercial corridor for many years. The projects for which CGA is being recognized include: CGA and Craven Media at 714-716 Main, completed 2012; the Orpheum Building at 6th and Main, completed 2014; FTC at Memorial Education Center, 8th and Wall, completed 2019; and two ongoing projects at Midwestern Interactive and Joplin Empire Market.
“Corner Greer’s efforts in developing and revitalizing buildings and property downtown since 2012 has made a tremendous impact on the amenities and visual appeal of Joplin buildings, workspaces, and public facing businesses. The quality put into materials and design is apparent to anyone who has seen their work, such as the Orpheum Building restoration at 6th and Main. Joplinites should be excited by Corner Greer’s ongoing work at Midwestern Interactive and the Empire Market,” said Dr. William Fischer, Chair of the Commission’s Policy, Procedure, & Promotion Subcommittee, which reviews nominations for the awards.
The goal of JHPC’s annual awards program (est. 2019) is to celebrate and recognize the extraordinary efforts of individuals and groups who made significant contributions to historic preservation in Joplin. The program is comprised of three awards, with public nominations opening each spring.
Due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19, JHPC has postponed the 2020 public awards presentation until next year’s awards presentation. For more information, please contact JHPC Chair, Jill Sullivan, at 417-623-7953 x1041 or jhsullivan@postartlibrary.org.
Corner Greer Architects & Craven Media, 714-716 Main Street, Joplin, MO Courtesy of Corner Greer Architects
Joplin Empire Market Renderings, 931 E. 4th Street, Joplin, MO Courtesy of Corner Greer Architects
Infuxn (Orpheum Building), 6th & Main Streets, Joplin, MO Photo by 1281 Photography, Drew Kimble
Orpheum Building, 6th & Main Streets, Joplin, MO Photo by 1281 Photography, Drew Kimble
Franklin Technology Center at Memorial Education Center, 8th & Wall, Joplin, MO Photo by 1281 Photography, Drew Kimble
May is Preservation Month! As such, we’re sharing brief histories of Joplin, Missouri’s four city-owned cemeteries; this is part four of four in the series.
Fairview Cemetery was in use as Joplin Cemetery as early as 1832, prior to the incorporation of the City of Joplin. In September 1873, about six months after the city’s incorporation, Mayor E.R. Moffet, Joplin’s first mayor, drafted and signed a notarized document stating that the cemetery would henceforth be released to the public for public use, thus creating Joplin’s first municipal cemetery. It is not yet known when or why the name of the cemetery changed from Joplin Cemetery to Fairview Cemetery, but it’s evident that ‘Fairview’ was in common use by 1914 and likely earlier.
Some sources indicate the land for Fairview Cemetery was donated by Patrick Murphy, the founder of Murphysburg, which, in March 1873, incorporated with Joplin City (now known as Joplin’s East Town neighborhood) to become the City of Joplin.
For 60 years, it was Joplin’s only municipal cemetery. Fairview Cemetery is associated with numerous city-founders and other persons of note. Some of them include the Murphy, Picher, and Zelleken families; Percy Wenrich; Harry and Jennings Young; Joel Livingston; Jessie F. Osborne; John B. Sergeant; Gilbert Barbee; John Reding; Thomas Gilyard; and Thomas Bellas.
Veterans from the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam are interred at Fairview. As are Masons, members of the Order of the Eastern Star, Oddfellows, Shriners, and Woodsman. Fairview also contains a Potter’s Field.
In 2018-19, a subcommittee of the Joplin Historic Preservation Commission conducted an architectural survey of all four of Joplin’s city-owned cemeteries. Also, they researched and wrote nominations for the cemeteries to be included on the city’s Local Landmark/Historic Sites list. Although the nominations were submitted in summer 2019, the commission awaits a fresh survey of one of the cemetery sites before the nominations can move to the next phase of the Local Landmark nomination process. Click HERE to view the nomination in its entirety, including supporting documentation.
