Special Exhibits

Special Exhibits are another way museums can connect to their patrons. One example is recently a collection was put up at the Miners Hall Museum at Franklin, Kansas by a local JFK collector. Mr. Louis Nicoletti had been a collector of JFK memorabilia for many decades and was very excited to have his collection on display at Franklin right down the road from where he grew up in Arma, Kansas. Special Exhibits do not have to meet the mission always for a museum. The reason being they are usually loaned to a museum on a temporary basis. The Miners Hall Museum is a museum which works to preserve the rich mining history of Southeast Kansas. Mr. Nicoletti's family was involved in mining and he had a some items to donate to the mining section of the museum. It was a wonderful collection for the museum to display with the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy approaching on November 22, 2013. Mr. Louis Nicoletti was tragically taken from us on Tuesday, November 19, 2013 as the result of a traffic accident, but his legend will live on in Southeast Kansas. We are so very fortunate to have known Louie while he was here. Anyone wishing to see the collection of President John F. Kennedy will still be able to view it through the end of the year.   

 Items of Louis Nicoletti's on display at Miners Hall Museum. 

A hat on display at Miners Hall Museum. It belonged to Louie's Father-in-law, Ted Skahan, who meet Kennedy at the Joplin Airport and handed him this hat in 1962. 

 Area residents have also contributed other items on display at the museum for the week of JFK celebration in late November to compliment Mr. Nicoletti's collection. 

I know all of the board members and staff at the Miners Hall Museum are very blessed to have known Mr. Louis Nicoletti. He was truly an asset to our museum and leaves behind numerous family members and friends who loved him dearly. All thoughts and prayers go out to the Nicoletti family. 

This blog post is in Memory of Louis Nicoletti (1923-2013). 

Miners Hall Museum at Franklin, Kansas

The Miners Hall Museum Foundation was founded in 2011 and the museum held its grand opening on May 1, 2012. The museum has vastly grown since that day with a massive collection and has hosted numerous temporary exhibits in its first couple years of operation at the Franklin Community Center in Franklin, Kansas. The small community of Franklin was struck by an EF4 tornado at 5:13 p.m. on May 4, 2003. Anytime a natural disaster strikes a community it takes awhile to get the community back and operational, but the community Franklin bounced back that a lot of larger cities who have been through natural disaster. Franklin, Kansas is quite a community with strong love and support and show anything is possible if you believe and put your time and effort into the project. In ten years after this natural disaster I don't think the town would ever imagine what happened to them next. In 2011, the Miners Hall Museum Foundation received notification they would be hosting a Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit in 2013. From May 11-June 23, 2013, the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit: The Way We Worked was on site with a companion exhibit from the Big Brutus Museum at West Mineral, Kansas. The museum had over 6,000 visitors in 6 weeks from 38 states and 5 countries!!

"The Way We Worked" Exhibit at Miners Hall Museum 

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Union Hall in Franklin, Kansas sat were the Miners Hall Museum is today. The Union Hall has been gone for many years now. This land has a lot of history to tell as it is not only important to Franklin, but Crawford County, Southeast Kansas, the State of Kansas, and the United States. The location of the Union Hall in Franklin was where the Amazon Army organized in December 1921. This was a group of women who were daughters, mothers, wives, cousins, grandmothers, sweethearts, fiancés, friends... of coal miners who joined in the protests against the unfair labor practices and laws being implemented in the Southeast Kansas coalfields. They made newspapers all across the state and the nation.

Photograph Union Hall at Franklin, Kansas 

North Side of Miners Hall Museum Main Gallery 

West Side of Miners Hall Museum Main Gallery

This museum has quite a story to tell and what a story it is for all patrons to enjoy and many spend hours in our gallery admiring the artwork, artifacts, research library, and stories of the miners and their families who made their lives and homes in Crawford and Cherokee Counties in Southeast Kansas. We have two recently donated coal buckets, which one you see in the picture above. These coal buckets from the SEK Art Fest, which lined downtown Pittsburg and where auctioned over Labor Day Weekend. We are very proud to have these coal buckets to add to our collection. Many talented artists expressed their creativity in the SEK Art Fest. The coal buckets lined the streets of Broadway in Pittsburg, Kansas from June 1-September 1, 2013.

The following artwork was donated on May 10, 2013 to the Miners Hall Museum at the opening of the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit by Antonio and Holly Martinez of Phoenix, Arizona. They own Sinfin Studio in Phoenix and truly captured the lifestyle and story of Southeast Kansas mining. I am also proud to say they are my sister and brother-in-law. Their pieces have made a wonderful addition to the museum.



Antonio Martinez. Working for the Man. Charcoal. 2013

This artwork embraces the entrance of Miners Hall Museum. 

Holly Boyd-Martinez. Outspoken Persistence. Acrylic. 2013



Holly Boyd-Martinez. Outspoken Persistence. Acrylic. 2013

The 6 Panels that make up Outspoken Persistence tell the story of mining in Southeast Kansas and include some key figures in the changes in the Southeast Kansas coalfields. 

Miners Hall Museum is open Monday-Saturday from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Check out our Quarterly Exhibits on display July-September 2013: The American Civil War: A Nation Divided and October-December 2013 Slovenian Heritage. We also have a John F. Kennedy Collection, that will be coming soon to be temporarily on display at the museum.