Batesville museum covers 19th century onward
BATESVILLE — In the 19th century, many Arkansas mothers were farm wives who needed to spend long hours helping husbands in the fields while also minding their babies. So how did they manage that double duty?
Back then, the modern-day playpen had yet to be designed. How did mothers, while busy cooking supper or ironing clothes, keep their tykes from crawling out of sight and into trouble?
Answers can be found at Batesville’s Old Independence Regional Museum, as part of a fascinating exhibit on childcare practices of the past and present.
On display is a field cradle, a clever design dating back to the Civil War era. The wheeled cradle could be rocked, and “a farm wife would pull it with her baby inside down a field row as she worked.”
As for keeping a toddler close by in the kitchen, a baby-doll mannequin is posed on the museum floor to show how a mother could tuck an end of her infant’s outer garment under a table leg. That created an improvised anchor.
The museum is housed in the fortress-like Armory Building, built by the federal Works Progress Administration in 1936 and described as “Ozark sandstone style with Gothic influences.” Serving a 12-county region of northeast Arkansas, it ranks among the state’s liveliest repositories of local history.
The childcare gallery touches on topics running from infant illnesses and baby food to diapering and car seats. A photograph from the 1960s shows a miniature steering wheel attached to a car seat. According to a posted note, the seats “were first designed to allow the child to see out the window and pretend to drive.”
Museum exhibits cover other topics as varied as Union occupation during the Civil War, transportation in the riverboat era, and the challenges of rural life during the Great Depression
As one of Arkansas’ oldest cities, founded in the 1820s on the White River, Batesville offers other historical attractions.
Pioneer Cemetery is in an unusual downtown location, at Third and College streets. Established as a burial ground about 1826, it has antebellum tombstones with faded inscriptions from a time when early death was common.
The Downtown Historic District and the East Main Historic District invite visitors to drive or stroll past eclectic mixes of architectural designs.
A brochure from Batesville Preservation Association pictures houses in nine styles, the likes of which include American Foursquare, Queen Anne, Craftsman Bungalow and Romantic Revival Cottage. The brochure describes the variety as “Batesville’s gem box of historic homes.”
Old Independence Regional Museum, 380 S. Ninth St., Batesville, is open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1:304 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $3 for visitors age 13-54, $2 for those 55 and up, $1 for children 6-12, free for youngsters 5 and younger. Call (870) 7932121 or visit oirm.org.
Information on other attractions is available from Main Street Batesville. Call (870) 698-1555 or visit mainstreetbatesville.org.