Glens Falls Business Journal
By Rod Bacon
Dr. Jacquiline S. Touba, the founding director of the World Awareness Children’s Museum, was the recipient earlier this month of the 37th J. Walter Juckett Community Service Award.
It was presented at the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner on March 6 at the Sagamore Resort in Lake George.
“Even though I got the award it really belongs to so many people who have participated and supported the museum over the years,” said Dr. Touba. “Some have served on the board of directors, others have volunteered. They’ve helped in so many ways to make it a success.”
A precursor to the museum was the International Arts and Culture Association, established in 1985 to formalize participation by a group of community arts leaders in the International Festival of the Adirondacks. In 1988 the group started the International Youth Art Exchange to share children’s artwork from around the world. In 1995 they applied for a charter for a museum, which absorbed the assets of the association. After years of moving from place to place the board of directors was able to purchase the building at 89 Warren Street, where the museum is currently housed.
The museum is home to over 15,000 items focusing on cultural diversity and international art. The collection includes more than 7,000 pieces of children’s art and over 8,000 cultural artifacts such as clothing, musical instruments, toys and dolls from approximately 140 countries.
Its cultural exhibits immerse children in the music, home and family life, and fashion of societies around the world. Its outreach programs allow them to experience hands-on learning using objects from the museum’s collection, and its outreach initiative brings virtual and interactive programs directly into classrooms. There are also assembly programs and tours presented under the guidance of museum educators.
Dr. Touba was instrumental in establishing the Arts District of Glens Falls. She said the concept behind the initiative was to have a connection among all the arts organizations in the city that would lead to collaboration among them.
“We started a walking tour from one organization to another, and that more or less defined the district,” she said. “It starts with the Chapman Museum and goes to the Crandall Library, then to LARAC, the Park Theater, the Civic Center, the Children’s Museum and then the shirt factory where there are a lot of artists. We want to encourage people who visit Glens Falls to experience all the arts venues rather than simply visiting one.”
Dr. Touba retired from her leadership position at the museum in 2013 but she volunteers there every Wednesday. She explained that it is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for cleaning and changing of the exhibits if necessary.
Born in Syracuse, her family moved to the Capital Region where she grew up in North Troy. She earned her undergraduate degree in sociology from Syracuse University, a master’s in sociology from Purdue University, and a doctorate in sociology and city planning from that institution.
She taught sociology in Iran for 13 years but returned to the area in 1980 due to the Iranian Revolution. She has traveled extensively, visiting Morocco, Turkey and most of the European countries, as well as studying and working in the Netherlands. As a teen leader for Rotary International she took a group of students to India. She has also presented papers in Japan and Sweden.
After her return to the area she taught at Skidmore College but her experiences overseas convinced her that children needed to be introduced to other cultures at an early age.
“That was the motivation for starting the children’s museum,” she said. “It was a way of continuing my interest in sociology and world cultures.”
Dr. Touba is not idle in retirement. She has a studio in The Shirt Factory where she paints, creates pen-and-ink drawings, and authors children’s books. She has done a series on dance around the world as well as a book on Persian miniatures. She is currently finishing one based on Ruslan and Ludmila, a folktale from Ukraine.
Dr. Touba is married to Dr. Riza Touba, an engineer who owns Griffin’s in Hudson Falls. They have a daughter, Susan Wagner, and three grandchildren. Susan traveled from Oregon to attend the ceremony.
For more information about the World Awareness Children’s Museum log on to worldchildrensmuseum.org.