The Marshall Museum, although in a small corner of the school, depicts the long standing history of both the school and the man this school was named for: George C. Marshall. General Marshall served many years within the United States defense department and devised Operation Overlord, in which the Allied powers invaded Europe during World War II in 1944 and is most famous for his Marshall Plan. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. Due to these many accomplishments, Marshall’s wife, Katherine Marshall, was adamant about having the school named after her husband in order to memorialize him. The Marshall Museum both accomplishes that and provides a historical account associated with the general’s past.
Pearson finds archival documents, artifacts, establishes multi-year project
In the late 1950’s, the Fairfax County School Board voted to name the new high school being built in Falls Church, Virginia after American icon and longtime Northern Virginia resident George C. Marshall. The building and designing of the state of the art high school was watched over by Katherine Marshall, the wife of late George Marshall, who also dedicated herself to ensuring the school would be named after her husband.
The original plans of the school fittingly dedicated a small space for a museum dedicated to the life and legacy of Marshall. While there are no records of the original museum being constructed, 50 years later the assistant principal at the time Jay Pearson revisited the idea.
“I was in one of the closets in the main office and pulled this box down from one of the shelves. In it I found all of these archival letters and artifacts relating to the opening of school.” Pearson said. “When the school was officially dedicated there was an attempt by the original school principal to reach out to Marshall’s contemporaries. There were letters to Winston Churchill, Omar Bradley, and President Truman, and these were just sitting in a box on the shelf.”
The multiyear project which stemmed from this discovery was headed by Pearson, and later principal Jeffrey Litz and history teacher Tom Brannan, aimed to execute the plans for a museum dedicated to George C. Marshall. Ever since the start of planning in 2012, both students and teachers have dedicated countless hours to creating the Marshall Museum of today.
“It was kind of like my little project,” Pearson said. “As you meet with the architects you get to influence the design process a little bit and one of my wishes was to find a place where we could create a small museum space.”
Brannan takes over museum project, collaborates with SSHS
After Pearson’s departure as principal in 2014, the museum was taken over by history teacher Tom Brannan, who originally worked with Pearson on the project. Construction of the space had already been completed when Brannon took over, and students began to join as contributing members.
“From the outset I envisioned the museum as a student-led effort closely connected to the Social Studies Honor Society,” Brannan said. “At the end of the 2013-14 school year, I sought expressions of interest from juniors and seniors in the Social Studies Honor Society, and a few students stepped forward.”
Brannon began transforming the space into a museum by taking a trip with three students from the Social Studies Honor Society along with Litz to the George C. Marshall Foundation in Lexington, Virginia. While there, the group met with historians from the foundation, discussed the possibility of the foundation loaning Marshall artifacts to display and toured the foundation’s own museum.
“Along with the other project members I had the opportunity to go to the foundation in Lexington to learn more about Marshall’s life and to see primary documents and artifacts relating to Marshall’s career as a general and a Statesman,” senior Robbie Collie, one of the trip participants said. “We also got to talk with their staff about artifacts they would be willing to loan to our museum.”
Much of the transformation of the empty space to a museum took place over the spring of 2015. Brannon oversaw the student participants as they collected artifacts to create the Marshall Museum’s exhibits, which were found in the school or donated by the Marshall Foundation.
“Building the museum was an awesome experience,” Collie said. “I worked on Marshall’s early years exhibit, and got to work closely with artifacts from his college years at VMI. It was a really cool experience to get to know what Marshall was like as a person of similar age to me, seeing as we shared the same passion for history as well as the same hatred of math.”
Marshall Museum opens, participants plan future projects
The museum doors first opened at Marshall’s grand, post renovation re-opening ceremony. County school board member Ryan Mcelveen and county board of supervisors chair Sharon Bulova, as well as many members of the community, visited the museum to see the result of the students’ and Brannon’s hard work.
“Future plans for the museum include expanding its exhibits to include one on World War II,” Brannan said. “Coincidentally, the new IB History Curriculum that debuts in the 12th grade Topics course next fall will include a major focus on World War I, the inter-war period, and World War II.”
The senior students involved are especially enthusiastic to see how the museum continues to grow in the future.
“I would like to see more involvement by students in the future,” Collie said. “I got involved to see the same kindred spirit grow within other students that grew within me, but also so that the spirit doesn’t die out with this generation of students.”
Despite grand opening, museum space continues to serve other functions
The Museum is a place where not only can people come and learn about the life and legacy of George C. Marshall, but also a place where many students can explore their love of history, learn new skills in museum studies, and, in the words of former Principal Jay Pearson, “find your niche”.
From previous principal Jay Pearson’s initial conception of the project, the Marshall Museum has been through several iterations. Before it was officially converted into a museum, the space served as a storage room, and, at one point, an alternative classroom for theater students.
“During the time when The Ukulele was showing in the black box, that room was just too busy with construction for us to use it as a classroom,” junior Luke Hemmingson said. “It was an adventure to have over thirty of us in that very small space.”
Now, the space is home to everything from George C. Marshall’s military decorations to propaganda posters that exemplify public opinion of the time, making it an ideal repository of primary sources for those interested in a man who is both the school’s namesake and a key figure in courses such as History of the Americas. However, even for those with an interest in the project and the museum’s contents, it can be difficult to find time between classes to visit.
Museum accessibility remains limited due to scheduling, security issues
“It’s usually locked, and honestly during the school day I just don’t have the time,” junior Laura Goldberg said. “If it were open and accessible, of course I’d want to go.”
The accessibility issue of the museum is mostly due to the nature of the artifacts it houses. Where the glass display cases around the school display items and awards behind locked glass, the museum is open, and not everything is safely ensconced.
“We can’t just be open for anyone to walk in,” History teacher Tom Brannan said. “We could [have the museum open] at Learn, that’s a possibility–we’d just need someone who’s not convening Learn help sessions to do it.”
Beyond accessibility and the time constraints of individual students, the schedule of the museum is also dependent on more broad scheduling problems.
“We’ve tried to open it at particular times–for example, for the new student orientation. But it hasn’t fit into the schedule. So part of it is scheduling and part of it is just the availability of some free time.
After many changes, the museum has come to a point where it better represents Pearson’s original concept, but attendance is still low. Out of a Twitter survey of 112 students, 93 percent have never visited the museum.
However, as far of the issue of the completed museum being used for anything other than what it was intended for, Brannan has it covered. Up until recently, some were still trying to treat the space as a storage room.
“We’ve chased the scoundrels out,” Brannan said.