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| Home | References for the BUS-eum 1 References from
Bev Jackson at bjackso@smig.net in
To those of you who are
anticipating the BUS-eum: This is a wonderful
opportunity for your community. I am so glad that we decided to
sponsor the BUS! We have had a steady flow of people going thru the
exhibits, and I have visited with people who angrily say to me “Why
don’t we ever learn?” and “I was a prisoner in Stalag 17 for year.” This
last statement from a man in tears who said “People really don’t want
to talk about it.” We hope that your experiences
will be as incredible as ours. Bev Jackson, executive
director Freeborn County Historical Museum P.S. We had two volunteers on
call at all times - one welcoming people and counting (we averaged 80
per hour, 240 in the first three hours) and another at the book table.
This was very helpful to Michael and they thoroughly enjoyed conversing
with the visitors. I’ve talked to almost a dozen people who arrived
too late, thought the line was too long to wait, or had other commitments. We
could have topped 300: Wow! P.S. I, too, forgot my
camera. :-( Next time. Mary Gontarek at maryg@owatonna.info in Michael, we thought your presentation
was excellent and our patrons were very appreciative. I’m sure the community
will also benefit from the materials we purchased from you. Mary Gontarek, librarian Jane George at Jane.George@co.dakota.mn.us in Michael, it was great to meet
you! I and my colleagues at the Heritage, Galaxie and P.S. Michael, you may refer
any library having doubts to me and I’ll be happy to share our positive
experience.
Michael had the BUS-eum at
the Martin County Historical Society’s This was a great
exhibit, and I would recommend it to anyone else considering it that hasn’t
scheduled it as of yet. Lenny Tvedten, executive director Tamera Erickson at terickson@plumcreeklibrary.net in We just completed the
POW-exhibit at the Jackson Library. It was an excellent exhibit and
the PowerPoint presentation was very informative; we were glad we included
the PowerPoint presentation with the exhibit. Set-up and take-down was
fast and easy. We set up chairs in the meeting room prior to Michael’s
arrival so all he needed to do was setup his laptop. Attendees had many
nice things to say about the exhibit. Michael was very easy to work
with and very accommodating. We wish him well on his future travels
through
Michael, I want to thank
you for sharing your important information with the citizens of Glencoe.
Your BUS-eum is a wonderful opportunity for senior citizens to remember
the “war years” and a great opportunity for younger people to learn
about this era of history. Wasn’t it wonderful that the POW from
Marian Nelson at mnelson@wheaton.lib.mn.us
in Just want everyone to know
how pleased and happy we are that we had Michael and the BUS-eum in The BUS was parked at the
Legion club where we also had a dart tournament going on at the same time, therefore, we had lots of food available for both the
tournament people and our people. So, I think Michael was quite full when he
left as our menu consisted of hot dogs, beans, chips, lasagna, bars, cookies
and cake. I’m very pleased with the
number of people that came to view the material and to attend the program. Those
of you that will be having the BUS visit your library have a treat in store for
you. Enjoy! Marian Nelson, director June Lynne at cchs@maxminn.com
in Michael: Thank you for
bringing the BUS-eum to Montevideo/Chippewa County! It was a wonderful
experience for all involved. I heard so many great remarks about the program.
As I mentioned to you last night, if we only had the one visitor (the wife of a
now deceased POW) visit the entire time you were here, it would have been worth
it just to see the expression of gratitude on her face. Combine her with about
250 additional individuals and it was a rousing success! To future hosts, I do
have a couple of suggestions: Michael doesn’t want to ask for much,
but it is sincerely helpful to have at least three additional volunteers
at the site. You really need one person greeting and giving instructions
at the BUS door, and two people inside. I had two seperate groups
to split the four hour time frame. This way, individuals have more time
to speak with Michael about their experiences or about their family
members who were POWs. There were many who came not only to see
the BUS-eum but to speak to Michael. We had Michael do the program
and following his presentation our local Veteran’s Service Office
introduced local POWs. These were all POWs, not just WW II
POWs. It certainly made the exhibit ‘local’ by including them. We
also had a display on one WWII POW who is currently in the Veteran’s
Hospital and wasn’t able to attend. His wife was very appreciative
and was in attendance. Speaking as a Historical Society director,
this exhibit was a great opportunity to speak to many veterans and family
members of veterans. Listen to their stories; they are amazing. I
also had an opportunity to speak to a few Vietnam Vets and hope to include
their stories in our archives one day. Michael, may your BUS
never break down again, may your time spent in Thanks again! June Lynne, executive director Chris Schuelke at cschuelke@otchs.org
in When the BUS-eum pulled
into Joann Splonskowski at Joann@beckercountyhistory.org in Three cheers for TRACES and
Michael Luick-Thrams for allowing this community the opportunity to honor our
WWII POWs and all of our veterans. Once Becker County Historical Society made
the decision to host the TRACES BUS-eum, I checked out their web site and found
a wealth of information to make the visit a memorable one. Once I had all of
the ideas and helpful hints, I turned to Board members, volunteers, our local
service organizations and our Veteran Service Office. In no time I had a table
full of willing volunteers who came up with even more ideas on how to make this
a community event. We also did a bulk mailing of this flyer to all of the VFW
and American Legion members in our county (828). Our Veteran Service Officer
put together individual booklets for each POW from The BUS-eum is a wonderful
exhibit, put together by some very knowledgeable and caring people who did
their research; it’s wonderful and I recommend hosting it in your community if
you ever get the opportunity again. But above that is a greater opportunity for
you to do something with and for your community. It opens the doors to so much
collaboration and sharing. And, if you are a Historical Society, the door it
opens for information gathering and the possibility of receiving further
donations for your collections is invaluable. Thank you TRACES, and thank
you Michael for what you have done for Joann Splonskowski,
administrative director Heidi Hoks at heidi@nwrlib.org in The advertizement of the TRACES
BUS-eum was handled the way I do most - if not all - programs and projects.