Volunteer Fire Department section in Joplin’s Fairview Cemetery. Photo: Paula Callihan
May is Preservation Month! As such, we’re sharing brief histories of Joplin, Missouri’s four city-owned cemeteries; this is part two of four in the series.
Contrary to popular belief,
the Jesse F. Osborne Memorial Cemetery, henceforth referred to simply as
Osborne Cemetery, was not open to the public any earlier than 1938. Osborne
Cemetery became the City of Joplin’s third public, city-owned cemetery, with
Fairview Cemetery being its first (1873) and Parkway Cemetery being its second
(1933).
In 1931, Joe H. Myers, then
Commissioner of Public Property and Public Utilities, realized that Fairview
Cemetery would soon be full and considered plans for establishing a new
cemetery on the new cemetery tract that ran along the east and west sides of
McClelland park road. This cemetery tract eventually became two
cemeteries—Parkway (east) and Osborne (west). Although this tract of land is
commonly thought to have been donated to the city by the Osborne family, it
was, in fact, purchased by the city during one of former Mayor Jesse F.
Osborne’s administrations, around 1922.
In the early 1930s, the city
began developing the McClelland park road cemetery tracts, with Parkway
Cemetery opening in 1933. Although preparations were being made as early as
1935 to open Osborne Cemetery, it wasn’t until 1937 that Council began seeking
a name for the new cemetery. In 1938, Council announced that the new city
cemetery was named the Jesse F. Osborne Memorial Cemetery in his honor because
“the tract of land converted into the cemetery was purchased by the city while
Osborne was mayor and he promoted the project.” They announced, too, that the
newly-named, city-owned Osborne Cemetery was now, finally, open for public use.
In early 1939, soldiers’ plots
were dedicated for the American Legion, the United Spanish War Veterans, and
the Veterans of Foreign Wars. By mid-1939, the WPA (formerly FERA) was still
working on the cemetery’s stone wall and entrance. In 1940, The Robert S.
Thurman American Legion Post and George Klingman donated a 75-foot flagpole to
be placed in the cemetery.
Osborne Cemetery has an extensive military section, with veterans of varying ranks who served in World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Additionally, members of the Masons, Oddfellows, the Order of the Eastern Star, Shriners, and Woodsman are interred at Osborne. Uniquely, Osborne has a “Babyland” monument.
Interestingly, Osborne Cemetery records list the earliest burials in 1852, 1854, 1857, 1875, and 1877, prior to the time the tract was developed as a cemetery. All other burials in the cemetery, however, took place from 1938—the year which Osborne was, in fact, established as a city-owned cemetery—onward. It’s not uncommon for cemeteries to be developed in an area where older burials took place, which could explain the existence of gravesites dated prior to the time Osborne was developed.
In 2018-19, a subcommittee of the Joplin Historic Preservation Commission conducted an architectural survey of all four of Joplin’s city-owned cemeteries. Also, they researched and wrote nominations for the cemeteries to be included on the city’s Local Landmark/Historic Sites list. Although the nominations were submitted in summer 2019, the commission awaits a fresh survey of one of the cemetery sites before the nominations can move to the next phase of the Local Landmark nomination process. Click HERE to view the nomination in its entirety, including supporting documentation.
“BABYLAND” monument in Joplin’s Osborne Cemetery. Photo: Paula Callihan
May is Preservation Month! As such, we’re sharing brief histories of Joplin, Missouri’s four city-owned cemeteries; this is part one of four in the series.
Prior to the establishment of Parkway Cemetery, Joplin’s citizens were buried in the only city-owned cemetery, Fairview Cemetery. In 1931, Joe H. Myers, then Commissioner of Public Property and Public Utilities, realized that Fairview Cemetery would soon be full and considered plans for establishing a new cemetery on the new cemetery tract that ran along the east and west sides of McClelland park road. This cemetery tract eventually became two cemeteries—Parkway (east) and Osborne (west). Although this tract of land is commonly thought to have been donated to the city by the Osborne family, it was, in fact, purchased by the city during one of former Mayor Jesse F. Osborne’s administrations, around 1922.
