Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Living History
Shiloh Museum still evolving at 50
The Shiloh Museum started without a home, a name, a curator or a mission. All it had in 1965 was a collection of Native American artifacts the city of Springdale purchased from Guy Howard, a former Springdale city attorney, mayor and judge, for $15,000 — although that was a tidy sum equal to about $120,000 in today’s money.
It wasn’t until 1968 that the museum got a piece of a building — the upstairs of the old library at the corner of Main and Johnson — and a new facility designed as a museum wasn’t completed until 1991.
What the Shiloh Museum always had, says its director, Allyn Lord, were an open door and an open heart. She first visited the museum in the 1980s, she remembers, when she was treasurer for the Arkansas Museums Association.
“I spent hours doing research down in the basement where the museum collections were stored,” she recalls. “Shiloh Museum then was small and a bit antiquated, but I was welcomed
with much the same friendliness and offers of help that I hope we greet everyone with today.
“Like many small museums, the Shiloh Museum started with dreams, one part-time paid employee, and a small collection, in a small building,” Lord muses. “But like many mid-sized museums, the Shiloh Museum has grown because of the hundreds of people who had a bigger vision and were generous with their time, energy and money. We’ve grown because there were dreams of serving more people, telling more stories, and becoming a destination for our region and tourists alike. We’ve grown because the city of Springdale embraces our mission, cares for its citizens’ quality of life, and understands the value of communitycentered and lifelong learning. We’ve grown because we’ve had wise boards of trustees who care for and steward the museum’s financial assets and policies.
“I like to think of the museum’s growth as dendritic,” she goes on. “Like a planted tree, with enough tending, resources, room to grow, and yes, just a bit of luck, it becomes firmly rooted in place, branches off with new ventures, is beautiful to look at in its fullness, and makes its surroundings a better place to live. I think we’re the perfect size museum in order to serve our audiences, stay personal and welcoming, be mindful of the preservation of our history, and yet be open to change and expansion.”
With its 50th birthday approaching in 2018, the museum staff embarked in 2013 on the biggest project since the new facility opened — a redesign of all of its galleries.
“We had a number of major projects on our to-do list and nowhere near the funding we’d need to get them done,” Lord remembers. “There was only one project that, instead of hiring a contractor to do, we could do using our own expertise, time and skills — and that was an entire exhibit hall renovation. Many of our exhibits were more than 20 years old and desperately needed a makeover. We knew that it might not be as slick and snazzy as a professional museum exhibit firm would create, but we figured that we didn’t really need slick and snazzy, just excellent — and we knew we had the skills to do that. And we knew we could do it for much less than one of those out-of-state companies; in fact, it turns out we’ve done it at about onesixteenth the cost — around $100,000 rather than about $1.6 million!”
Lord says she and the staff were all committed to one thing — “staying true to our mission, telling the stories of the everyday men, women and children who make history every day. We wanted to be inclusive, making sure that the stories were broad enough to give everyone a voice, as well as making the stories accessible. That also meant presenting the stories in both English and Spanish — as far as we know, we’re the only museum in Arkansas whose core exhibits are bilingual. Accessibility was also important in other ways, such as interactive elements, large print, good lighting, wide circulation routes, and label and object placement at a height for children and those in wheelchairs.
“Each senior staff member volunteered to curate one of the five galleries, and we set a schedule so that we’d complete the entire exhibit hall in time for our 50th anniversary.”
At this very moment, the museum staff is sliding in under the wire to be ready to celebrate on Sept. 8 & 22. But they’ve moved every exhibit hall wall, written all the text, edited all the photographs and gotten help in the places they lacked expertise — Spanish translation, film creation, mural painting and more.
“Surprises?” Lord says with a laugh, saying there were some that were stranger than others. “Who knew you could get a real (taxidermied) razorback to help illustrate 19th-century food and hunting? Imagine acrylic spraying chicken feed for a poultry-raising exhibit (because without the sealant, the feed is a pest attractant). You can make a railroad depot wall double as a door without anyone knowing it. Creating a fake limestone Ozark bluff shelter is equal parts ingenuity, art, shoulder-distressing tool use, optical illusion, expertise and happy mistake.
“We’re proud of our exhibits and will continue to offer fresh, interesting, educational, and timely updates and changes as we move forward from our 50th.”
Kathryn Birkhead Board member
I’m an oddity in
Northwest Arkansas these days, since
I was born and raised here, and I graduated from high school in the same year the museum was founded. I lived away for about 25 years and have been back here now since
2005. I mention all that to say how much I appreciate the role of the museum in honoring and preserving the past of the area I call home, while it also honors and includes people who have come here most recently and their traditions.
The exhibits and programs are important, of course, but a huge part of my love of the museum has to do with the grounds. The log cabin and the barn particularly draw me in. The museum grounds keep us linked to the earth with traditional plants that aren’t just pretty but also serve nature. I wouldn’t know the things I’ve learned about butterflies, and I sure wouldn’t have all the milkweed I have, if it weren’t for the museum’s work.