I first determined whether the BUS-eum would be a good fit with my community.
This comes from research and - for me - years of living in this community.
Once the fit was good, I contacted TRACES. The next step was to identify
the target audiences and build the publicity around what would reach
them best. For the target audience of schools, letters and flyers were
sent to the schools themselves. I spoke to a couple of the teachers
as a follow-up - teachers whose classes were not historical, but whom
I knew understood the value of such an exhibit and who were good conversationalists
during coffee breaks. For the target audience of former POWs and their
families, I sent flyers and personal letters to the commanders and presidents
of the various service organizations and auxiliaries, and I spoke to
the local Vets’ office director, who promised to get the word of mouth
advertizing to veterans. The general public was my final target audience:
two big ads in the newspaper, “Radiogram” (daily news sheets put out
ain the local restaurants and businesses-an amazingly popular piece
of reading literature for the majority of our residents) blurbs,
flyers put around town, “Coffeetime” segment (the local TV/radio station
talk show), three call-in interview ads with the local radio station,
an interview on the college radio station, a spot on the “Carousel”
(a TV informational bulletin board) and, of course, the lead article
in the library newsletter that goes out quarterly. Heidi Hoks, director Toni Vonasek at toni_vonasek@und.nodak.edu in Grand
Forks/North Dakota wrote: Hi,
Michael. Thanks for a great
program. I was thrilled with the good turn-out and the good TV and newspaper
coverage we received. Thank you for staying until Charles Erickson at
roseau@nwrlib.org
in
Charles Erickson, librarian Charleen Haugen at rchsroseau@mncable.net
in We look forward to doing more
TRACES exhibits in the future. If you want to do more in our area with
small exhibits let me know, I am secretary of the When we are in our [new] museum
I plan to have a TRACES exhibit of a greater magnitude. Charleen Haugen, director The Martha-Ellen Tye Foundation in Marshalltown/Iowa was an early BUS-eum funder. Having attended the exhibit’s launch, on the 1st of April 2004 director Sue Martin wrote Michael - It was a pleasure to attend the exhibit opening last Friday at the Iowa Veteran’s home - to see all your hard work around this fascinating piece of Midwest history come to light before an appreciative audience. I was particularly intrigued by a conversation I had before you arrived with two elderly widows from Newton who described themselves to me as “Michael’s groupies”! Hearing them tell part of their husbands’ stories was a very meaningful experience. Also, as I walked through the exhibit, I found myself lingering in front of the photograph of the group of young Mesquakie Indian boys shortly after they enlisted. There was an elderly white couple working at identifying several of the young men and I asked if they had a connection to the Settlement. They said they had gone to high school with several of the enlistees pictured in the photograph. I hope the trip with the bus is going well, and that crowds are gathering at the various stops on your journey. I definitely felt enlightened and as if I had touched a part of history when I came away from the exhibit. Drive on! Sue Martin Librarian Rose Schinker in LaVista/NE wrote Michael: Just wanted to let you know the positive feedback the La Vista Public Library received about the P.O.W. program. The La Vista Public Library has tried a number of adult programs: local authors, genealogy, humanities, poetry--but nothing has been a success like your program. Our library had record numbers of attendance for your program/display. History seems to be our local topic of interest. Even though our library closes at 9PM, we had to let people know they could return the next morning. They didn’t want to leave, even though they’d been there for hours. The perspectives that your presentation gave, not to mention the quality, concerning the POWs from the Midwest were of great interest. As you know, our audience age ranged from grade school children with their parents to people who were interested in the war to the elderly who were interested in the items you had brought with you. The panels with the text were excellent and the most popular items, I think. So much information in such a small amount of surface area! Thank you so much for bringing your display to Nebraska. This program assisted in bringing our community together (and we still had calls after you left! We could’ve kept you a whole week and had people in to see your display.). I wish you continued success in your endeavors and travels. Sincerely, Rose Schinker, Library Director
