ABOUT US

Museum Exhibit Design: Gary Schlosstein, collector and curator of Castlerock Museum, envisioned creating a new, exciting concept in museum design featuring open wall interpretive exhibits intermixed with art to walk the viewer through history. He reached out to Christopher Dobson, a longtime friend, English arms and armor expert, former armorer to the Royal Armouries, leader of several International Arms and Armour Conferences, author of recognized works on art and armor and a film and TV consultant, to come to the United States and develop a conceptual open exhibit using the Schlosstein Castlerock collection and period art to show the development and evolvement of arms and armor through the ages. In a period of two weeks, the design was conceptually cast.

Gary Schlosstein then reached out to Jeanne Nyre, an experienced museum designer whom he had worked with before on other historical museum displays and Dondi Hayden, an experienced exhibit fabricator. Jeanne Nyre and Gary Schlosstein then worked together for a period of two years to develop and implement the actual exhibit displays and the descriptive and illustrated display panels. Dondi Hayden constructed the hundreds of artifact holders and cases, each of which had to be individually fabricated to fit each piece on display.

The finished design is a series of chronologically arranged capsules in time. You may walk through 2,000 years of changing times or you may go directly to the time period you wish. The museum is self-guiding. The interpretive and illustrated panels allow you to find out more about any particular piece of arms, armor or art.

History of the Collection: The museum arises out of the personal collection of Wisconsin Judge, Gary B. Schlosstein. At the age of 10, he acquired a Civil War musket for $3 and has been on a lifelong pursuit of historical weaponry since that time. In the early 1980's the curator of a Midwestern historical museum got him interested in the study of European Arms and Armor. As the collection grew, he concentrated on trying to obtain examples which would show how the style and form of arms and armor evolved through the ages rather than on one particular time period. Many pieces were acquired through the great auction houses, including Sothebys and Christies in London and New York, Bonhams and Butterfields in London and San Francisco, Fischer in Lucerne, Hermann Historica in Munich, and Czerny's in Sarzano, Italy. Over a period of time, he became closely acquainted with an international network of other collectors and reputable and knowledgeable dealers. Many pieces were acquired directly from these sources.

Recognizing the unusually complete historical scope of the collection and its educational ability to present the story of arms and armor through the ages, together with the fact that most museum arms and armor exhibits only show isolated periods of time, it was decided that the collection should be permanently preserved and put on display for the education and enjoyment of the public. The result was the establishment of Castlerock Museum as a recognized 501(c)(3) foundation, the ongoing donation of the collection to the museum foundation and the funding and building of an appropriate museum building to house, preserve and show the history of arms and armor to the public.

Museum Building: The Museum, a two story castle appearing building with crenellated walls, was specially built and designed to house the Castlerock collection. The street level has chronological period exhibits along the walls and individual displays throughout the room. The ground or lower level has continuing open wall displays and a 30 person theatre presentation area for group and school presentations. The building was commenced in 2007 and completed in 2008. The general contractor was Randy Secrist of RS Construction, Alma, WI. The electrical work was done by Terry Duellman of Fountain City, WI, and the plumbing by Collins Plumbing of Alma, WI.

Museum Staff:

Curator: Gary B. Schlosstein
Webmaster: Kelly J. Herold
Website Design: Jeanne Nyre (Artistic Layout) and Kelly Herold (Technical Design)
Exhibit Consultant: Christopher Dobson
Exhibit Design: Jeanne Nyre
Exhibit Fabrication: Dondi Hayden
Chief Docent: Chris Knecht
Conservator & Maintenance: Duane L. McElwaine

Museum Corporate Structure:
Castlerock Museum is a nonprofit educational Museum organized and approved under 501(c)(3) organized in 2008. It is a tax exempt educational facility and donations to it are recognized as IRS charitable deductions.

Board of Directors and Officers:
Gary B. Schlosstein, President and Director
Chris Knecht, Vice President and Director
Shelby J. Schlosstein, Secretary and Director
Najib G. Schlosstein, Director