Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum
Spotlight On:
April 9th: A Date in History
April 13, 2023 @ 7PM
Free Virtual Event – Join us on Facebook or YouTube
Please note: You can use the links above to watch archived Spotlight On programs!
April 9th is not just another date on the calendar. There have been several significant events that have taken place on this date over the years. General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in 1865, effectively ending the Civil War. In 1942, during World War II, the Bataan Death March began and as a result, today the date serves as National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day. In addition, April 9th, 2003, marks the Fall of Bagdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom. These events and more will be examined through artifacts and stories from the museum’s collection that have some connection to these historical events.
Michael Kraus Bio:
A well-known Civil War historian, Kraus currently works as Curator/Historian for Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum. His accomplishments include several historical consultant credits for major films, writing and narrating the documentary series Civil War Minutes and Civil War Life as well as authoring articles and books regarding the conflict. Michael also is an accomplished sculptor with an impressive resume of historically themed works in bronze.
Tim Neff Bio:
Tim Neff began working at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum Trust, Inc. in 2002 as the Director of Education. In 2017, Tim took on the role of Vice President and Director of Museum & Education at Soldiers & Sailors. He is a certified Social Studies teacher and holds a bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. During his time at Soldiers & Sailors, Tim has developed a variety of museum programs including: interactive and engaging tours and field trips, a footlocker outreach program, Boy Scout merit badge programs, teacher conferences, summer camps, community history events and much more.
Soldiers & Sailors Tabletop Gamers
10AM – 4PM
Welcome to the monthly game day for the Soldiers & Sailors Tabletop Gamers!
Theme Game: Air War April Dogfights With 1/72 Models Using Above The Clouds Rules
Free models pictured here are still available. If you did not receive one, please use the Soldiers & Sailors Tabletop Gamers Pittsburgh button for directions on submitting a request. Hurry! Supplies are limited.
We welcome interested gamers ages 10 and up of all experience levels (including none) who want to bring or just play historical board games and miniatures war games, in keeping with the museums mission. Game days will require you to pay standard museum admission, which is listed on the museums website: https://www.soldiersandsailorshall.org/museum/. HINT: The annual membership is very inexpensive! https://www.soldiersandsailorshall.org/donate/#membership.
For more information please contact Tim Neff: tim@soldiersandsailorshall.org
What is Tabletop Gaming?
Tabletop gaming is played on a table with physical pieces, as opposed to video/computer games. Tabletop gaming includes both board games with playing pieces (for example, Stratego) and miniature games. Miniature games use representative terrain game boards and miniature military figures.
Please click on the green “Tickets” button to register and pre-pay admission to attend.
Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum
Spotlight On:
Memorial Day: Remember the Fallen
May 11, 2023 @ 7PM
Free Virtual Event – Join us on Facebook or YouTube
Please note: You can use the links above to watch archived Spotlight On programs!
Do you know the origins and significance of Memorial Day? Ahead of this year’s holiday, join us to learn about the many ways that our country and its local communities have paid tribute to those who gave their “last full measure of devotion.” We will be joined by Mark Hauser, PhD from the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University. He will examine the changes of patterns in memorialization through the years. Artifacts and stories from the museum’s collection that are relevant to remembering our fallen will also be highlighted.
Mark Hauser, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University History Department
Mark Hauser studies American cultural and business practices of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His current book manuscript, All the Comforts of Hell: Doughboys, Business, and American Mass Culture in the First World War, is under contract with The Johns Hopkins University Press. This project examines how soldiers’ welfare programs spurred developments in the production, management, design, distribution, and consumption of a variety of goods and services. His research has been supported by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, the Hoover Institution, the Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture and Wisconsin Historical Society, the Kautz Family YMCA Archives, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, and the Hagley Museum and Library.
Tim Neff
Tim Neff began working at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum Trust, Inc. in 2002 as the Director of Education. In 2017, Tim took on the role of Vice President and Director of Museum & Education at Soldiers & Sailors. He is a certified Social Studies teacher and holds a bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. During his time at Soldiers & Sailors, Tim has developed a variety of museum programs including: interactive and engaging tours and field trips, a footlocker outreach program, Boy Scout merit badge programs, teacher conferences, summer camps, community history events and much more.
Soldiers & Sailors Tabletop Gamers
10AM – 4PM
Welcome to the monthly game day for the Soldiers & Sailors Tabletop Gamers! We welcome interested gamers ages 10 and up of all experience levels (including none) who want to bring or just play historical board games and miniatures war games, in keeping with the museums mission. Game days will require you to pay standard museum admission, which is listed on the museums website: https://www.soldiersandsailorshall.org/museum/. HINT: The annual membership is very inexpensive! https://www.soldiersandsailorshall.org/donate/#membership.
For more information please contact Tim Neff: tim@soldiersandsailorshall.org
What is Tabletop Gaming?
Tabletop gaming is played on a table with physical pieces, as opposed to video/computer games. Tabletop gaming includes both board games with playing pieces (for example, Stratego) and miniature games. Miniature games use representative terrain game boards and miniature military figures.
Presented by
Honor those who have served our country by attending Soldiers & Sailors’ annual Memorial Day Celebration & Ceremony.
This rain or shine event is FREE and open to the public.
Our host is celebrity personality Mike Frazer of 3WS Radio.
•Tour the Museum-FREE
•Enjoy family-friendly activities, contests and entertainment
•Food and beverages available for purchase
Join us in paying tribute to our fallen PA service members!
