We, at the Monrovia Historical Museum, are continually fortunate to have such wonderful benefactors. One of those is Norm Haley of Norm Haley Real Estate. Read the full story here. 

"It was an honor to share the history of our city with this wonderful group of young people," said Oliver Beckwith, museum board member and lead docent that day.  Read the story here. 

A FORGOTTEN POET:  ANNA KENNARD
by Gail Kennard

Anna Kennard was my paternal aunt, my father, architect Robert Kennard’s, oldest sister. Until recently, none of us in the family knew her as a poet.  Then, an uncovered poem titled “Compensation” led us to recognize her in a new light and ponder what might have been.  

For more than a decade, I have been researching and writing a book about my father’s life and work.  The Kennard family had moved to Monrovia in the early 1920s, and all four of the Kennard children graduated from Monrovia Arcadia Duarte High School.  The family lived in a two-story house on East Walnut Avenue, a few blocks from where the Monrovia Historical Museum* is located today.  

I first read the poem in a small faded blue three-ring notebook my father had kept with him while he was in the US military during World War II.  There are about 60 pages of entries, and the oldest one is this poem by his sister, Anna. He carefully typed each line of the poem, attributed it to her, and dated the entry September 1941.  

When Don Samuels stepped into the museum one Spring afternoon to offer to donate an 800-pound, vintage safe once used by the Monrovia Telephone and Telegraph Co., we were all ears!  But behind the story of the safe is Don's family's long history as local residents and owners of Monrovia Van and Storage, a family-owned and very successful business operation spanning four decades.​ Read the short story below.