City Artifacts Sought For Display
By DON STINE
Asbury Park beachfront developer Madison Marquette is seeking donations or loans of historic artifacts or memorabilia to be displayed somewhere in the city’s boardwalk area.
“We want to build a world-class collection of Asbury Park memorabilia. We have the space and manpower to display it and take care of it,” said Michael Walker, the vice president of creative services for Madison Marquette.
Walker said he believes a lot of memorabilia may just be sitting in people’s attics and basements right now.
“These types of artifacts are such an emotional reservoir for many people visiting the boardwalk. People really like seeing this type of memorabilia and I think it will be a draw to bring people here,” he said.
Walker said any donations would be owned by Madison Marquette.
“But we are open to anything- donations or loans,” he said.
Walker said he hopes to work with the Asbury Park Historical Society, which also seeks the same type of memorabilia.
“We will work with the historical society, or the library, or people with large collections of memorabilia,” he said.
Walker said there is no specific site proposed for displaying the memorabilia right now but he added that the company “realizes it needs to be housed in a safe place.”
He added the company hopes to have a display up and running by Memorial Day weekend.
Historical Society President Johna Karpinski said the society and Madison Marquette obviously have a mutual appreciation and respect for the history of Asbury Park.
“We look forward to working with Madison Marquette to obtain items of historical significance to be displayed and enjoyed by the general public,” she said.
The Historical Society already has a number of unique and interesting artifacts, such as a World War II-era baby parade float shaped like a battleship.
“In working with Madison Marquette these items could be properly displayed in a cohesive manner and in a single location for everyone’s enjoyment. The society would also like for the memorabilia and artifacts to be housed in a permanent museum in the not too distant future,” Karpinski said.
“The common goal should be to preserve, archive, and display items that remind us of the city’s unique past,” she said.
Anyone interested in providing memorabilia can telephone Walker at 732-897-6500 or e-mail him at: mwalker@mmrs.com.
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March 25th, 2008 at 11:53 am
It seems to me that Madison Marquette should nail down where they will house and display these items, lest the donors feel their priceless artifacts will languish in a warehouse somewhere. A reasonable display place might be in airtight cases in the arcade connecting the new Casino with the Carousel (sorry…Carousel “house.” Ahem..) and Asbury Park with Ocean Grove. Given that much of the memorabilia will probably include things from both towns, and in light of their intertwined history, it would be appropriate for the pedestrian walkway connecting the two places to display all the artifacts from their shared past.