From: Lynne Carey lcarey@amespubliclibrary.org The “BUSeum” was at the Ames Public Library yesterday evening. We had an enthusiastic crowd of over 140! Attendees reported that they found the exhibits to be interesting, professionally presented and very moving. This was a very easy way for the library to provide a quality experience for the community. I would highly recommend working with Michael Luick-Thrams and TRACES to bring the BUSeum to your library. We also have had Michael present two programs at Ames PL. Again, the attendees were very enthusiastic. One man even said that the program he attended was the best presentation he had ever been to and that the library should offer “more things like this.” I encourage you to work with Michael and TRACES to present high quality programs in your library. Lynne Carey Karen Burkett-Sandoval wrote We had the BUS-eum here at Bondurant yesterday. We had 44 students and 22 adults for a total of 66 during the two hours they were here. They were great and the patrons were very positive about the visit. We are a town with a population of 1,864. Our Friends group sponsored the fee for the program. Karen Burkett-Sandoval, Library Director Tim Garner wrote Dear Michael, The Buseum is an excellent learning opportunity for my students. The story of American World War II prisoners of war is compelling, and their experience is one which helps students understand the suffering which these men enduring in service to this nation. I am confident that my students gained a better appreciation of this chapter in American history by visiting the Buseum, and I recommend it to anyone. Thanks for coming! We hope you can come back next year for a full day. Sincerely, Tim Garner From: Roberta Wiegmann rwiegmann@excite.com The Traces bus was here in Allison Saturday and we had 92 people go through it. Michael was very delightful and we would recommend that you schedule the bus in your community if you have the chance. Roberta Wiegmann, Allison Director From: Nissen Library nissen@smig.net On such a cold wet day, we had a great turn out for the Traces bus here in St. Ansgar. Don’t be hesitant to schedule an appearance at your library if you can fit it into your budget. Michael will do his best to make it an enjoyable time for your community. Marsha Kuntz From: Lorraine Borowski borowslo@martin.luther.edu The Bus-eum was in Decorah yesterday. We had over 170 people go through it during the three hour stay. I am very appreciative of the dedication that Michael has to the subject and his ability to receive funding to showcase his interests. For us to have a program that drives up, and offers historical information in such a wide media to this many of our citizens speaks well of him but also the shows favorably on our library. I respect his endeavors and ability to “think out side the box “ in providing quality programming. Lorraine Borowski, Director From: Mary Herold maryh@crescopl.org The BUS-eum was at the Cresco Public Library last night from 7:00-9:00 p.m. and it was wonderful. The response was wonderful, the exhibit was wonderful, and Michael was wonderful (I need a new adjective). We had 130 people, which was a tremendous turnout for a town our size. Michael was pleasantly shocked at how many people were waiting before the exhibit even opened (about 45 people). He addressed the crowd before the exhibit began, explaining things and saying how pleased he was at the crowd—that he had never before had so many people waiting in line before he even opened. He was terrific to our 12-year old volunteer—a sixth-grade boy who is very interested in the WWII era and was soooo excited to be a volunteer. Michael was gracious and humorous, organized and efficient and enthusiastic. The exhibit was scheduled to close at 9:00, but three times he told me to be sure to tell people not to rush through—that he could stay as late as 10:00 if people were still interested. He was very, very busy (he was doing scheduling from my office and had a grant proposal to write yet last night when he left here at 9:45), but took time to talk to individuals and hear their stories and exchange information. When planning to have the BUS-eum here, Michael and I exchanged some e-mails and phone calls, as I had some questions. I said we had a very small programming budget and could not manage the “suggested “donation. He replied that of course he understood libraries’ budget constraints and anything we could manage would be fine (we ALL understand about being a non-profit entity, don’t we???) I couldn’t have been more pleased with the evening. I would highly recommend this exhibit and Michael. Mary Callie Irons wrote The Bus-eum was here at Robey Memorial (Waukon) this morning. As everyone has said the exhibit is impressive. We had nearly 50 people in the 1.5 hours scheduled. Michael was on time, very gracious, and spent time with 2 local former POWs. I admit I had approached this experience with hesitation. For what it is worth Michael asked if I would alert everyone that he alone is working the exhibit. When he started this project, he had four helpers. He is now by himself, doing the scheduling, driving the bus, setting up and working the exhibit. Michael admitted that it has been a stressful time for him. Until Michael can get the message out himself, he is asking that the email address, BUSeumTour@yahoo.com be used to request bookings. But to actually confirm a booking call his cell phone (515-250-3825). With above being stated hopefully all parties will be more understanding and tolerant in the process of bringing this wonderful exhibit to our local communities. Callie Irons | Home | |