When we first opened the Museum we had a wall upstairs with copies of our Peanuts books in foreign languages. I called it ‘The Book Wall.’

After a few years the exhibitions committee came to me to ask if they could put a false wall on it to make an extra wall in that small gallery (now called the Upstairs Changing Gallery) for an exhibition they were working on which needed extra space.

Always wanting to be accommodating, I agreed, and the staff promised that they would remove the false wall in the future.

Out of sight, out of mind, I guess, and I was involved in other projects at the Museum. The false wall stayed in place. Occasionally I brought up the subject, and was told that they really needed that extra wall space for exhibitions.

After a few years, I began ‎grousing about it more frequently and pointing out the number of foreign visitors we have, and that it is a tribute to foreign readers that we have an expanding collection of foreign publications.

Finally, my kvetching paid off and I was asked what I thought about a possible space on the second floor, just off the balcony. Great, I thought, and I agreed.

I don’t remember how long ago it was that we first decided upon that location. Maybe two years ago……and as often happens, during that time several things happened that made the plans for the wall even better. First, several new languages were added to our collection, including Russian and Serbian…and second, I discovered Sparky’s old passports and gave them to the Museum. Karen Johnson, our director, thought it would be good to include the passports with the stamps from foreign countries as a part of the display.

A view of the entire wall

A close-up of one of the passports.

The book titles in the photo above.

So here you have it. For me, it is a complete joy, and I am so happy to see visitors really studying it. And please enjoy this time-lapse video of the installation of this exhibition.

–Jean Schulz