In May 1932, a committee of Joplin’s Colored Citizens’ Club requested that Commissioner Myers set aside a portion of the newly considered city cemetery exclusively for use by Joplin’s Black citizens. Myers agreed and, in 1933, announced plans to develop the east side of the McClelland park road cemetery tract solely for use by Joplin’s Black citizens. Also at that time, Myers let it be known that the plot set aside for Black people in Fairview Cemetery was full, thus the city was no longer able to accommodate the burial of Black persons in that cemetery (though accommodations were still being made for white persons in a new addition).
In April 1933, work began to clear the east side of the McClelland park road cemetery tract. Later that same year, in August, the city commission (i.e. Council) chose ‘Parkway Cemetery’ as the official name for the new cemetery. It is not known why, exactly, the Council chose the name ‘Parkway’ for the new cemetery. While the east side of the McClelland park road tract was developed for use by the area’s Black community, the tract on the west side was reserved for later development for use by white persons.
Although the city-owned Parkway Cemetery opened to Joplin’s Black citizens in 1933, the earliest tombstone burial date reads 1932. According to the city’s cemetery records, Joseph Stover was initially interred at Fairview Cemetery in 1932, where he was then disinterred and reinterred at Parkway Cemetery upon Parkway’s opening, in 1933. Parkway Cemetery has been in use since 1933 and continues to be in use today.
In addition to serving as a burial ground for Joplin’s Black citizens, Parkway Cemetery historically served as a gathering place for Black families during a time when they had very few choices for gathering spaces. According to local oral histories from those within Joplin’s Black community, funerals and celebrations of life were all-day events. Family and friends traveled from afar and used the lawn to the south of the cemetery as camping and picnic grounds. Thus, Parkway Cemetery offered an integral space for fellowship among Black and African American people during unfortunate times of segregation in America.
Among those interred at Parkway are veterans from World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and Vietnam; former law enforcement officers; members of the Masons and the Order of the Eastern Star; and others who contributed significantly to the development of our community.
In 2018-19, a subcommittee of the Joplin Historic Preservation Commission conducted an architectural survey of all four of Joplin’s city-owned cemeteries. Also, they researched and wrote nominations for the cemeteries to be included on the city’s Local Landmark/Historic Sites list. Although the nominations were submitted in summer 2019, the commission awaits a fresh survey of one of the cemetery sites before the nominations can move to the next phase of the Local Landmark nomination process. Click HERE to view the nomination in its entirety, including supporting documentation.
Mr. and Mrs. Cuther are thought to be the first persons to purchase a burial plot in Joplin’s Parkway Cemetery. Photo: Jill SullivanThe bridge leading to one of the picnic tables in Joplin’s Parkway Cemetery. Photo: Jill Sullivan
“Sculpture Works in Wood,” a solo exhibition by local artist M. Justin Hale, is on display in our Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery, our display cases, and in the Post Reading Room inside Joplin Public Library now through September 30, 2019.
Hale sees anatomical references whenever he carves. Most of his professional life has been spent working in prosthetics. Leaving the prosthetics field in 1999, he now devotes his life to his artwork.
His work is inspired by the bent and twisting forms found in remnants of trees from a long and well lived life. Finding and releasing the stored energy of the wood into a new life as sculpture is a great experience.
For more information, contact Jill Sullivan at 417-623-7953 x1041 or jhsullivan@postartlibrary.org.
Library exhibitions and displays are curated by Post Art Library. Their mission is to enrich the community of Joplin by perpetuating Dr. Winfred L. and Elizabeth C. Post’s love of art, architecture, history, and history preservation through public access to arts-related library resources and services, educational programming, events, and exhibits. Visit www.postartlibrary.org for more information.
MSSU Senior Sneak Peek, an art show comprised of artworks by recent or soon-to-be recent graduates of Missouri Southern State University’s Art Department, is on display in our Local History, Genealogy, and Post Reading Room gallery. A preview of the artists’ senior shows, Sneak Peek features art by Jocelyn Lechuga, Lydia Humphreys, McKenzie Wesley, Sydney Buffington, and Jacklyn Kidd.
