EngAGE Stories

The Église Saint Roch, one of the most beautiful churches in Paris, has the tiniest antiques shop in the city — called Rarissime — stuck on its side!  Roger, the 80-something year-old shopkeeper, renovated the space about twenty years ago and has kept it filled with lovely antiques ever since. Learn more about the shop’s history and see many beautiful photos here.

“At the foot of the Big Horn Mountains in northern Wyoming, a century-old ranch plays host to a small art museum. It’s quite an idyllic setting — but just a few years ago, the Brinton Museum’s finances didn’t paint such a pretty picture. An endowment set up in 1960 preserved the historic ranch near Sheridan, Wyo., as well as the bachelor-rancher Bradford Brinton’s art collection. By 2008, though, it seemed that before long the museum would have to close, says the place’s director, Ken Schuster.”

But Forrest Mars Jr., 83 and grandson of the creator of Mars candy bars and M&Ms, lived next door to the ranch. When he heard about a collection of Native American artifacts in Chicago, that led to a plan that would save the museum and bring the collection home.

Read more here.

At age twenty-four, Douglas Kirkland was hired as a staff photographer for Look magazine and became famous for his 1961 photos of Marilyn Monroe taken for Look’s 25th anniversary issue. He later joined the staff of Life magazine.

Watch a brief video in which Kirkland, now 80, discusses his night photographing Marilyn Monroe — as well as his career of over 50 years taking photos of celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, and Coco Chanel.