The Riverside Press-Enterprise
At Mission Inn Museum, visitors reflect on peace, war
“Toward Peace” is the name of the exhibit at the Mission
Inn Museum, focusing on the efforts of Riverside hotel founder Frank Miller a century ago to foster international understanding.
It’s a look at Miller’s efforts to keep the United States out of World War I and, when that failed, his support of relief efforts, donation of land for a soldiers memorial and sponsorship of an annual Armistice Day ceremony on Mount Rubidoux.
Despite being ensconced in a storefront that’s part of the Mission Inn complex, “Toward Peace” is evenhanded. It points out that Miller “rarely had only one motivation for doing something,” so that while he organized peace conferences, he held them at the hotel to get business and publicity.
Credit goes to Theresa Hanley for putting it together, and I’ll add that learning last fall that she’s a Riversider was a pleasant surprise — I knew her for years as director of the
Ontario Museum of History and Art before her retirement. Sometimes the Inland Empire is a bit smaller than we think.
What grabs me most about the exhibit, though, is at the end, where a question is posed on an otherwise-blank wall: “What do you think are the threats and challenges to peace today?”
Post-it notes are at the ready for visitors to jot down an answer. Last I checked, the wall was festooned with dozens of them. Some are enlightened, some comical, a few confusing. Among them: “Bad people”
“$$$ (Greed)”
“The patriarchy!” “Men as in the male human!”
“Karens”
“Lack of empathy” “Power,” “Ego,” “Fear” “Racism,” “Tribalism” “Unwillingness to look at our own role; reflexive ‘guilty’ feelings & anger at being ‘blamed.’ ”
I hadn’t expected to find a psychologically penetrating statement, complete with semicolon, on a Post-it.
Shortest, most self-reflective: “Me.”
A few were over my head. Sometimes literally, depending where they were placed on the wall: “Separation,” “Romance,” “Survival,” “Find the Truth,” “Survivor of Narcissistic Abuse,” “Love Riverside (heart),” “Being casual.”
“It was fascinating to see all the answers,” Megan Keller, curator of exhibitions and public programs, told me with a grin. She allowed that some of the answers didn’t seem to go with the question, but that it wasn’t for her to judge.
Keller, by the way, had no business card at the ready, so she wrote down her name and title for me on — what else? — a Post-it.
I first looked at “Toward
Peace” on Feb. 23, the day before Russia invaded the Ukraine. I checked back on March 7.
A few of the new answers to “What do you think are the threats and challenges to peace today?”: “Russia,” “We have to stop the war between Russia and the Ukraine” and “God bless Ukraine.”
Also, looking ahead: “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong!”
In the museum at the corner of Mission Inn Avenue and Main Street, the exhibit is due to close April 3. Hours are 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily, and entry is free. How ironic and sad is it that during the run of “Toward Peace,” war broke out?
More museum
On my first visit, I was chatting with a docent when her young nephew entered for a personal tour of the exhibit.
She introduced me and, assuming her nephew would be impressed by meeting a local journalist, asked him a leading but dangerous question: “Have you heard of the Press-enterprise?”
He replied honestly: “No.”
I laughed. His aunt, a bit embarrassed, assured me: “He’ll know by the end of the tour.”
More Buddha
Repairs to and conservation of historic art and artifacts at the Mission Inn — the Buddha figure and items in the St. Cecilia Wedding Chapel, currently — were the subject of Sunday’s column. The nonprofit Friends of the Mission Inn, which hired Scott Haskins for the work, wrote to thank me and add that its project will cost upward of $40,000.
“We raise the necessary funds to do these projects through membership dues,
donations and our Silent Movie events,” events chair Sharla Wright told me.
The next one: Rudolph Valentino in 1922’s “Blood and Sand” at 1 p.m. May 7 in the hotel’s Grand Parisian Ballroom with live accompaniment on the Kimball organ. Tickets are $20.
Not to be outdone
Upland’s Cooper Museum is reopening after two years starting Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. “and every Saturday thereafter,” promises Steve Ipson of its board of directors, who says: “Come explore the history of Upland and the surrounding communities.” Admission to the museum, 217 E. A St., is free.
briefly
Thursday was the 75th anniversary of the first organized wheelchair basketball game, which took place in the gym of the Navy hospital in
Norco. The March 18, 1947, game — subject of a Joe Blackstock column in our pages last August — ought to be remembered, says Norco Mayor Kevin Bash, a city historian, for what it led to: the most widely played paraplegic sport, and its advancement of disability rights. Also, you have
to love the name of the formidable local team: the Rolling Devils.