Mission & History a short history of the museum's founding In
1933, Jacques Marchais wrote a letter to a friend, Kate Crane-
Gartz, and said “If I could give the world something that would
be uplifting and a genuine help, perhaps, I should try.” And,
she did just that. Jacques Marchais, (1887-1948) Jacques
Marchais Coblentz was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1887.
According to Marchais, her father John Coblentz chose the male
name, ‘Jacques Marchais’ – a family name of importance to him
before her birth, and did not change it to the feminine form of
Jacqueline after she was born. Her father died when she was a
small child. Jacques Marchais was a precocious child and her
mother, Margaret Norman Coblentz, put her on the stage as a
child elocutionist, as a way to support the family. Her acting
career took her through the Midwest and then to Boston where she
was briefly married to Brookings Montgomery and had three
children. The marriage was short-lived and the children went to
live with their paternal grandparents.