Mother Jones Museum looking for volunteers

The Friends of Mother Jones Museum, located in the Mt. Olive, Ill. City Hall building at 215 East Main St., is searching for volunteers to assist with promoting, improving, or simply maintaining the museum honoring the legendary Irish firebrand Mother Jones, who is buried in nearby Union Miners Cemetery (UMC), the only union-owned cemetery in the United States.

“Our current board is shrinking as our volunteer base ages, and our challenges mount,” said Board Chair Jule Caveny. “We are sad to report that as our former active volunteers can no longer assist, nobody has stepped up to take their place. We are approaching a point where we will no longer be able to properly honor Mother Jones, who asked to be buried in UMC due to an 1898 gun battle in Virden, Ill., where locked-out UMWA members died in a gun battle with mine guards. When her casket arrived in 1930, it was greeted by 50,000 kindred spirits. We need some of that energy and adoration of her to continue today.”

For more information, please contact James Goltz at 618-585-4400 or email at jimgoltz@madisontelco.com.