Angel Museum

The Angel Museum was a museum in Beloit, Wisconsin devoted to the collection and display of angel figurines.[1][2] Founded in 1998, the museum was housed in the former St. Paul's Catholic Church along the Rock River.[3] The museum closed its doors in 2018 due to insufficient funding.[1][4]

Angel Museum
Established1 May 1998 (1998-05-01)
Dissolved29 September 2018
Location656 Pleasant St, Beloit, Wisconsin
TypePrivate museum
Key holdingsOprah Winfrey Black Angel Collection
Collection size13,600
Websiteangelmuseum.org

History

Joyce Berg, the founder of the museum, began collecting angels in 1976, first acquiring an Italian bisque figurine of two angels on a seesaw.[1][5] By 1994, her collection was noticed by the National Inquirer, who wrote about her under the headline, "Heavens above! Grandma's living with 10,455 angels."[4]

The museum itself was first conceived in 1995[note 1] when Berg ran out of room for her collection and began seeking a new place to house it. Around the same time, Beloit's St. Paul's Catholic Church was being threatened with demolition to make way for a new development. Berg chose the church, and with the help of Beloit citizens the church was converted into a museum.[5][7] It opened on May 1, 1998 with an annual rent of $1 to the City of Beloit.[6] For special visits to the museum, Berg sometimes wore an angel costume including cherub socks, angel earrings, a halo and wings.[3][7]

The museum closed in 2018 after being open 20 years. In a letter to the community, the museum's board of trustees wrote: "We do not have sufficient funds, memberships, corporate sponsors, or volunteers to staff and operate the museum." The museum's collections were auctioned in October of 2018 through Beloit Auction & Realty Inc.[1][8] In 2019, the City of Beloit had made plans to convert St. Paul's Catholic Church into an event venue.[9]

Collections

The Angel Museum claimed to have the largest private collection of angel figurines,[10] and the museum's collection was cited by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2001 as the largest of its kind.[7] By December of 2008, the collection numbered over 13,600,[11] with approximately 10,000 on display in the museum on permanent loan from Berg.[7] The angels are from more than 60 countries and range in size from thimble dimensions to more than 5 feet (1.5 m) tall. In addition to porcelain, glass, copper, and acrylic, materials include lambskin, corn husks, tree roots, and spaghetti.[7] Two concrete angels weighing 100 pounds (45 kg) each stand in front of the building.[12]

The museum was also notable for having housed Oprah Winfrey's collection of 571 black angel figurines.[1][13][note 2] During a 1997 episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, Winfrey told Cher that black angel figurines were difficult to find. Winfrey's fans then began sending her figurines in significant numbers, and Winfrey had to ask her fans to stop.[13] Winfrey donated her collection to the Angel Museum later in 1997, shortly before the museum was set to open.[7][13][14] Others had donated angels to the museum as well, often as memorials to loved ones.[7][15]

Notes
  1. Other accounts have placed the conception of the museum at earlier dates. Berg claimed it was 1993 in a 2018 interview[2] and Antlfinger wrote it was 1994 in a 2002 article.[6]
  2. Some sources indicate Winfrey's donation later exceeded 1,000 figurines.[7]
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gollark: Only if you make the quantumness of redstone propagate to *any machine* reading input from it.
gollark: And Python.
gollark: Or Haskell.

References
  1. "The Angel Museum". Angel Museum. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  2. The Story of the Angel Museum, retrieved 2019-08-18
  3. "Angel Museum, Beloit, Wisconsin". Roadside America.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  4. Stingl, Jim. "Stingl: Anyone want to buy 12,000 angels? Beloit's Angel Museum is closing after 20 years". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  5. Des Garennes, Christine (2002). Great Little Museums of the Midwest. Trails. pp. 12–13. ISBN 9781931599085.
  6. Antlfinger, Carrie (December 12, 2002). "Angels on Earth: By Housing World's Largest Angel Museum, Church Spared Destruction". Lakeland Ledger. Associated Press. pp. D3, D5.
  7. Jones, Patrice M. (August 1, 2006). "Angels in action". Chicago Tribune.
  8. "Online Auction of The Angel Museum | Beloit Auction and Realty". www.beloitauction.com. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  9. "Economic resurgence spawns new projects for Beloit". WREX. 2019-08-03. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  10. Huhti, Thomas (2014). Moon Wisconsin. Avalon Travel. p. 123. ISBN 9781612387116.
  11. "Downhill from campus, an angelic place". Beloit.edu. Beloit. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  12. "Odds and Ends: Beloit, Wis". Ellensburg Daily Record. Associated Press. August 21, 2001. p. 8.
  13. "Oprah's angels to Beloit museum". The Fort Scott Tribune. Associated Press. February 1, 1997. p. 6.
  14. Grzymkowski, Eric (2012). The United States of Strange: 1,001 Frightening, Bizarre, Outrageous Facts About the Land of the Free and the Home of the Frog People, the Cockroach Hall of Fame, and Carhenge. Adams Media. p. 154. ISBN 9781440536144.
  15. Schindler, Frances (2001). An Angel at My Side: Surviving Leukemia Through Love. San Jose, California: Writers Club Press. p. 139. ISBN 9780595175994.
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