News - Kalamazoo Valley Museum Announces Large Acquisition

Kalamazoo Valley Museum Announces Large Acquisition

Painting of Murphy Darden

Painting of Murphy Darden

The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is excited to announce it has acquired just over 200 items from the private African American history and art collections of the late Kalamazoo historian Murphy Darden Sr., the museum's most significant acquisition since the 1930s, according to Museum Director Bill McElhone.

"We are honored to provide a new forever home for many of Darden's artifacts of local and national historical interest, as well as for his sculptures, paintings, drawings and multi-media artwork chronicling often untold stories of the African American experience," McElhone said. "The pieces will serve as an invaluable resource for the museum, local students and the entire community."

The acquisition ranks as one of the museum's largest artifact procurements since its founding in 1881, though not the biggest. The museum is marking the momentous occasion by opening a free new mini exhibit, "Collecting Black History: Murphy Darden's Legacy," and hosting a number of celebratory events during Labor Day week.

The mini exhibit runs from Sept. 5, 2024 through March 2, 2025. It showcases about two dozen carefully chosen pieces from the massive collection of Darden, who died on Nov. 5, 2023, at age 95. This is the museum's fourth exhibit of Darden's holdings. Some items have never before been publicly displayed.

Four events round out the festivities. They are free and take place at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, with the exception of the Sept. 6 Art Hop exhibit at the Center for New Media in downtown Kalamazoo, located within walking distance of the museum. All are invited.

The events include:

  • Thursday, Sept. 5 | 2 p.m. | Panel discussion with community leaders and friends of Murphy Darden, including playwright Buddy Hannah; Wendy Fields, president of the Metropolitan Kalamazoo Branch of the NAACP; and the Rev. Kevin Lavender Sr., pastor of Bible Baptist Church, facilitated by Earlene McMichael, a journalist who is the museum's marketing project manager.
  • Thursday, Sept. 5 | 4:30 - 6 p.m. | Reception to celebrate the life and collection of Murphy Darden, featuring Darden's son, Rickie, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College President L. Marshall Washington, Ph.D. Program starts at 5 p.m.
  • Friday, Sept. 6 | 7 p.m. | Murphy Darden documentary film screening, produced by Public Media Network.
  • Friday, Sept. 6 | 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. | "Fill the Gaps: The Art of Murphy Darden" exhibit at the Center for New Media.

Funding for the "Collecting Black History" mini exhibit and the events are made possible in part by the KVCC Foundation. The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is operated by Kalamazoo Valley Community College and is governed by its Board of Trustees. A modified version of a past Darden exhibit that went on display three years ago at Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Texas Township Campus remains on view for all to enjoy.

"Murphy Darden saw the importance of collecting local Black history to fill in the gaps of an historically underrepresented community," said Julie Bunke, manager of exhibits and interactive experiences at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. "The items he collected tell us a unique story from certain times and places. This exhibit is for everyone, whether you knew Murphy Darden or not. He collected for all the people of Kalamazoo."

For example, the "Collecting Black History" mini exhibit contains the golfing shoes and skirt of the late Juanita Goodwin, an African American woman who was inducted into the Greater Kalamazoo Women's Golf Hall of Fame in 1996; she went on to receive the YWCA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Also, expect memorabilia from The Pacific Club, Kalamazoo's most popular members-only, integrated nightclub which hosted some of the biggest names in jazz and rhythm and blues. Darden saved items from buildings that were demolished, such as a drinking fountain from the Douglass Community Association's old location and stained-glass windows from local churches.

Darden, a historian and artist, enjoyed speaking in schools throughout Michigan about his artifacts, which he had on display in his home as part of his Murphy Darden African American Cowboy & Historical Museum, a 501(c)(3) organization he founded in 2007. Until his last breath, he remained on a passionate pursuit of the parts of history that have long been ignored in classrooms and in public discourse. His final art piece was a bust of Madame C.J. Walker, America's first female self-made millionaire.

Admission is free to the mini exhibit and the museum. Visit kalamazoomuseum.org for more information.