Director: John Snow
Assistant Director: Margie Cain
About the Karpeles Museum- Rock Island, Illinois
(309) 788-0806
Rock Island is part of the Quad Cities which includes Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa and Moline/East Moline and Rock Island in Illinois. These historic riverfront cities reside on the mighty Mississippi River and have a combined population of over 400,000 people. Rock Island is famous for its long history with the Rock Island Lines railroad, of which many songs and stories have been written about. It was also home to the Sauk and Fox Native American Indian tribes and the great warrior, Black Hawk. A pristine park name Black Hawk State Historic Site and the John Hauberg Indian Museum, also located in the park, pay tribute to this great warrior and the Sauk and Fox tribes.
Rock Island is also home to the Downtown Rock Island Arts & Entertainment District which features live theater, music, comedy clubs, galleries, shops and a wealth of restaurants, pubs and night clubs. The downtown also features a variety of festivals throughout the year that attract people from throughout the Midwest. For more information on the Quad Cities and to plan your visit to the Karpeles Museum visit http://www.visitquadcities.com.
The Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum is located at 700 22nd Street, Rock Island, Illinois. It was formerly a Christian Science church, designed by architect William C. Jones of Chicago in the Palladian style, it was built between 1914-1915. Its exterior walls are of brick covered by Bedford limestone. Its superimposed front portico is supported by six 2 story columns with egg-and-dart capitals. Its dome actually consists of 2 domes: an outer dome and an inner dome which are separated by a space for lighting fixtures and maintenance. The inner dome consists of some 8,000 colored fish scale glass panes on a wooden support structure. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1998. Trial sketch for Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" Drawn by Norman Rockwell
Preserved at the Karpeles Museum Rock Island
