Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Pittsburgh. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Leila Carter helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh
E91: Discover a Hidden Pittsburgh Manuscript Museum Library: Pages Breathe with World History Inside Karpeles
What makes Christopher Mcnally with Karpeles Manuscript Museum Library a good neighbor?
Ever stood inches from a page that redirected history? We sit down with director Christopher McNally inside a 101-year-old Pittsburgh church reborn as the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum—a quiet, free space where original documents from Columbus, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Beethoven, Chopin, and even J.R.R. Tolkien are preserved and shared with anyone curious enough to look closely.
Christopher traces how a mathematician and real estate investor, the late Dr. David Karpeles, turned a collecting passion into a coast-to-coast museum network, and how his family now curates rotating exhibits that land big ideas in your hands. We walk through the current lineup- pre–Revolutionary Stamp Act artifacts, European monarchy materials, classical music manuscripts, and age-of-exploration logs- and preview a timely new exhibit on man’s inhumanity to man, including the Holocaust and the traumas written into North America’s past. Along the way, we talk about why primary sources cut through distortion, how handwriting itself encodes culture (from Cyrillic scripts to looping cursive), and why even a quick roadside stop can become a moment of reflection that lingers.
If you love history, music, literature, or simply the feeling of learning something real, this conversation maps out how to visit, what to look for, and how to read a manuscript for insight rather than trivia. You’ll also hear how locals, travelers, and former parishioners rediscover the space and find meaning in the quiet. Subscribe for more neighborhood stories, share this episode with a friend who loves museums, and leave a review to help others find the show- then tell us: which document would you want to see up close?
To learn more about Karpeles Manuscript Museum Library go to:
https://www.karpeles.com/visit/pittsburgh-pennsylvania/
Karpeles Manuscript Museum Library
(407) 376-7705
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lila Carter.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a library museum? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Christopher McNally, with Carpolis Manuscript Library Museum. Christopher, how's it going?
SPEAKER_01:Great, thank you. Yes, uh, we're having a very nice day here at the Carpalis Museum.
SPEAKER_02:We're excited to learn all about you and your business. So please tell us more about your company.
SPEAKER_01:Sure. Uh well, this is the Carpalis Manuscript Library Museum. It's uh located at 3021 Landis Street, that's in the west end of Pittsburgh. Uh the uh museum is actually, as you can see, a former church. It used to be Holy Innocence Church, uh, which was built in 1924. So this is a 101-year-old building. Uh, but today it's a museum. It closed as a church in 2016, and uh and it was bought by Dr. David Karplis. Uh, Dr. Carplis was a mathematician and a real estate investor whose hobby was to go to auctions and buy old manuscripts, old documents. And uh he and his wife believed very strongly in education, and so they went around the country and bought some buildings where they could set up museums and share this uh this uh their collection uh with the public uh for its educational value.
SPEAKER_02:How did you get into this business, Christopher?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'm a lawyer, uh, and uh I used to work, I've worked in private practice. I was working for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for about 15 years as well. Uh, but I retired in 2022 and uh uh I continue to practice law uh uh on my own. Uh but uh I was uh reading about uh a document that uh was made by J.R.R. Tolkien. Uh Tolkien was the author of the Lord of the Rings uh trilogy, and uh I'm a uh I have a very strong interest in Tolkien. And uh so I uh looked into this and it said that the manuscript was uh being kept at the Carpalis Manuscript Library Museum. And uh I said I'm you know in my 60s, uh I've been to every museum in Pittsburgh, uh, but I've never heard of the Carpalis uh museum. Uh that must be a mistake. Uh and uh but sure enough, uh it was uh here it is. Uh and so they needed a director uh uh here at the museum. Uh the former director had moved on, and so I said uh I could come in and uh show people around and uh and run the museum, and they they took me on. So that that's uh that's how I got here. So uh the one you know uh the the real person behind the museum is Dr. David Carpless, I mentioned before. Uh he passed away in 2022. His children and grandchildren continue to uh curate and manage the collection. And uh it's a family enterprise, they're based in Florida and uh California, and uh and they uh they're the ones who actually put together these exhibits uh that you'll see here in the museum. And uh so it's been sort of a family lifelong project for them.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, how special that they get to continue that legacy. That's so great. Um, and so what are some myths or maybe misconceptions in this industry?
SPEAKER_01:Well, uh the uh you know, I think one of the things uh that you uh I don't know if I would call it a myth or misconception, but uh obviously it's a museum, it's here for an educational purpose. So I think that uh people learn a lot of things uh here and uh and can take away from their experience uh personal uh lessons, uh things that uh they might observe. Uh I think it's important to remember that uh these are old documents. Uh some of them uh go back to Christopher Columbus, uh Elizabeth I. So we're talking about documents that uh are several hundred years old. Uh and uh and those documents I think capture a moment in time where a person is uh sitting with their thoughts writing something out, uh may have used a a scrivener or a secretary to actually do the handwriting, but uh but uh the it captures uh that moment in time for that person, what they were thinking, what they were doing. Uh and uh and so there's a I think a lot uh to learn from seeing these uh these old manuscripts.
SPEAKER_02:So who are your target customers and how are you attracting them to the library museum right now?
