The Jacksonville Area Museum opened its J. Capps & Sons Ltd. exhibit to members of the museum last night before its official opening to the public this weekend.
Museum Manager McKenna Servis noted a large turnout of membership to the opening last night. The crowd held former employees of Capps, Capps’ Family descendant Ellen Miller, members of the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce, among others.
Servis says the large display had approximately 100 artifacts to curate that included blankets, sewing equipment, clothing, fabric, and several pieces of promotional material and advertisements
Servis says between 50-60 hours were spent each wekk over the last month were put in by members of the museum team, including m
useum member Laura Marks who oversaw most of the project. Servis says the hardest part of putting together the exhibit was finding early history of the Capps Family and the factory in Jacksonville: “Finding out the true history of the Indian blankets that Capps made was really the nitty-gritty research that took place for this exhibit is what is usually associated with museums. With all of the Capps employees and the Capps family members that are still here around Jacksonville, Capps history is still very much alive and changing. There was not a lot of research. It was mostly the gathering oral history and things like that, which went into the exhibit.”
Servis says its her biggest joy and biggest challenge with the museum’s management is finding out true information about hard-to-find history in the local area.
The Capps Clothing Company exhibit officially opens to the public on Saturday at 10AM. A $5 donation for adults who visit the library is suggested.