UNIVERSITY MUSEUM RECEIVES ITS LARGEST GIFT DONATION EVER

A New York city man has donated $75,000 to the Southeast Missouri State University Museum.

The unrestricted donation is the largest cash gift in the museum's history, said Dr. Jenny Strayer, museum director. The museum opened in 1976.

The donor, George Schriever, also donated a number of art objects.

The cash donation was made in the name of his late wife, Placide. She died in January 1996.

The Schrievers previously made major contributions to both the University Museum and the school's fund-raising foundation. Past donations included both works of art and money.

Strayer said the latest financial gift will be used to create an operating fund for the museum. The money will fund exhibitions, conservation of its art collections and acquisition of art objects.

"This will go for trying to care for some of the things in the collection that need attention," she said.

"I expect it does mean that we will be bringing in shows that maybe are a little bit more ambitious than we have had a chance to do in the past," Strayer said.

The cash gift is a major shot in the arm for the museum, which has been operating on a yearly budget of $9,400.

That doesn't include Strayer's salary. She teaches in the art department. She is paid a salary as a full-time faculty member, but receives half-time release for administrative duties at the museum.

Strayer said the Schrievers had several ties to Southeast.

Placide Schriever's mother was raised in a Cape Girardeau convent, St. Vincent's Academy for Young Ladies.

"Placide was named after the nun who cared for her mother," Strayer said.

Placide's father, Charles Daues, graduated from Southeast in 1898. He went on to obtain a law degree and served as a prosecuting attorney in Jackson before becoming an assistant prosecutor in St. Louis.

Strayer said George and Placide Schriever visited Cape Girardeau in the late 1980s to participate in an Elderhostel program.

They enjoyed their visit to the campus and later established a scholarship.

George Schriever is a long-time art collector. "He is full of enthusiasm and quite knowledgeable and passionate about art," Strayer said.

His latest donation of art objects to the museum included a bronze sculpture by the artist Hans Egon Reiss, "Bird Rattler," a print by Charles Quest, a mask from Gabon and a watercolor landscape.

The museum plans to hold an exhibit of Hans Egon Reiss' work in the spring of 1999, Strayer said.