The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library (NCSML) is a museum and library of Czech and Slovak history and culture located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Established in 1974, the museum and library moved to its present site in 1983.  In 1974, several second and third-generation Czech Americans in the Cedar Rapids area founded the Czech Fine Arts Foundation to preserve their Czech heritage and culture.  In 1978, the group's growing collection of artifacts and documents caused them to open a Czech Museum in a three-room house, where the museum attracted additional materials and volunteers.  In 1981, the collections were moved to a new building on the museum's current site with the goal of permanent public display.  In 1983, the group acquired a 2,200 square feet (200 m²) 19th-century immigrant home and moved it to its property, where it was restored and furnished in the style of the 1880s and 1890s.  From 1983 onwards, the museum began to employ staff, and during the 1980s gained additional artifacts and financial contributions from Czech and Slovak Americans.  The museum adopted its current name during this period.  During the Iowa flood of 2008, the Cedar River overflowed its banks, flooding the museum and library with 8 feet (2.4 m) of water and causing severe damage to the exhibitions and contents.  The damage was variously valued at $8 million or $9 million.  The flood occurred just days before the museum was scheduled to reveal its choice among four proposals for a tripling in the size of the facility.  Museum staff were able to remove two trucks full of museum and library material before the flood.  Fine art and folklore artifacts were prioritized for removal.  Two exhibits were destroyed in the flood, including one about the Prague Spring in 1968 and the subsequent invasion of Czechoslovakia.  In the immediate aftermath of the flood, artifacts were removed from the building's upper levels, which were not reached by floodwaters, and flood-damaged items were removed for restoration efforts, with some library books sent to Chicago to be freeze-dried and restored.  The Chicago Conservation Center assisted by providing expert help in efforts to save textiles and linens.  At the time of the 2008 flood the museum was visited by about 35,000 people each year, with an annual economic impact of $1 million.  The library held an estimated 30,000 Slovak and Slovak-related items in its library, two-thirds of which are stored off-site and were not affected by flood damage.  Around 40 percent of the museum's artifacts are Slovak.  The museum holds the largest collection of kroje outside Slovakia and the Czech Republic, with the oldest pieces dating to the 16th century.  

During the flood the NCSML's entire collection of 5,000 phonograph records, documenting 80 years of recorded Czech and Slovak music, were damaged. The University of Iowa Libraries Preservation Department was able to repair and restore most of the records.  After the flood, a temporary facility was opened at Lindale Mall.  The museum's temporary home was moved in April 2010 to the Kosek Building at 87 Sixteenth Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids, built in 1910.  The interim space, including a gallery and museum gift shop, was opened.   The museum was moved 480 feet (150 m) from the original site and was placed on an elevated foundation.  A groundbreaking ceremony was held on December 15, 2010.  On June 8–9, 2011, the Museum and Library, weighing around 1,500 tons (1,400 metric tons) and constructed of a wood frame with brick veneer, was moved to the new site.  The building new site is 11 feet (3.4 m) higher than the previous site and 3 feet (0.91 m) above the 2008 flood level.  The museum dubbed the event "A Monumental Move" and set up a webcam for viewers to watch the move; the City of Cedar Rapids also shut down 16th Avenue SW, including the Bridge of Lions, so local residents could watch.  The museum's contractor for the job, Jeremy Patterson Structural Moving, stated that "it's apparently the largest museum ever relocated for flood hazard mitigation, and probably the only museum ever elevated."  In addition to moving the first building to a new location, the rebuilt facility is significantly expanded, to a total of 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²) including "larger permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, an expanded research library, educational programming space, a new museum store, collection storage, and work space."  The new facility will be LEED-certified and will include a new 5,500-square-foot (510 m²) library and archives, 51-seat theater, three galleries, public and educational programming space for up to 400 people, underground parking for 65 vehicles, a terrace with a view of the Cedar River and Cedar Rapids skyline, and an outdoor amphitheater.  See pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Czech_%26_Slovak_Museum_%26_Library   

The name Malvern is derived from the ancient British or old Welsh moel-bryn, meaning "Bare or Bald Hill", the modern equivalent being the Welsh moelfryn (bald hill).  It has been known as Malferna (11th century), Malverne (12th century), and Much Malvern (16–17th century).   Sir Edward Elgar, British composer and Master of the King's Musick, lived much of his life around Malvern.  His Pomp and Circumstance, March No. 1, composed in 1901 and to which the words of Land of Hope and Glory were later set, was first performed in the Wyche School next to the church in the presence of Elgar.  A sculpture group by artist Rose Garrard comprising the Enigma fountain together with a statue of Elgar gazing over Great Malvern stands on Belle Vue Terrace in the town centre.  The Elgar Route, a 40-mile (64 km) drive passing some key landmarks from Elgar's life, passes through Malvern.  Malvern Concert Club, founded in 1903 by Elgar, holds concerts held in the Forum Theatre, Malvern Theatres.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvern,_Worcestershire   

For over forty years, Wharton Esherick built, sculpted, painted, and furnished his hillside studio-home in Malvern, Pennsylvania into a joyful expression of art in everyday life.  Schedule tours by advance reservation available March through December at https://whartonesherickmuseum.org/visiting-info/   

The total eclipse of the sun viewed from Northwest Ohio April 8, 2024:  At 11:30 a.m., it was 55 degrees with clear skies.  There was little wind, no birds, no squirrels in view.  Fortified with a lunch of round sandwiches, round cookies, sun chips, moon pies, and many wines (also Blue Moon Belgian White Ale) we went outside facing south.  The eclipse started at 1:56 p.m. and reached totality 3:14:10, and ended at 4:27 p.m.  The sky was dark, and although it was cold, by about 4 p.m. it was 70 degrees.   

A limited number of ISO certified eclipse glasses were available. The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library collected them for future use.     

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2800  April  10, 2024