~ Optional TOUR Selections ~
Options for Thursday afternoon, Oct. 23. Shuttles leave from hotel entrance at 1:30.
Choose one of three!
TOUR #1
National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial
Built By Kansas Citians, Embraced By the Nation ~
Soon after World War I ended, Kansas City leaders formed the Liberty Memorial Association (LMA) to create a lasting monument to the men and women who had served in the war. In 1919, the LMA and citizens of Kansas City raised more than $2.5 million in just 10 days. The equivalent of roughly $34 million today, this staggering accomplishment reflected the passion of public sentiment for the Great War that had dramatically changed the world.
Construction on the classical Egyptian Revival-style monument was completed in 1926 and the Liberty Memorial was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge in front of more than 150,000 people.
In 2004, the Museum was designated by Congress as the nation's official World War I Museum, and construction started on a new 80,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art museum and the Edward Jones Research Center underneath the Liberty Memorial.
National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial
Built By Kansas Citians, Embraced By the Nation ~
Soon after World War I ended, Kansas City leaders formed the Liberty Memorial Association (LMA) to create a lasting monument to the men and women who had served in the war. In 1919, the LMA and citizens of Kansas City raised more than $2.5 million in just 10 days. The equivalent of roughly $34 million today, this staggering accomplishment reflected the passion of public sentiment for the Great War that had dramatically changed the world.
Construction on the classical Egyptian Revival-style monument was completed in 1926 and the Liberty Memorial was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge in front of more than 150,000 people.
In 2004, the Museum was designated by Congress as the nation's official World War I Museum, and construction started on a new 80,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art museum and the Edward Jones Research Center underneath the Liberty Memorial.
Tour #2
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is internationally recognized for its outstanding collection of more than 33,500 objects. From ancient times to modern day, this encyclopedic museum is one of the best in the country, offering visitors the opportunity to explore civilization through the eyes of painters, sculptors, craftsmen, and many other artists.
The story begins in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the edge of Kansas City was still north of the current Museum. It began because a Kansas City newspaperman developed a hunger for refinement at about the same time that a widowed schoolteacher fell in love with the art museums of Europe.
The large financial estates they left were intended to create two separate art museums, but trustees later combined their assets to fund what is today a world-renowned art museum, the Nelson-Atkins. It would take brilliant architects, art historians, curators and community leaders to turn the dreams of William Rockhill Nelson and Mary Atkins into reality.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is internationally recognized for its outstanding collection of more than 33,500 objects. From ancient times to modern day, this encyclopedic museum is one of the best in the country, offering visitors the opportunity to explore civilization through the eyes of painters, sculptors, craftsmen, and many other artists.
The story begins in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the edge of Kansas City was still north of the current Museum. It began because a Kansas City newspaperman developed a hunger for refinement at about the same time that a widowed schoolteacher fell in love with the art museums of Europe.
The large financial estates they left were intended to create two separate art museums, but trustees later combined their assets to fund what is today a world-renowned art museum, the Nelson-Atkins. It would take brilliant architects, art historians, curators and community leaders to turn the dreams of William Rockhill Nelson and Mary Atkins into reality.
Tour #3
Miller Nichols Library on the UMKC Campus: the Music/Media Library, the Marr Sound Archives, and the LaBudde Special Collections Department, with bonus view of our robotic retrieval system, RooBot!
Miller Nichols Library on the UMKC Campus: the Music/Media Library, the Marr Sound Archives, and the LaBudde Special Collections Department, with bonus view of our robotic retrieval system, RooBot!
- The Music/Media Library supports the Conservatory of Music & Dance. A community of artists, educators and scholars, the Conservatory enrolls about 600 students in a comprehensive array of liberal arts and professional degree programs in Composition, Music Theory and Musicology; Dance; Instrumental Studies; Jazz Studies; Keyboard Studies; Music Education/Music Therapy; and Vocal Studies.
- The Marr Sound Archives was established in 1986, with a foundation gift of 42,000 sound recording from Gaylord Marr and his wife Olga. Today the collection has grown to number over 350,000 recordings, with a focus on the American experience as reflected in recorded sound.
- The Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections is a print
archive and research center serving scholars and organizations from
around the world. The archival collections are strong in music, especially Kansas City jazz, with emerging strengths in women’s and gender studies and popular culture. Besides some very rare books, maps, posters, and other manuscripts, Special Collections holds much ephemera and other objects (like Duke Ellington's hat!)