Brooks Blevins Ph.D. & Ozarks expert
I have been visiting and doing research at the Shiloh Museum for almost half of its existence, and I can say that there’s not a better museum anywhere in the Ozarks — Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma — the whole region. Its value comes from its people — Bob Besom and Allyn Lord and Susan Young and all the others who have worked and volunteered there over the years — and their steady vision of preserving, displaying and interpreting a broad range of regional history within the context of the wider nation and world. Shiloh is regional history done the right way.
Daniel P. Martin Pettigrew native
“It’s wrong to think that the past is something that’s just gone. It’s still there. It’s just that you’ve gone past. If you drive through a town, it’s still there in the rear-view mirror. Time is a road, but it doesn’t roll up behind you. Things aren’t over just because they’re past. Do you see that?”
— Terry
Pratchett,
“The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy”
It’s a pleasure to offer 50th anniversary congratulations to the Shiloh Museum! My hometown of Pettigrew and my family have been fortunate to enjoy a close relationship with Shiloh for about 30 of those years — and counting. Thanks to the tremendous support of Shiloh, an incredibly detailed view of life in rural Northwest Arkansas during the “timber boom” years of the late 1800s through the first half of the 20th century has been preserved. Expertise, care and work by the Shiloh Museum transformed a mountain of “stuff” into a well-curated collection of bank and business records, photographs
and artifacts. Without this investment in our community, much of this information would have been lost. “Things aren’t over just because they’re past” — and thanks to the efforts of the people at Shiloh, the records of our past are well-organized and accessible, so our understanding of how these events affect present-day life and shape our future has been made much easier.
Abby Burnett Author & historian
I’ve learned so much about
Arkansas history through Shiloh
Museum’s monthly Sandwiched In lecture series, which I’ve attended for years. I’ve heard speakers talk about everything from documenting pre-Civil War woven coverlets to Madison
County murders to former staffers of the long-defunct Dogpatch sharing their memories of the theme park. Not only has Shiloh gathered fascinating speakers from the community, but the staff also presents informative talks: Carolyn Reno on the conservation of antique fabrics, Marie Demeroukas on dating antique photos based on early hair and clothing styles, and Susan Young on her efforts to track down the statue that once graced the entrance to the Apollo Theater, on Emma Avenue, in Springdale — to name just a few subjects!
Not only are there wonderful speakers, but Shiloh generously hosts book-signings (including one for my own book!), giving authors a chance to talk about their research and the work that went into their publications. I’ve loved getting to hear such speakers and buy their books.
Though I’ve enjoyed these events, and the annual January Cabin Fever Reliever where local residents show off their very unusual collections, when I think of Shiloh I think of photographs. Maybe that’s because I’ve spent time in the photo archive office, getting Marie Demeroukas’ opinion on a photo or, more likely, looking for photos to accompany something I’m writing. Shiloh has been so gracious and generous to me when I’ve needed photos to illustrate talks or my book — I’m especially indebted to them for permission to use a long-cherished photo on my book’s cover.
Recently I’ve traveled around Arkansas, gathering material for a new book, and have found that the subjects I’m researching tend to mystify librarians and museum staff. That’s another thing that’s so wonderful about Shiloh Museum, because when I go there, the staff will discuss these projects with me and offer guidance. Maybe they have to work to stay straight-faced, but Allyn Lord, Susan, Caroline and Marie have been unfailingly kind and helpful!
Chuck Peterson LifeWriters leader
I have been attending the Shiloh Museum since I moved here in 1998. It is a special place for me. I love the grounds, the museum, the friendly staff, and the programming.
I attend the “LifeWriting” memoir and the Civil War Roundtable meetings each month in the “Old General Store.” The General Store is a free great place for small community meetings that support our community’s history, nature, education and the collection of local stories and written histories.
Most months I attend the third Wednesday [Sandwiched In] gathering and learn something of local history or nature including live birds of prey and exploring local caves among other things. I watched the Marshallese build a real island canoe with their ancient village building skills.
I have seen some of the children’s educational school, summer, and Saturday morning programs including even the opportunity to really milk a wooden cow. I even learned to hand make an old broom. I enjoy watching the farm garden grow each year. I explored the old farm outhouse and have watched the kids’ reaction to that bit of our past without the tell-tale aroma, spiders, and snakes I remember so well.
I have watched folk music programs in front of the old barn on many a summer eve. I support the museum as a contributing member. It is a great place to visit, well worth your time to explore, learn.
Laura Redford Coverlet book author
The Shiloh Museum of Ozark History is well known among history buffs and researchers of Ozark history and to school children who regularly attend field trips to the campus to learn about different times in our history. It is a gem tucked away in our Northwest Arkansas hills and well worth a visit, especially for newcomers to the area to learn about their new home. When Martha Benson and I were researching the stories behind the handwoven coverlets in their collection, we could not have asked for more help, cooperation and encouragement than we received from all members of the staff. Happy birthday, Shiloh Museum of Ozark History!