2008: Year of Big Anniversaries

“REMEMBERING THE PAST, Building for the Future” will be a key theme at Crazy Horse Memorial in 2008.

     This year marks the “Diamond Jubilee,” the 60th anniversary of the June 3, 1948, dedication of the educational, cultural and humanitarian project.

   This also is the 10th anniversary of completing the carved face, which was dedicated on June 3, 1998.

   Can you guess the significance of April 1, 1968? That’s when the Crazy Horse Post Office opened, and this year marks the 40th anniversary of the first day of cancellations. (Postage stamps cost a nickel then. That, of course, has changed, although Ruth Ziolkowski still receives $1 a year as postmistress, an annual check she still does not cash.)

     The Memorial and the Family of Korczak also will note the 100th birth year of the Storyteller in Stone. His daughter, Anne Ziolkowski-Christensen, vice president of operations at Crazy Horse, and other family members are designing visitor center exhibits and memorabilia to commemorate his birth on September 6, 1908. Some collector’s items will be offered in the museum gift shop.