Museum offers glimpse into history of Arkansas Tech University
RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech University has been serving the public for more than 100 years. A walk through the university’s museum provides visitors with a glimpse of that history.
The Arkansas Tech Museum is in the Techionery/Museum building, 1502 N. El Paso Ave. There is no admission charge to the facility, and the public is always welcome. The museum is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Judith Stewart-Abernathy serves as director of the museum. Terry Johnson is the curator. The staff includes one graduate assistant who works half time and five to seven students who work part time.
Stewart-Abernathy said the museum opened in 1989. She said its focus is “the history of the university.”
Memorabilia from various aspects of the school can be found distributed throughout five galleries in the museum, which is housed in a 1938 building that was once the physical education building and later the school’s first student center.
“The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places,” Stewart-Abernathy said.
In Gallery One, visitors are introduced to an “overview” of the university.
Founded in 1909, Arkansas Tech was one of four agriculture high schools established by the state Legislature. The other three were Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, the University of Arkansas at Monticello and Arkansas State University-Jonesboro.
“We were known as the Second District Agriculture School,” Stewart-Abernathy said, reiterating that the institution was first a high school. “We fairly quickly became a state college, and in 1925, Arkansas Polytechnic College was established as a four-year college. We continued under that name until 1976, when we became Arkansas Tech University.”
Visitors are invited to view a timeline of the university that is displayed below a wall filled with covers of the Agricola, the school’s yearbook.
“Agricola is Latin for farmer,” Johnson said.
Gallery Two gives visitors a look at Tech’s presidents, as well as a look at Tech’s first century.
“We are into our 12th president,” Stewart-Abernathy said. “Dr. Robin Bowen became president on July 1. She is the [school’s] first female president.
“We are now the third largest university in the state. We passed the 12,000 mark under Dr. Bowen.”
Arkansas Tech also opened a satellite campus in Ozark in 2004 that offers several associate degrees and technical certificates, as well as general-studies classes.
A.K. Short was the first president of Arkansas Tech, serving from 1910-1911.
Stewart-Abernathy said another notable president of Arkansas Tech University was J.W. Hull, who served from 1932 to 1967.
“He formed the Arkansas Division of the National Youth Administration,” Stewart-Abernathy said. “He also brought in a vocational program, which was the foundation of the school. He was an important president.”
Hull’s desk is on display in Gallery Two.
Stewart-Abernathy said Robert C. Brown served as the school’s president from 1993 until Bowen took over in July.
“Much like Dr. Hull, he oversaw a building program,” she said, referring to Brown.
Memorabilia from the first century of the school’s history includes a copy of a Life magazine cover from 1941 that featured the school in an article titled “Life Goes to a Farewell Party.”
Stewart-Abernathy said 104 students who were members of the Arkansas National Guard were called up to enter World War II as a group to go through training with the 206th Coastal Artillery Unit.
“That was a fourth of the student population,” she said. “That was a pivotal event for folks here. World War II had an impact on all the schools in Arkansas.”
A corner display in the museum focuses on logos and symbols used by the development office to “brand” the university so it would be noticeably recognized by the public. Photos of the campus ambassador, Jerry the Bulldog, and his history can be found in the display as well.
Additional galleries focus on the sports teams of the university — the Wonder Boys and the Golden Suns — as well as the school’s clubs and organizations. Some of the museum’s collections, such as the Simpson B. Hollabaugh Collection of Historical Arkansas Art, appear in the galleries on a rotating basis.
One of the newest exhibits in the museum is a small collection of items made by students in the woodworking program that was established in 1925. Stewart-Abernathy said the program was emphasized in 1935 when the National Youth Administration was formed, focusing on providing work and education by paying students for “work study” projects at their schools. One such project was the woodworking program at Tech.
Other exhibits in the museum include those done in collaboration with the art department that give art students a chance to display their works.
Stewart-Abernathy said the museum’s retail store offers conservation and archival items, such as boxes and tissue paper needed to preserve valuable documents, photographs and heirloom items.
“We are here to help people safely box up their things,” Stewart-Abernathy said. “We are here to advise them.”
The museum also has a research library that has materials related to the development and maintenance of museums and on topics relative to the exhibits and programming of the museum.
“I also teach a practicum in public history and an introduction to museum methods,” Stewart-Abernathy said.
Individuals and groups are welcome to tour the galleries. To arrange a tour or for more information on the museum, call (479) 964-0826 or email tech.museum@atu.edu. More information is also available at tech.edu/museum.