Old Independence Regional Museum Has 18th Anniversary Celebration Sept. 8

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Old Independence Regional Museum Has 18th Anniversary Celebration Sept. 8

 

Old Independence Regional Museum announces its 18th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, September 8th, 6:30 p.m. at the Barnett Building. Join us in celebrating 18 years of preserving your history! Enjoy a catered meal from Elizabeth’s, musical entertainment from Mountain View’s Harmony, and a keynote address from Swannee Bennett, co-author of the Arkansas Made book series and the Deputy Director and Chief Curator at Historic Arkansas Museum. Tickets for the Celebration may be purchased at the museum for $50 per person; tickets will not be available at the door as space is limited. Attendees have until September 2 to R.S.V.P. by visiting us at 380 South 9th Street in Batesville or calling 870-793-2121

Harmony, made up of Mary and Robert Gillihan and Dave Smith, have been picking and singing together as friends for about thirty-five years. All three are performers at The Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View, Arkansas. In 1998 they were voted first runners up in the “‘A Prairie Home Companions’ ‘Talent from Towns under Two Thousand’” contest.

Old Indepedence Museum

Mr. Bennett has been with Historic Arkansas Museum since 1982. He is an accomplished writer and curator. Most notable of his works is Arkansas Made: A Survey of the Decorative, Mechanical, and Fine Art Produced in Arkansas, 1819-1870. Bennett, along with co-author Bill Worthen has written two volumes of Arkansas Made highlighting the great creations of Arkansans through the years. Research is ongoing for two new volumes.

Historic Arkansas Museum curators and researchers have documented the lives and work of both historic and contemporary Arkansas artists and artisans. Census records, newspaper advertisements, personal journals, letters, and business ledgers have furnished important insight into both the range and quality of functional and fine art created in Arkansas. The culmination of the research will be the publication of the third and fourth volumes in the University of Arkansas Press series—Arkansas Made: A Survey of the Decorative, Mechanical and Fine Art Produced in Arkansas. These forthcoming volumes will continue to explore the creative spirit within the fine and decorative arts following the Civil War, and continuing on through the Post World War II period.

Like the numerous objects included in the publications, Old Independence Regional Museum is truly Arkansas Made. OIRM is housed in the 1936 WPA built National Guard Armory. Most of the sandstone blocks used in construction came from the Maxfield Quarry in Batesville. Arkansas National Guard Company L/B of the 153rd Infantry used the building until 1976. In the following years, the building remained vacant and began to deteriorate. However, in 1995, the building found new life after a generous donation guaranteed the Armory would one day be the home to Old Independence Regional Museum. Still in its infancy in 1995, it would be three more years until the Museum would become a physical location instead of a dream.

Twyla Gill Wright, who served as president of the museum’s founding board, recently reminisced, “Twenty-five years ago our museum planning group knew we didn’t know enough about creating a fine museum, so we reached out to learn from experts in the field. We incorporated as a non-profit with an 18-member board and spent the next years at work: finding a location, learning how to create exhibits and gathering local financial support.

Finally, the great day arrived— September 12, 1998. A crowd of 300 people gathered outside the front door of the former Arkansas National Guard armory at the corner of Ninth and Vine streets in Batesville. Several community and regional leaders spoke about their pride in seeing this historic building transformed from an empty shell into a budding history museum.

And then the magic moment that we all had been waiting for—Lt. Governor Win Rockefeller stepped forward, and using a Bowie knife loaned by Donald Hedden, cut the ribbon! The Old Independence Regional Museum was officially open.

Wright continued, “I vividly remember that among that opening crowd stood Doyle and Raye Rogers and their family, and Preston Grace, Sr. and his family. They had donated the building and grounds when the board had raised $400,000 in gifts and pledges to renovate the building during a capitol campaign. We accomplished this astonishing goal in just seven months! Hundreds of folks gave what they could. Some gave a few dollars, others into the hundreds, and even into the thousands. All believed that we really could create a place where old and young could roam back in time, connect the present to the past, and to learn from and honor our heritage.”

OIRM’s mission is to preserve artifacts and archival materials significant to the history of Independence County and the surrounding counties, making these materials available to research and providing history-based education for the public through exhibits and programs.

During its 18 years, the museum has presented to the public almost 400 programs and events. Within its collections are over 38,000 donated items, almost all related to local history. Over 80 changing exhibits and17 traveling exhibits have been displayed in the museum. The Arkansas Museum Association presented their Best Exhibit Award in the state to Old Independence Regional Museum in 2009, 2014, and 2016.

Hundreds of family researchers have found primary materials in the museum’s research library, which also houses early tax and probate records for Independence County in its environmentally controlled vault room. The museum has reached out to schools and families, producing school tours, summer camps, and various “Family Days.” Each year nearly 6,000 people from all over the United States and some as far away as France, Britain, Argentina, and Germany visit the museum. A recent visitor from New York noted “your exhibits are comparable to the exhibits in the American History wing at the Smithsonian!”

“It is amazing to see how a dream has turned into one of the best museum in Arkansas,” said Director Amelia Bowman, “The region is fortunate to have to such a wonderful facility to come research, view, and contribute local history.” As the museum celebrates its past accomplishments in serving the public, it hopes that the public will continue, and even enlarge, its financial support so that it can continue the good work it has begun.

Old Independence serves a 12-county area: Baxter, Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Marion, Poinsett, Sharp, Stone, White, and Woodruff. Parts of these present-day counties comprised the original Independence County in 1820s Arkansas territory.