An all-day tribute to our Fallen Post 9-11 Pennsylvania Veterans will be available for guests to view. We are also observing the 3:00 pm National Moment of Remembrance, which is an annual event asking Americans,
wherever they are at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day, to pause for a duration of one minute to remember those who have died in military service to the United States.
Camp Chase Fifes and Drums, one of the top fife and drum corps in the country who perform Civil War music in period costumes, will be performing patriotic military music throughout the day culminating with a concert at the end of the day.
Free holiday parking is available around the Memorial and in the street-level lot across from the museum on Bigelow Blvd.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Special thanks also to the following supporters:
VFW Post 927
Disabled American Veterans COL Samuel D. Foster Chapter 76
Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum
Spotlight On:
Historical Flags
June 8, 2023 7PM
Free Virtual Event – Join us on Facebook or YouTube
Please note: You can use the links above to watch archived Spotlight On programs!
Each year we celebrate Flag Day in this country on June 14th. This program will look at the significance of this date and the history behind the American flag. A number of historical artifacts from the museum’s collection will be highlighted as we look at the stories and symbolism behind each one. All types of flags will be examined including American flags, battle, signal, captured, commemorative and more. Join us as we “Rally Round the Flag” in preparation for this year’s Flag Day.
Michael Kraus Bio:
A well-known Civil War historian, Kraus currently works as Curator/Historian for Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum. His accomplishments include several historical consultant credits for major films, writing and narrating the documentary series Civil War Minutes and Civil War Life as well as authoring articles and books regarding the conflict. Michael also is an accomplished sculptor with an impressive resume of historically themed works in bronze.
Tim Neff Bio:
Tim Neff began working at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum Trust, Inc. in 2002 as the Director of Education. In 2017, Tim took on the role of Vice President and Director of Museum & Education at Soldiers & Sailors. He is a certified Social Studies teacher and holds a bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. During his time at Soldiers & Sailors, Tim has developed a variety of museum programs including: interactive and engaging tours and field trips, a footlocker outreach program, Boy Scout merit badge programs, teacher conferences, summer camps, community history events and much more.
Soldiers & Sailors Tabletop Gamers
10AM – 4PM
Welcome to the monthly game day for the Soldiers & Sailors Tabletop Gamers! We welcome interested gamers ages 10 and up of all experience levels (including none) who want to bring or just play historical board games and miniatures war games, in keeping with the museums mission. Game days will require you to pay standard museum admission, which is listed on the museums website: https://www.soldiersandsailorshall.org/museum/. HINT: The annual membership is very inexpensive! https://www.soldiersandsailorshall.org/donate/#membership.
For more information please contact Tim Neff: tim@soldiersandsailorshall.org
What is Tabletop Gaming?
Tabletop gaming is played on a table with physical pieces, as opposed to video/computer games. Tabletop gaming includes both board games with playing pieces (for example, Stratego) and miniature games. Miniature games use representative terrain game boards and miniature military figures.
Join the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for a concert of sing-alongs, marches, and tributes to our military personnel including Stars and Stripes Forever, the Armed Forces Salute, and Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to West Side Story. John Stafford Smith’s The Star-Spangled Banner kicks off the program under the baton of PSO Assistant Conductor Moon Doh in beautiful Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum. This concert is offered free of charge but please reserve your tickets in advance. Day-of, ticket reservations are no longer available online. Tickets will only be available at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum starting at 5:30pm.
Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum
Spotlight On:
“A Civil War Husband” and the 100th PA Infantry Regiment
July 13, 2023 7PM
Free Virtual Event – Join us on Facebook or YouTube
Please note: You can use the links above to watch archived Spotlight On programs!
“A Civil War Husband” is a first-hand account of life as a soldier told through the letters of Thomas D. Nelson, member of the 100th Pennsylvania Infantry “Roundheads”. In his own words, Thomas details camp life through the food they ate, people he met, and impressions of the towns and surrounding countryside, prayer meetings, and much more. This program will feature author of “A Civil War Husband” Cindy Crytzer who is the great great granddaughter of Thomas D. Nelson. Also highlighted will be artifacts from the Soldiers & Sailors’ collection related to the 100th PA Infantry Regiment.
Cindy Friend Crytzer BIO:
Cindy is a former educator, event planner, and proud mother and grandmother living in Mercer, Pa. She has volunteered with the Mercer Area Library and Historical Society and enjoys transcribing documents for the Library of Congress in her spare time.
Michael Kraus Bio:
A well-known Civil War historian, Kraus currently works as Curator/Historian for Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum. His accomplishments include several historical consultant credits for major films, writing and narrating the documentary series Civil War Minutes and Civil War Life as well as authoring articles and books regarding the conflict. Michael also is an accomplished sculptor with an impressive resume of historically themed works in bronze.
Soldiers & Sailors Tabletop Gamers
10AM – 4PM
Welcome to the monthly game day for the Soldiers & Sailors Tabletop Gamers! We welcome interested gamers ages 10 and up of all experience levels (including none) who want to bring or just play historical board games and miniatures war games, in keeping with the museums mission. Game days will require you to pay standard museum admission, which is listed on the museums website: https://www.soldiersandsailorshall.org/museum/. HINT: The annual membership is very inexpensive! https://www.soldiersandsailorshall.org/donate/#membership.
For more information please contact Tim Neff: tim@soldiersandsailorshall.org
What is Tabletop Gaming?
Tabletop gaming is played on a table with physical pieces, as opposed to video/computer games. Tabletop gaming includes both board games with playing pieces (for example, Stratego) and miniature games. Miniature games use representative terrain game boards and miniature military figures.
Please click on the green “Tickets” button to register and pre-pay admission to attend.