Greetings from the Soldiers Memorial!  I’m new to the institution, so let me introduce myself. My name is Katie Werkmeister, and I am an intern here at the Memorial for six months as I finish my Masters in Historical Administration from Eastern Illinois University.  I have studied the ins and outs of the museum field for two semesters, and now it’s time for application.  The main project of my internship is to conduct an inventory of the entire collection at the museum.  I’ve only been working in the collection for two weeks, and have already found some amazing material!  Some long term goals of this project are to better know what the collection contains, to make the collection more accessible to researchers, and to find new material for exhibition in the museum galleries. Each month, I hope to share with you a few of my more spectacular finds.

The collection here hasn’t always gotten the attention it deserves, and as I inventory each object, I’m trying to better store it.  You can help!  The collection here at the Soldiers Memorial contains hundreds of uniforms.  Too many of them are on metal hangers with no padding.  If you have wood, plastic, or metal hangers, cotton batting, muslin, or extra clean sheets, please bring them in!  (If you would prefer, the Board of Public Service office in City Hall will also accept donations for us.)  If you and a group of friends would like to make padded hangers, we would love to have you!  With some help, we can make sure that this great collection is preserved.

And, as promised,                                                                       

From the Soldiers Memorial Collection…

The Brownshirt Uniform Guide to SA and SS: An original WWII publication in German, explaining the various uniforms and insignia of the infamous Nazi SA and SS.

Also from World War II, several British war posters proclaiming “Lend to Defend,” “Don’t Help the Enemy!  Careless talk gives away vital secrets,” and “Children are Safer in the Country… Leave them there”

Look for more next month!

Please donate hangers and padding!

-Katie Werkmeister

Intern, Soldiers Memorial

1315 Chestnut St.

In 2009 the Soldiers Memorial Commission, with the assistance of the City of St. Louis, Board of Public Service, identified over $6 million dollars of basic capital improvements needed to bring the museum up to American Association of Museum (AAM) accreditation standards.  The list includes electrical upgrades, HVAC upgrades (the museum has never been air conditioned), roof, plumbing, UV protection for the windows to protect artifacts, to name a few.

Stan Musial will serve as 2010 Honorary Fundraising Chairman.

The 2010 Capital Improvement Project is UV glass protection for the museum windows.

The “Friends” Board members opened a Bank of America account with a check from Mayor Francis Slay.  All financial donations to “Friends” are entirely separate and independent of the City of St. Louis.  “Friends” has acquired office space in the Soldiers Memorial building.

Friends of the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum will pursue corporate, individual and grant funding to complete the capital improvements required for museum accreditation and to insure that Soldiers Memorial continues to serve veterans and preserve their artifacts in the museum for many generations to come.

Donations can be sent to:

Friends of the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum
Soldiers Memorial Military Museum
1315 Chestnut Street
St. Louis, Missouri 63103

For additional information contact us at 314-622-4550 Or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Rather than drive in the parade, VFW Post 2593 parked its “Stars and Stripes” van on 13th Street, so people could get a close up look and learn the van’s story. Chrysler employees at the St. Louis South Assembly Plant in Fenton built the “Stars and Stripes” minivan after 9 / 11 in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks.

Displayed in front of the plant for several years, the van was a prominent landmark on I-44.

When Chrysler closed operations earlier this year, the future of the van was undetermined—but not for long. The UAW Local 110, Veteran Volunteers Committee, formally requested that the plant donate the van to VFW Post 2593 in Arnold. To all the union members and veterans, many of whom worked on the van after 9 / 11, it was important that the van stay in the community where it was built, as a symbol of patriotism and American values.

Chrysler employees at the St. Louis South Assembly Plant in Fenton built the “Stars and Stripes” minivan after 911 in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks.