Museums System to honor historians and preservationists with awards Nov. 2

TEXARKANA — The Texarkana Museums System seeks nominees for its upcoming Texarkana Historic Preservation and Awareness Awards, which will honor both people and organizations who have shown an active commitment to the cause.

The TMS invites the public to nominate worthy local recipients in 10 categories. Winners will be announced during an awards ceremony from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Museum of Regional History.

Nominations can be made online at tinyurl.com/txkawards. Nominators can supply the name and contact information for the nominee, and also write about a paragraph of information about the nominee at the website. From there, the TMS staff and board will, this year, decide upon a winner after evaluating the nominations.

“We could not exist without the support of the community, and while we still have a huge way to go, five years after I started doors are still open, things are going fairly well, so we thought about how we need to give back to the people who have, one, helped us,” said Velvet Hall Cool, the TMS board president. As well, anyone with an interest in history and preservation is serving the community, she said.

“We wanted to create something that would honor them and also maybe give them a little bit of recognition among the community and sort of spur the community to appreciate history and preservation as much as we do,” Cool said.

The idea originated from their personal experiences as the Museums System, she said, and a desire to recognize this essential community support.

Here are the award categories and how the Texarkana Museums System describes them:

Young Historian Award: “Honors an individual or organization comprised of students grades K through 12 who, through their self-motivation and dedication, contribute to the awareness or preservation of Bowie and Miller County history.”

Collegiate Excellence Award: “Honoring an individual or organization within a higher learning institution that has contributed to the awareness or preservation of Bowie and Miller County history.”

Multi-Cultural Excellence Award: “Honors an individual or organization contributing to the

increased awareness of the cultural diversity of Bowie and Miller Counties through the preservation of buildings, artifacts, ephemera or exemplary research.”

■ Social Butterfly Award: “Recognizes an individual or organization instrumental in raising awareness of the history of Bowie and Miller Counties through social media venues such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Blogs.”

■ Power of the Pen Award: “Recognizes an individual or organization instrumental in raising awareness of the history of Bowie and Miller Counties through print media.”

■ Broadcast Media Award: “Recognizes an individual or organization instrumental in raising awareness of the history of Bowie and Miller Counties through broadcast media such as television or radio.”

■ Historic Site Preservation Award: “Honors an individual or organization that contributed to the physical restoration or preservation of a locally valued building or site in Bowie or Miller County.”

■ Endangered Treasure Award: “Emphasizes the Texarkana Museums System’s support and recognition of a historic property, site, or collection with great significance or value to the history of Bowie and Miller Counties. The continued preservation of this property, site, or collection appears to be at risk due to a lack of community knowledge or support for its eminent needs.”

■ Historic Collections Award: “Honors an individual or organization that contributed to the AAM accredited Texarkana Museums Systems’ collection in an effort to expand the preservation and documentation of the history of Bowie and Miller Counties.”

■ Wilbur Smith Archivist Medallion: “Honors an individual who has made significant personal strides in researching and documenting historical topics pertaining to Bowie and Miller Counties.”

The categories are broad, said Jamie Simmons, the TMS curator. “You can recognize an individual, an organization, an unofficial group in the different areas,” she said. “It’s everything from preserving a historic site to just creating awareness about history or historic points of interest around town.”

Cool says the Endangered Treasure Award is meant to call attention to a site that’s “in danger of no longer existing.” And, she said, “We’re not trying to suggest that the person or entity that has control of that is doing anything wrong. We just know how difficult it can be and, more importantly, how expensive it can sometimes be to do the things that need to be done to preserve something.” Perhaps the award will spur increased community support, she said.

The TMS aims to make this an annual set of awards.

Admission to the awards event is free, but seating will be limited. The nomination deadline is Oct. 23.

(More info: Call 903-793-4831, email morh@texarkanamuseums.org or visit the Texarkana Museums System page on Facebook. To make reservations for the awards ceremony, visit TexarkanaMuseums.org/events.)