Trip Report to Jimmy Stewart Museum
by Tom Sparks
My trip to The Jimmy Stewart Museum in Indiana, PA, on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, far exceeded my expectations. I was met at the door by Jimmy Stewart Museum Executive Director Jennifer Buckles, Museum Board President Keith Rearick, and Indiana Gazette reporter Frey Heide.
After introductions, we reviewed the new exhibit panel created for the James Stewart signed short snorter. Then I was given a private tour of the museum. There are rooms dedicated to Jimmy's family background and growing up in Indiana, his college days, and his pre-war days in Hollywood. Another room is dedicated to his WWII service with lots of artifacts donated by Jimmy and the Stewart family. The Museum showed me the location in this room for where the donated panel was going to be displayed.
The next few rooms are dedicated to his post-war life in Hollywood, his family, his continued service in the USAF (he rose to the rank of brigadier general), his later life, and the honors he received. One room is setup like the office he had in California. Another is setup like his bedroom was as a child, including the actual bed his father had to lengthen because of his height.
There are also exhibits related to the upcoming film "Jimmy the Movie" about Jimmy Stewart's life between the time he won the Oscar for The Philadelphia Story and the making of the beloved Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life.
There is a small theatre inside that was showing behind the scenes footage of the upcoming movie and has a daily scheduled full length film starring Jimmy Stewart. Harvey the pink rabbit was sitting in the back of the theatre.
Reporter Frey Heide took some pictures of the presentation of the panel with the snorter to the museum and wrote a nice article for the Wednesday edition of the Indiana Gazette.
Then I shared some of the other Short Snorter Project exhibit panels with Board President Keith Rearick. He "coined" me with a Jimmy Stewart Challenge Coinwhich I will treasure.
Before I departed the Museum I was shown the panel affixed to the wall for viewing. I had dedicated the exhibit to the loving memory of Delores M. Sparks. She was my mother and Jimmy Stewart was her favorite actor. I'm sure she is happy with my decision.
VJ Day
by Bill Myers
V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day) has two primary dates because of the gap between Japan's initial surrender announcement and the formal signing of surrender documents. August 15 (or 14), 1945, marks Emperor Hirohito's radio broadcast announcing surrender, while September 2, 1945, marks the official signing ceremony on the USS Missouri.
Editorial
Disaster! I was unable to transfer the photos that I took in Pittsburgh to my computer for use in the Gram until late today. It drove my crazy. The general process is to take the photos with my phone. Then I attach them to an email and send it to my computer. Then I must download them to the downloads file. Next I must upload the photos to the site that handles the Gram (Mail Chimp). Fiinaly, I place the images in the Gram!
If editing of the photos is necessary, I must transfer the photos from my computer to a thumb drive in order to move them to my old computer in order to use Photoshop on them. Then of course they have to go back to the "main" computer for placing. All in all a real pain, but compared to the old days when we had no images at alll, the Gram is much better with the images.
Upon arrival home from Pittsburgh, I jumped on the computer to get out a Gram with reports on the convention.
I was unable to email the images to my home computer. Restt assured I tried everything that I could imagine and consulted with everyone. No luck.
I had a long session with MPCWizzard (Doug Bell) today. We did not solve the problem, but we did eliminate some possibilities. Those new failures inspired me to a few more things and I solved the problem. Of course the ultimate problem goes back to operator error! The root of the cause goes back months and is too complicated to explain. I am sure that you could understand it, I just could not explain it!
Rather than delay further this Gram. in order to finish the ANA reports, I will delay those reports for a few days. The good news is that this final delay allows me to encourage you to send if your reports from the conventon. Please send images that I can now handle and any comments or reports that you have.
Mail Call
The Gram A welcomes mail from readers. Mail may be edited for space or clarity. Writers must be known to the editorial office and will be identified in the Gram by real or nickname.
Dear Editor,
Loretta and I had a great time at the World's Fair of Money! We saw and chatted with many people. The exhibits were wonderful and I found some treasures to take home. All in all a great time.
— Harold
Training Schedule (calendar)
2026
In this section, the MPGram lists events that are likely to be of special interest to collectors who are interested in MPC and other type of military numismatic items. We do not list "routine" coin shows where a collector might find a few items by chance. However, if we know that some Festers or Gramsters will be there we will list that same show in the hope of promoting fellowship. Send us your reports.
ANA World's Fair of Money® - 25-29 Aug, Pittsburgh
Notables planning to attend: the Bolings, the Schwans, Ray Feller, Michael Chou, Danny Spungen, Roger Urce, Dave Frank, Joel Shafer, Dave Leong, Adam Bickford, Loretta Freyser and Harold Kroll
IKO TAMS Englewood, Oho 9-10 October. Fred Schwan attending
Michigan State Numismatic Society 20 - 21 November. Kathy Freeland, Fred Schwan attending
2027
MPCFest, Holiday Inn Express, Port Clinton, OH 19-21 March registration required (except bourse 19 - February) 419 349 1872 (questions) 419 732 7322 (registration, ask for Kim).
American Numismatic Association National Money Show, 4-6 March Virginia Beach, VA (Bolings attending).
Michigan State Numismatic Society 9-11 April. Kathy Freeland attending
Georgia Numismatic Association April 16-18, Dalton, GA. (John Phipps, David Marble attending)
Central States Numismatic Society, April 21-24 Schaumburg, IL
Please help us fill in the dates for events listed and give us any additional events that might conflict. Thank you very much.
MPCFest sponsors
Joe and Louise Boling, Mike Buckley, Steve Fahrlander, Ray Feller family, Dave Frank, Kathy Freeland, Loretta Freyser, Al Glaser, Dave Hunsicker, Brett Irick, Jennifer and Eric Kibbey (dba Camelot Coins), Harold Kroll, Bill Myers, Joel Shafer.
MPCFest is possible because of the generous support of its sponsors.
Gram Exchange
Do you have something for sale (or trade)? Are you looking for something for your collection? You can offer items here in the Gram or list specific items that you need.
FOR SALE
Send your text and images (!) to the editor for inclusion in the Gram Exchange. Please send the images in jpeg format with each image in a separate file.
Large World War II home front ration collection featuring an MV red token and ration book 5. Too many items to describe. Contact Dave Frank at dave@frankcomputers.com and I will email you a list of all the items. Would prefer to sell the whole collection rather than individual items. It's a very nice collection accumulated over 25 years.
List your items for sale here for FREE
WANTED
Harold Kroll HARBONS@aol.com