Kalamazoo Public Museum

Origins of the Kalamazoo Museum and Art Institute

From its inception in 1860, Kalamazoo’s school library had been available only to school children and their families, with school board secretary Frank Little as acting librarian. Following the library’s move to Corporation Hall on South Burdick Street and the appointment of Jennie M. Wolcott as librarian, the school library collection was made available to the general public for one day each week. Kalamazoo’s now public library opened its doors for the first time on Saturday, 12 October 1872, the date now recognized as the birth of the Kalamazoo Public Library.

Horace M. Peck

Born in 1814 in Watertown, Connecticut, Horace Merriman Peck was a prominent Kalamazoo County farmer, businessman, and banker, who became one of the wealthiest men in the city. A longtime resident of Richland Township, Peck later moved to Kalamazoo where he helped establish the Kalamazoo Savings Bank, the City National Bank, the Allegan City Bank, and other financial institutions. Peck was widely recognized for his philanthropic efforts, especially his support for the Kalamazoo Children’s Home.

The library’s museum came into being in April 1881 when Peck donated a collection of “seashells, corals, fossils, and marbles” to the Kalamazoo Public Library. He later purchased a collection of mounted birds and animals, which he gifted to the library, as well. Peck’s collections would form the nucleus of the present-day Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

“I desire to present to this school district, the collection of shells, corals, minerals, etc. which has been on exhibition by Prof. H.T. Woodman, of Dubuque, in the office of Dr. King. It is my wish that it may be kept in the building which is now or may hereafter be occupied by the district library. Respectfully yours, Horace M. Peck”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 20 April 1881

Peck acquired his collection from Professor Henry T. Woodman, a prominent Iowa naturalist and a professor of geology and zoology at the University of Dubuque. Woodman was the first president of the Dubuque Lyceum of Science and Art and later founded the Woodman Museum of Natural History in Dubuque in 1869.

Peck’s collection was put on display in the library reading room inside Corporation Hall and “arranged according to the labels furnished by Prof. H.T. Woodman, of Dubuque, by whom the collection was made and from whom it was purchased” (Gazette).

“The Horace M. Peck collection of corals, shells, marbles and fossils are now permanently located in the library building. Every specimen is properly labeled and described.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 29 May 1881

Kalamazoo Public Library was among the first ten public libraries in the United States, and second in the state of Michigan after Detroit, to establish a children’s services department. When the library opened its first Children’s Room in 1894, Peck’s collection was put on display in specially made cabinets in the southwest portion of the basement next to the children’s area. Although pridefully displayed, the museum collection remained largely undeveloped for decades.

The Peck House (“Library House”)

By the late nineteen-teens, the library was desperately in need of more room. To help ease the crowded conditions in the main library building, the former home of Horace B. and Helen Peck was purchased in 1926 to house the museum and art collections. The Peck House (thereafter known as the Library House) was located on the east side of South Rose Street, next door to the library building. It was built in 1881 by Horace B. Peck, son of Horace M. Peck, who had donated the original museum collection to the library.

In March 1927, the board of education hired Gertrude Gilmore, director of the Children’s Museum of Detroit, as a consulting director to help with the organization of the Kalamazoo Public Museum, which was to be established in the Library House next door to the main library. During the months that followed, the library’s existing art collections were moved from the main library building to the Library House under the guidance of Mary E. Palmer, the museum’s first curator.

To accompany the museum’s existing collections, Albert M. Todd, an avid local art collector, loaned enough from his personal collection to fill six rooms in the newly configured display area, including numerous paintings, marble statuary, and porcelain items. Other collectors soon followed suit with loans of their own collections, including rare coins, statuary, and crystals. Among the key features of the new museum would be the Egyptian mummies and their cases contributed by A.M. Todd and attorney Donald Boudeman.

“Kalamazoo’s public library is endeavoring to supplement its book-dispensing service with a museum service, and the movement certainly deserves to be encouraged. Although the museum exhibits must be held, for the present, largely on a loan basis, it should be possible in time to build up a permanent collection.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 24 January 1928

Pioneer Room

Among the first large-scale displays in the newly acquired Library House was the Pioneer Room exhibit, opened 12 October 1928 to celebrate the library’s 56th anniversary. The Pioneer Room, then located in the third-floor attic portion of the Library House, featured wood from one of the first houses erected in Schoolcraft, fireplace equipment from the first schoolhouse in St. Joseph County’s Brady district, and a desk from the collection of David S. Walbridge that may have been used by Abraham Lincoln.

