Category: Museum Press

NEW BOOK RELEASE: In Service With Uncle Sam by Deborah E. Breining

Museum News, Museum of the American Military Family, Museum Press

The Museum of the American Military Family and Learning Center (MAMF) is pleased to announce the release of In Service with Uncle Sam, an anthology of stories about working  for the US Federal government. A sequel to the acclaimed Schooling With Uncle Sam and Host Nation Hospitality anthologies,  In Service With Uncle Sam focuses on federal workers from different agencies and eras.

This anthology documents and preserves history as told by the largely invisible employees working for the federal government, detailing the experiences and relationships they developed at home and abroad while serving the United States.

Author Deborah E. Breining says,  “From my point of view, collaborating on In Service With Uncle Sam was both rewarding and deeply meaningful. The process brought together a diverse group of contributors whose voices reflected the wide range of experiences of civilians working within the federal government. Beyond preserving personal memories, the book serves as a bridge for future generations to understand the human side of federal service, emphasizing that behind every policy, program, or office, there are people with experiences worth remembering.”

Editor Circe Olson Woessner adds, “These stories cover the period from the Second World War to the present. It’s interesting to learn how working conditions have evolved and shifted over the decades,  and as federal employment continues to undergo transformation, this book serves as a record of those developments through the summer of 2025.”

ABOUT THE MUSEUM:

The Museum of the American Military Family and Learning Center is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and provides programming both Stateside and overseas.  MAMF is an award-winning, mission-driven, all-volunteer 501c3 nonprofit focused on the history, culture and stories of U.S. military families.

MEDIA: Please contact circe@militaryfamilymuseum.org

In Service With Uncle Sam (Museum of the American Military Family Publications) Paperback – September 5, 2025 by  Deborah E Breining  (Author), Circe Olson Woessner  (Editor) Part of: Museum of the American Military Family Publications (5 books)

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FQ286DY9
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 5, 2025
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 293 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8294954987

In Service With Uncle Sam can be purchased on Amazon: https://a.co/d/1Qqepvw

NEW BOOK RELEASE: WOOFTASTIC and Mr. Wonderful by Circe Olson Woessner

MAMF Kids, Museum News, Museum of the American Military Family, Museum Press, News

The Museum of the American Military Family and Learning Center (MAMF) is pleased to announce the release of WOOFTASTIC and Mr. Wonderful, an easy-to-read chapter book about the adventures of Danny, a lovable Jack Russell Terrier, who is part of a service family that goes wherever Uncle Sam sends them. Danny is loyal, opinionated, and imaginative.

 WOOFTASTIC and Mr. Wonderful follows Danny as he moves from New Mexico to Hawaii and back again during significant times in recent history: the COVID-19 pandemic and the start of the War in Ukraine. In between, his daily routine of guarding his family, waiting for meals, and napping is interrupted by real and imaginary adventures.

“Anyone who has owned a Jack Russell Terrier will immediately understand where Danny is coming from,” says author Circe Olson Woessner. “Much in this book is based on real events. Maggie and Mack were dogs we had years ago, and that story is based on something Maggie did. Danny’s travel misadventures are also based on his actual PCS experiences, and he did, in fact, stand up to a bear. Unfortunately, my family learned what a sneaker wave is firsthand, but fortunately, we lived to tell the tale. I really loved writing WOOFTASTIC’s story, which emphasizes his larger-than-life personality.”

Young readers will appreciate the stories as told from a dog’s point of view, and adults can imagine how their own dogs would react if they were dropped into similar situations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR,  ILLUSTRATOR, AND MUSEUM

MAMF founder and Director Circe Olson Woessner wrote this charming book. Danny is a real dog, and his real 95-year-old grandma drew the pictures of Danny’s adventures.

The Museum of the American Military Family and Learning Center is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and provides programming both Stateside and overseas.  MAMF is an award-winning, mission-driven, all-volunteer 501c3 nonprofit focused on the history, culture and stories of military families. To learn more about MAMF, visit its website at www.militaryfamilymuseum.org and its Facebook at www.facebook.com/MuseumoftheAmericanMilitaryFamily

MEDIA: Please contact circe@militaryfamilymuseum.org

WOOFTASTIC and Mr. Wonderful (Museum of the American Military Family Publications) Paperback – September 1, 2025 by Circe Olson Woessner (Author), Joan Y Olson (Illustrator) Museum of the American Military Family Publications

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FPSHZJ2T
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 1, 2025
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 102 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8298544351

It can be purchased on Amazon: https://a.co/d/eWo4ngk

A Special Back-to-School Event: Schooling with Uncle Sam-August 10, 2024 at the Cherry Hills Library

Museum News, Museum of the American Military Family, Museum Press, News

 

During the Month of August, patrons of the Cherry Hills Library will be able to see artifacts from many of the Defense Department schools worldwide. On August 10th, 2024, there will be a special program about the almost 80-year-old school system. Dr. Allen Dale Olson will share the history and some of his memories spanning his decades-long involvement with the school system.

If you taught at or attended the Defense Department schools, we invite you to join us for the program. We’d love to hear your stories and share some of our anthology stories sent in by former DoDEA/DODDS teachers and students, as well as answer questions from the audience. Let’s have a mini all-schools reunion at the library!

If you are a New Mexico teacher or in a military student liaison program, please join us to exchange ideas on better supporting military children at your schools.
We hope you will join the friendly folks from the Museum of the American Military Family for an interesting book reading, discussion, and Q&A session.

