Hel­lo everyone!

Wel­come to Camp­bell House Muse­um’s new blog!  We are excit­ed about hav­ing a new way to tell the sto­ry of the Camp­bell fam­i­ly.  Each week, a let­ter, either to or from one of the Camp­bel­l’s will be post­ed — the dates will cor­re­spond to that week, so read­ers will tru­ly get a glimpse into that week in his­to­ry.  In addi­tion, staff mem­bers will be post­ing on the blog occa­sion­al­ly, inform­ing read­ers about events or oth­er impor­tant things hap­pen­ing with the muse­um today.  Thus, vis­i­tors to this site will get a taste of the past as well as the present and future of Camp­bell House Museum!

The muse­um is cur­rent­ly prepar­ing for the launch of a new book, pub­lished by the Mis­souri His­to­ry Muse­um, about the Camp­bel­l’s enti­tled “The Camp­bell Quest”.  It was writ­ten by a descen­dant of the Camp­bell fam­i­ly, Patrick Mac­Cul­loch, who is the great-great-grand­son of Robert Camp­bel­l’s old­er broth­er Andrew.  Mr. Mac­Cul­loch has doc­u­ment­ed not only the life of Robert Camp­bell and his fam­i­ly in Ire­land, but also the author’s per­son­al search to learn about his father’s fam­i­ly.  Mr. Mac­Cul­loch’s search start­ed when he found a pic­ture of Andrew Camp­bel­l’s house Let­ter­bratt with “my father’s house in Ire­land” writ­ten on the back in his father’s per­son­al papers.  It led him to North­ern Ire­land as well as Camp­bell House Muse­um, and he has doc­u­ment­ed his fam­i­ly his­to­ry in this fas­ci­nat­ing new book. The book will be on sale in the muse­um’s gift shop for $27.95.

To cel­e­brate the new book, Camp­bell House Muse­um is host­ing a book launch par­ty on Flag Day, Sun­day June 14, 2009 from 2 to 6 PM.  Mr. Mac­Cul­loch will be here sign­ing copies of the book, as well as sev­er­al oth­er mem­bers of the Camp­bell clan and rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Ulster Amer­i­can Folk Park in North­ern Ire­land which now hous­es Robert Camp­bel­l’s birth­place in North­ern Ire­land!  Bring a friend and enjoy light hors d’oeu­vres, wine and beer, and tra­di­tion­al Irish music and dance per­for­mances!  If you wish to attend, please RSVP to the muse­um by June 10 at (314) 421‑0325.

In addi­tion to the book launch event at the muse­um, Mr. Mac­Cul­loch will be giv­ing an illus­trat­ed pre­sen­ta­tion about his research and auto­graph­ing the book on Sat­ur­day June 13, 2009 at 2 PM in the Lee Audi­to­ri­um at the Mis­souri His­to­ry Museum.

We hope you con­tin­ue to read the fas­ci­nat­ing let­ters post­ed on this blog and we hope to see you at the muse­um sometime!