“Kalamazoo Museum and Art Institute”

In 1929, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (K.I.A.) was consolidated with the public library and museum under the guidance of Kalamazoo’s board of education. In January 1929, the K.I.A. collection was moved from its room at the Y.W.C.A. to the Library House on South Rose Street, where it was overseen by library director Flora B. Roberts and museum curator Mary Palmer.

The Kauffer House (“Art House”)

By the late 1920s, the library was facing even greater crowded conditions. On 5 August 1929, the board of education voted to use a $40,000 gift from Dr. William E. Upjohn to purchase the Hale P. Kauffer property on the northeast corner of Rose and Lovell streets, next door to the Library House. The home itself, along with a carriage house in the rear, would provide much needed space for the rapidly growing public library, museum, and art institute. In 1930, both the Peck house and the Kauffer house were officially renamed as the “Library House” and the “Art House” respectively. Jointly they were known as the “Kalamazoo Museum and Art Institute.”

“Approximately 300 persons attended the open house given at the Kalamazoo public library, museum and annex by the Friends of the Library Sunday afternoon. Decorations in all three places were carried out with lovely floral arrangements.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 31 October 1938

In June 1945, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts acquired the property at 421 West South Street and vacated the library’s Art House. With this purchase the K.I.A. became an independent entity, apart from the museum and library, and no longer under the jurisdiction of the school district. The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts opened its “Art Center” on South Street in May 1947. The museum collection was then moved to the Art House, where it remained until 1958.

“A proposal for construction of a new Kalamazoo Public Library-Museum building to replace the present outgrown and outmoded structures will be brought to a vote at a special city school district election Oct. 3.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 17 May 1955

New Public Library-Museum Building

In May 1946, Alexis A. Praus became the second director of the Kalamazoo Public Museum, replacing Mary Palmer who had retired the previous year. Praus would serve as museum director for 32 years until his retirement in 1978.

After a $6M bond proposal for school and library expansion was soundly defeated in 1949, the school board staged a spirited campaign in October 1955, and the community finally voted in favor of funds for construction and furnishing of a new main library and museum building to replace the three existing structures on Rose Street. The issue passed in every precinct, with a 3 to 1 majority.

Contents of the library and museum were moved to temporary quarters in the Grace Corset Company building at the corner of Church and Eleanor streets so construction on the new library and museum building could begin. The last day of service in the old library and museum buildings was 19 January 1958.

Within weeks of its closing, Kalamazoo Wrecking Company began demolition work on the old library building and its two neighboring houses to make way for the new $1.5M Public Library-Museum structure. Construction work on the new building was set to begin in March while demolition on the site continued.

The Great Depression and Second World War had forced Kalamazooans to delay construction of a much-needed new library and museum building, but after a spirited campaign and a favorable millage vote, the newly combined Kalamazoo Public Library-Museum opened its doors on 25 May 1959. The Kalamazoo Public Library occupied the street level portion of the building, while the Kalamazoo Public Museum was housed on the second floor above.

The new building incorporated several unique features designed to highlight the museum’s 30,000-item collection. These included a redesigned Pioneer Room, inspired by Major General William R. Shafter’s boyhood home that once stood near Galesburg. The display was an authentic recreation of a c.1800s pioneer cabin interior, featuring hand-hewn logs from General Shafter’s own cabin, a large hand-woven rag rug, a spinning wheel, and authentic furnishings.

The expanded museum would also feature a six-foot hand painted three-dimensional model of the earth, a newly designed display for the museum’s highly popular 3,000-year-old mummy, and a new $35,000 planetarium dubbed “Theater of the Skies,” which was named after local scientist Hans Baldauf.

When Alexis Praus retired in 1978, assistant museum director and longtime museum registrar Patricia Gordon Michael was appointed director. After she resigned in 1984 to pursue a similar position in New York City, Linda Hager served as interim director for a year until Dr. R. Patrick Norris was hired as the museum director.

In 1990, Kalamazoo Public Schools, the City of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Township, and Oshtemo Township approved an agreement, which would remove the library from the school district’s control and create an independent institution. On 2 April 1990, the Library of Michigan officially recognized the Kalamazoo library as an independent library district. A provisional board governed the new system until a governing board could be elected the following year.

Museum Moves to North Rose Street

Following the library’s separation from the public schools in 1990, the Kalamazoo Public Museum transferred its governance from the school system to Kalamazoo Valley Community College. This set the stage for a new separate museum building in conjunction with the Arcadia Commons project. After four years of planning and construction, the Kalamazoo Public Museum closed its doors in December 1995 to prepare for the move to its new building a few blocks away. In February 1996, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum opened a new chapter in its history at 230 North Rose Street.

Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, October 2025