SPEAKER_01:Well, uh we're open Monday through Friday, 11 to 5. Uh we uh are available on we have a social media presence, a website, uh Carpless Museum uh website, and uh and uh actually we have people from uh who used to belong to this parish who come back to see what happened to their church. Uh we have people who are just driving through uh on on their way from say Ohio to Virginia or you know from Maryland uh to back home to Michigan, and on the way they uh do a little map search uh for something to do uh for you know 15 minutes, half an hour to take a rest from a long drive, and they stop in. Uh so uh so there are a whole bunch of ways that people end up here, so uh it's a pretty wide variety.
SPEAKER_02:Very cool. And have you ever thought about possibly doing your own podcasts to talk about the stories of all these manuscripts?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, uh well, and this is one of five museums around the country. Uh so we have uh a museum in Duluth, one in Buffalo, uh, another in St. St. Augustine, Florida, and uh and the last is in Santa Barbara, California. So we do have a uh social media and uh other presence uh on you know through the internet uh that uh is sort of uh coordinated by uh the the the the headquarters so to speak.
SPEAKER_02:Very cool. And so outside of work, Christopher, what do you do for fun?
SPEAKER_01:Oh well, this is actually almost a hobby for me. Uh so uh I um but uh I also uh I live in West Mifflin uh and my wife and I live there. Uh we uh have a couple of uh grown adult kids. Uh so uh I think keeping up with them and uh and the rest of the family is uh uh our main occupation outside of work.
SPEAKER_02:Very cool. So Christopher, please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about Carpalis Manuscript Library Museum.
SPEAKER_01:Uh I think uh the one thing they they ought to remember is that uh it's a very nice way, very relaxing way to spend an hour or two. Uh if uh it doesn't cost you anything. Uh and uh it's a way to uh reflect and gain some insight into what it means to be human. Uh and uh so there are all kinds of lessons for us to learn uh when we look have a look at uh people's lives and and what they were doing uh at a particular time.
SPEAKER_02:Very cool. Yeah, even just appreciation for the kinds of materials that some of these manuscripts were written on, probably papyrus or even you know, the uh the new generation, they can appreciate that people are probably writing in cursive.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. Uh it's uh it's also interesting to see different styles of handwriting. We have, for example, uh Catherine the Great, who is the uh czarina of Russia, uh, she's writing in Russian and they use a Cyrillic uh script, almost like Greek letters. Uh and uh but uh right now I'll just give you a quick uh synopsis of what we have on display now because that changes every three months. We bring in a new exhibit. Uh so right now we have a display about the Stamp Act, which was pre-Reutionary War here in America, uh, one of the things that led to the American Revolution. Uh, we also have some uh remainder of some earlier exhibits, including uh classical music composers, uh including Beethoven and Chopin. Uh we have some European monarchy uh documents, and then you can't really see it over here, but we have uh some navigational, maritime, age of exploration documents. I mentioned Christopher Columbus, Elizabeth I Pilgrims, and uh and then coming up uh in just a couple of weeks, October 1st, uh we are going to be introducing an exhibit on man's inhumanity to man. Uh so that includes uh uh the Holocaust, it includes uh the uh what happened here in North America, uh, and uh so it's uh a sad but I think very important lesson uh today.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, absolutely. And you don't have to be a history buff to appreciate these things, you know, whenever history comes alive in a frown of you, quite literally, it's something to cherish and reflect on, certainly.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, you're absolutely right. And uh and given the uh the type of exhibits that we have uh and that we have had in the past and will have in the future, for example, if you're a classical music fan, uh you'd very much enjoy these uh classical music uh exhibits that we have. Uh if uh we we had a sort of a women's history collection that we had on exhibit, uh so there are there was Helen Keller, for example, it's a very interesting document. Uh you know, it's uh interesting, and then she was explaining in her letter to uh a young girl who wrote to her how it is that despite her uh limited ability because of uh being blind and deaf, how she was able to write a letter herself, uh explaining that whole process. Uh and uh you know, so that there's uh uh even if you're not, as you say, as a history buff, uh there are there are other things that you may be interested in that may uh that may interest you about these documents.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, and yeah, that's so cool. I mean, you know, you think about it over time, the media and even textbooks can kind of distort what happened, right? But whenever you have the reality and the truth of what was said verbatim in front of you, there's no discrepancies there, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yeah, yeah. There's uh seeing and hearing and reading for yourself firsthand what uh people were saying and doing is uh is really uh very important.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. And so how can our listeners learn more about Carpalis Manuscript Library Museum?
SPEAKER_01:Well, uh I believe our uh website is carpalusmuseums.org. Uh I I'm sorry I have not uh memorized that uh site. Uh I have it on my favorites. Uh but uh that's the best uh thing. Uh you can also email me at carpalesspittsburg uh at gmail.com. Uh so that's k-ar-r-p-e-le-spittsburg.com.gmail.com.
SPEAKER_02:Excellent. Well, Christopher, I very much appreciate you being on our show today and all the contributions that you have made to the library and museum and sharing that with our Pittsburgh listeners here. Thank you so much for being our guest today, and we wish you and the museum the best moving forward.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnppittsburgh.com. That's gnppittsburgh.com or call 412 561 9956.