By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
July 29, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The Kansas City Museum is adding over 15,000 artifacts to its growing collection.

At last week’s Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners committee meeting, the Kansas City Museum received unanimous approval for the acquisition of two historical collections: nearly 15,000 medical objects donated by Prime Healthcare (formerly St. Joseph Medical Center) and more than 300 objects donated by the Historic Garment District Museum. Anna Marie Tutera, executive director of the Kansas City Museum, said these are exciting additions to the museums already vast collection.

“We’re very happy for this opportunity,” Tutera said. “This gives us the opportunity to expand our focus on local legacies.”

According to a press release from the Kansas City Museum, in 1971, Dr. Donald Piper started a small medical museum at St. Joseph Medical Center in its south Kansas City location. Piper enlisted everyone at the hospital to contribute materials, allowing the museum to grow to its current amount of 15,000 items. The museum features medical instruments and equipment, textiles/clothing, archival records of Kansas City area doctors and hospitals, and a large photograph collection. The collection represents all Kansas City area hospitals and doctors, with a majority related to St. Joseph Hospital’s history. The earliest collection piece dates back to around 1800.

In 1990, St. Joseph Medical Center Hospital hired museum professional Joan Hilger-Mullen to curate the growing collection and under her leadership, proper cataloging and intellectual control was maintained. Recently, the St. Joseph Medical Center was sold to Prime Healthcare, which offered to donate the collection, including cabinetry and shelving, to the Kansas City Museum. Tutera said the museum is already imagining an exhibition in the future on the history of Kansas City’s medical society.

In addition to the medical collection, the museum also acquired more than 300 Kansas City-made garments and accessories from the Historic Garment District Museum of Kansas City, located in the heart of the old Garment District at 801 Broadway Blvd. The Historic Garment District Museum was founded in 2002 by Ann Brownfield and Harvey Fried. After World War I, and through the 1940s, the area employed more than 4,000 people and claimed one out of every seven women in the United States purchased a Kansas City-made garment. Manufacturing of garments was the second largest employer of any industry in Kansas City, Mo.

“We’re pleased the city is taking over the museum,” Fried said. “We’re delighted there’ll be continuity because at our age, we’re not sure how long we would’ve been able to keep going.”

The couple requested that the museum operate at its current location, however, the Parks Department plans to establish new operation hours for the public, develop programs and exhibitions while managing the collection. Tutera said talks with Fried and Brownfield began after the city took over control of the Kansas City Museum last year.

“Ann and Harvey have been wanting to retire for a while,” Tutera said. “Knowing that they wanted to retire and continue operating this location and that they weren’t able to continue operating it, I think it just made perfect sense given the [Kansas City] Museum’s vast collection of historical clothing and textiles and costumes.”

The Kansas City Museum currently has more than 20,000 items in its collection and is considered one of the best collections of its kind in the region. Mark McHenry, Director of the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department, said the city is honored that Brownfield and Fried have entrusted this collection and their museum to the city.

Tutera said the next step is to create an operational plan for the Historic Garment District Museum to establsih a date they could re-open under the Parks and Recreation umbrella. She added they’ll also have to transfer and catalog the collection. Tutera hopes to complete all the necessary moves by this fall.

“Everything is beautifully currated and Ann has done an exceptional job hand-picking the best examples from the Garment District,” Tutera said. “Everything has been well maintained and the actual museum space is very charming. We want to continue what they created with exhibitions and events and enhance the operation with our staff and our collection. The Historic Garment District is a significant part of Kansas City’s history, and the museum that Ann and Harvey have created and sustained is a gem.”

Tutera said these acquisitions give the museum more opportunities to collaborate with individuals and organizations in Kansas City.

“Because one of our strongest strengths is we understand how important it is to partner with organizations and this gives us that opportunity to do that more,” Tutera said.

For more information about the Kansas City Museum, visit www.kansascitymuseum.org.