Item of the Week: The Norfolk Mace - January 27, 1926

If you’ve visited the Museum on a weekday morning, there’s a good chance that you encountered a school group on tour. Guided by able docents, children of all ages regularly fill the galleries with the hum of excited young voices. One stop on some school tours is the Norfolk Mace, an impressive historic item that many visitors remember long after their first visit to the Chrysler Museum. Recently, while doing some research in the archives, we came across this image from January 27, 1926 when “Children’s Day” brought record numbers of parents, teachers and children to an exhibition at the then Norfolk Art Museum. Note the two Norfolk Police Officers watching over the Mace. As a February 23, 1926 letter [below] from City Manager I. Walke Truxton reveals, at this time, the Mace was stored in a vault at the Norfolk National Bank. Whenever it left the bank police guard was required to go with it. Eighty-four years later, school children are still visiting the Mace here at the Museum. You can find more information about the Norfolk Mace here or by stopping by the Library.