 

For more information, contact the museum at info@militaryfamilymuseum.org or the Cherry Hills Library at (505)857-8321.

 

MAMF previews its upcoming exhibit Host Nation Hospitality at Cherry Hills Library

Events, Museum News, Museum of the American Military Family, Museum Press

The museum presented an audio-visual preview of its exhibit at a special program at the Cherry Hills Library in Albuquerque, NM. The upcoming exhibit Host Nation Hospitality was funded, in part, by a generous grant from New Mexico Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The anthology Host Nation Hospitality is available for purchase on Amazon.

 

The Museum of the American Military Family & Learning Center releases its newest anthology, HOST NATION HOSPITALITY.

Museum News, Museum of the American Military Family, Museum Press, News

When US military troops serve abroad, they are often accompanied by their families. Host Nation Hospitality presents more than a hundred first-hand stories and commentary documenting their living and working experiences in all parts of the world. There are memories dating from the rubble of World War II to the present. The stories come from US and Host Nation perspectives and cover topics from friendships to fiascos.

Compiled by MAMF’s 2020-2022 Writer-in-Residence Valerie Bonham Moon, editors Circe Olson Woessner and Allen Dale Olson, and illustrator Joan Y. Olson, this book is a companion to Schooling with Uncle Sam, MAMF’s tribute to the 75th anniversary of the Department of Defense world-wide school system for the children of military personnel. Schooling is available on Amazon.

HOST NATION HOSPITALITY is available on Amazon and other book retailers.

 

Some quotes from the anthology:

“When they asked me for my “shot record,” I was bewildered as I had never had a shot in my life. That first day, they gave me Tetanus, Small Pox, Yellow Fever, and a TB test. Thankfully, no horrible reaction resulted!”

 

“The village custom is to gather everyone together during the Qingming Festival for a communal dinner, a ‘block party’ as it is known in the USA. We walked down the road to the community center where dozens of tables and red plastic chairs were waiting for the entire population of Baiqi.”

“The first night my mother went to cook dinner in our new flat, we learned a lot! For starters…there was a coin-fed meter in the cabinet under the stove burners. When Mother went to cook, she first had to feed the meter a few coins. If cooking took longer than expected, and she used up her gas purchase, the gas burners on the stove would start to go “pop-pop-pop” as the gas ran out. Like most folks back then, we learned to keep a cup in a drawer near the stove with coins to feed the meter.”

E Pluribus Unum: GRAICE UNDER PRESSURE

Military Family Members, Military News, Museum News, Museum of the American Military Family, Museum Press, News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“The motto, E Pluribus Unum, means ‘out of many, one.’ The museum’s latest project E Pluribus Unum: GRAICE Under Pressure — gives title and substance to a newly-released multi-faceted study exploring if the many do indeed become one,” Dr. Circe Olson Woessner, Executive Director of the Museum of the American Military Family (MAMF) explains. “E Pluribus Unum: GRAICE under Pressure curates, in one volume, stories from hundreds of military-connected individuals based on their service experience seen through the lenses of GRAICE (Gender; Religion; rAce; Identity; Culture; and Ethnicity.).”

The 276-page book results from MAMF’s most ambitious undertaking to date. The museum team and the museum’s Veteran•Family•Community Collaborative used an anonymous survey and written essays to answer a series of questions based on a simple theme: How do MANY become ONE without losing ONESELF. “How,” Woessner asks, “do we unite in service and still keep our personhood?”

The “GRAICE Project” involved hundreds of people, including a team of university anthropologists who analyzed the data and sorted it into specific categories in line with topics in the book. In addition to the book, the museum will present a series of podcasts and social media stories.

The book contains art by Brandon Palma, a military brat artist, and compositions by the museum’s two Writers-in-Residence, Valerie Bonham Moon and Connie Kinsey, who wrote essays on single-word prompts. Woessner adds that “almost two dozen other military-connected authors aged 9 to 91 also wrote essays on the same topics –almost like chapter bookends– different generations and perspectives, and these varied voices tell their stories, the good, the bad, the in-between, and the truly awful!”

“During the first 14 years of my life,” Connie Kinsey says, “I had 24 home addresses and experienced things much different from my civilian counterparts. This project is a serious look at life in a military environment as experienced by Brats like me. The stories are heartwarming, thought-provoking, and insightful. This book should be read in small doses, picked up, set down, digested, and revisited.”  Valerie Bonham Moon adds, “It’s also a professional analysis of contemporaneous social pressure that affects the people affiliated with the services.”

The project was grant-funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the New Mexico Humanities Council, and the McCune Foundation.

Woessner says that proceeds from this book and other MAMF publications help support the museum’s literary projects and residency programs. To buy a copy of E Pluribus Unum, please click the link:  

 

MAMF’s New Projects

Events, Military Family Members, Military News, Museum News, Museum of the American Military Family, Museum Press

The museum will be releasing E Pluribus Unum: GRAICE Under Pressure in late July 2022. This is part of a multimedia project exploring Gender, Religion, Race, Identity, Culture and Ethnicity in the military/family. In October 2022, look for the companion anthology to Schooling with Uncle Sam to be published. Host Nation Hospitality explores relationships and memories of life overseas. Additionally, the museum will launch its exhibit by the same name in late fall 2022. 

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