Mandarin Museum Welcomes Military Families as a
Blue Star Museum
The Mandarin Museum and Historical Society is one of more than 2000 museums across America and three in Jacksonville that are participating in Blue Star Museums for military personnel and their families this summer. Blue Star Museums is a partnership among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, Joining Forces, MetLife Foundation and museums across the country.Museums involved in this program give free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2014.
The free admission program is available to any bearer of a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), a DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card, which includes active duty U.S. military - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, as well as members of the National Guard and Reserve, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps - and up to five family members.
The Mandarin Museum is always free for visitors, so anyone with these IDs, active or retired, will receive the museum member discount on books and items available in the museum's store during the summer.
President Sandy Arpen points out that "2014 is an especially interesting and exciting time for military families to visit the Mandarin Museum because we are observing the 150th Anniversary of the sinking of the U.S. Army Troop Transport steamship Maple Leaf with a special exhibit of rare Civil War artifacts." These relics of the past were recovered from the National Historic Landmark shipwreck site in the St. Johns River in the late 1980s and early 1990s by local dentist Dr. Keith Holland and the St. Johns Archaeological Expeditions Inc. This Union steamship was sunk by Confederate mines placed in the St. Johns between Mandarin Point and Clay County on April 1, 1864.
The complete list of participating museums is available at www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums. Information about Mandarin Museum can be found at www.mandarinmuseum.net or 904 268-0784.
The free admission program is available to any bearer of a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), a DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card, which includes active duty U.S. military - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, as well as members of the National Guard and Reserve, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps - and up to five family members.
The Mandarin Museum is always free for visitors, so anyone with these IDs, active or retired, will receive the museum member discount on books and items available in the museum's store during the summer.
President Sandy Arpen points out that "2014 is an especially interesting and exciting time for military families to visit the Mandarin Museum because we are observing the 150th Anniversary of the sinking of the U.S. Army Troop Transport steamship Maple Leaf with a special exhibit of rare Civil War artifacts." These relics of the past were recovered from the National Historic Landmark shipwreck site in the St. Johns River in the late 1980s and early 1990s by local dentist Dr. Keith Holland and the St. Johns Archaeological Expeditions Inc. This Union steamship was sunk by Confederate mines placed in the St. Johns between Mandarin Point and Clay County on April 1, 1864.
The complete list of participating museums is available at www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums. Information about Mandarin Museum can be found at www.mandarinmuseum.net or 904 268-0784.