One year after it was sold, a vacant church in Rock Island has found new life as a museum. Today the Karpeles Manuscript LIbrary Museum opened in Rock Island, in the former Christian Science Church on 7th Avenue at 22nd Street.
Museum director John Snow says the first exhibit is a collection of letters, manuscripts, and illustrations by and about Mark Twain.
Snow says David and Marsha Karpeles began collecting forty years ago, and opened their first museum to make the materials available to the public in 1983. This is their 12th museum, and they're located in 9 states.
Snow says the Mark Twain exhibit will be on display through the end of the year, and then a new exhibit from the Karpeles collection will open each quarter.
The Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum in Rock Island is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 am until 4 pm. Admission is free but donations are welcome.
(The illustration of Huckleberry Finn comes from the First Edition published in 1884)