A new museum has opened in St. Augustine, Florida — the Karpeles Manuscript Museum. The museum, located at 105 St. George Street, will become the main home for a collection containing more than 1 million historical documents dating from the turn of the millennium to the Revolutionary War to now.
Museum History
The museum’s wide variety of documents can be attributed to David Karpeles, who began collecting them in the 1970s. Karpeles went on to open 17 museums across the U.S. to showcase the documents he collected, and the collection spans numerous topics — from letters signed by the U.S.’ founding fathers to the contract Star Trek actor William Shatner signed in the 1960s to appear on the groundbreaking science fiction series.
The museum’s chief operating officer, Cheryl Karpeles, one of David Karpeles’ children, says it would take a lifetime of visits to see everything the collection has to offer. “We will have some items that will be on semi-permanent exhibit at the museum and some that will rotate through,” Cheryl Karpeles says. “Everything you see here has had an impact on our society. We are not an autograph museum.”
Since opening last week, the museum has welcomed more than 3,500 visitors, museum Director Wayne Jackson says. The museum is open every day of the week, and admission is free.
Original reporting: Jacksonville Today — read the source article.
