November is upon us and we have some great opportunities for you to attend with your friends and family.
Saturday, November 8, Genealogical Research Society of Eau Claire, 12-1pm – Research Time; 1-2:30pm – Meeting.
Join the GRSEC for their November meeting. Todd Johnson will be discuss prisoners of war and the history of the first United States flag flown in Occupied Japan following the end of World War II.
The GRSEC is a non-profit educational society dedicated to preserving family history and stories in the Chippewa Valley. Meetings are held the second Saturday of the month from September – May at the Chippewa Valley Museum. Doors open at noon and genealogy help is available in the museum library from noon-1pm. Meetings begin at 1pm.
Monster Monday, Monday, November 10, 4-7pm
Come celebrate literacy as your superpower during this month’s Monster Monday at the museum! Enjoy special Storytimes at 4:30 or 6:00 pm with the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library and check out a fun read from the Book Mobile! Make a monstrously good art project with the Pablo Center’s ARTmobile, and participate in a robotics demonstration led by the Leviathans. Have supper while you’re here, courtesy of Toppers Pizza. Create a themed bookmark to take home, or build a unique monster, superhero, or villain out of Legos for display.
While you’re here, visit the new exhibit from SuperMonster City!, “America’s Monsters, Superheroes, and Villains: Our Culture at Play.” Stay tuned for more Monster Monday fun November 10, 2025 and December 8, 2025.
Stay tuned for more Monster Monday fun on December 8, 2025 with special appearances by Spiderman and Santa & Mrs. Claus.
Register for tickets in advance on-line at cvmuseum.com. Limited space for walk-ins is also available. Tickets are $10/adult and $5/child (ages four and younger free). Contact Karen Jacobson at k.jacobson@cvmuseum.com for further details, or to see the full line-up.
Curator’s Talk: America’s Monsters, Superheroes and Villains, Saturday, November 15, 2-3:30pm
David Barnhill and Stephen Rueff, from SuperMonster市City!will be here to talk about America’s Monsters, Superheroes and Villains: Our Culture at Play. They provide in-depth insights and nuances on the featured toys, their creators, and their cultural context. This exhibit intertwines history, the art of play, and pop culture themes to explain social and political trends from the past eighty years.
Thank you to Sponsor APEX Engineering, Eau Claire, WI.
The exhibit reveals five powerful themes:
- Unintended Consequences: The Atomic Age & America’s Identity Crisis
- Truth, Justice, and the American Way: The Superheroes Who United a Nation
- Innocent Monsters: Our Empathy for Outsiders
- With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: The Hero as Martyr
- Myths & Legends: How Star Wars Saved America
Curated by Stephen Rueff, the exhibit unpacks how these fantastical figures became symbols of America’s place in the world—and mirrors of who we thought we were.
Rueff explains that “this presentation isn’t just a toy box trip down memory lane—it’s a cultural X-ray of America’s psyche! From Cold War paranoia to Atomic Age optimism, for over 80 years, these iconic pop culture characters have reflected our deepest fears, lived out our wildest dreams, and wrestled with the biggest questions about power, identity, and hope in American history.”
The presentation is included with admission.
