The Museum’s Best Friends

In 1959, a group of volunteers from the Junior League of Memphis started the Youth Museum project at the Pink Palace. They created touchable exhibits and led tours for school children. After several years of working with the museum, League volunteers Sara Misner and Merri Briggs founded the Friends of the Pink Palace Museum as an official, independent support group for the Pink Palace Family of Museums on June 13, 1968. Over the years, the Friends have served the museum in many capacities. They published Tales of a River Town, a children’s history of Memphis, and owned and operated the museum gift shop throughout the 1970s.

In 1972, the Pink Palace Museum began a campaign to expand the size and scope of the museum. The Friends pledged a large donation for the project. They held the first Mid-South Crafts Fair in October 1973 to raise the funds. The first…