The Faulkner County Museum, founded in 1992, will celebrate its 25th anniversary Nov. 4 at the museum’s annual open house. Activities are planned from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“It’s our silver anniversary. It’s also our 15th annual open house,” said Lynita Langley-Ware, director.
“Our theme is ‘The Key to the Future Is the Past, and the Key to the Past Is the Future,’” she said. “We will be using a key motif in our decorations, since the key is the museum logo. We thought we would combine the key with the silver anniversary and have silver glittery keys.
“We have more than 50 volunteers giving their time and talent to make this open house a big deal this year. Everyone comes to the event as a volunteer. … Many of them have been volunteering for
15 years. Students are involved; the community is involved; the whole museum family is involved. I hope everyone will come and support us.”
Langley-Ware said the open house will feature “perennial favorites” among this year’s activities.
“We’ll be making corn-husk dollies and string dolls,” she said. “We’ll be grinding corn.” Langley-Ware said Kim Little,
director of public-history internships at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and a member of the history department, will bring some of her students to help with activities such as Dutch-oven cooking, weaving, and making salt-dough cookie ornaments, faux stained-glass crafts, punched-tin projects and bookmarks.
Little said a grant from UCA’s College of Liberal Arts EDGE (Educating for Global Engagement) program assisted in funding her two classes’ work with the open house.
“I have two classes doing service-learning projects at the open house,” Little said. “Those classes are United States History Since 1865 and Exploring Public History. Students who worked on the open house in past years are also returning to assist.”
Langley-Ware said members of the UCA Anthropology Club will also participate in activities.
“There will be rope-making and, hopefully, a demonstration of making cordage from the rattlesnake master plants that are growing here on the museum grounds. The Native Americans made cordage from not only yucca plants but also this rattlesnake master plant,” Langley-Ware said.
“There will also be spinning and weaving. We will have a quilt set up outside, and visitors are welcome to sit down and try their hand at quilting,” she said. “
“We have invited the Blacksmiths of Arkansas to demonstrate their blacksmithing skills,” Langley-Ware said. “Members of the Conway League of Artists will have a plein air painting show and demonstration, painting outside on the grounds. And members of the Conway Women’s Chorus will perform at 11:30 a.m.”
Members of the Faulkner County Master Gardeners will make sachets and pinecone bird feeders.
Members of the Town and County Garden Club and the Conway Garden Club will decorate the two inside rooms of the dogtrot cabin, which stands next to the museum. The Town and Country Garden Club will also sell crafts, jams and baked goods to raise money for its annual horticultural scholarship fund and to support the museum’s renovation.
The open house will feature antique cars and tractors and a scavenger hunt with prizes, including gift cards from one of the local Sonic Drive-In restaurants.
Although the majority of the Nov. 4 activities will be held outside, the museum itself will be open to visitors to take a look at the many exhibits depicting the history of Faulkner County. The model railroad will also be open on the second floor.
“Even though there is no admission fee for the open house, it is a fundraiser. We will be selling engraved bricks for $100 and Christmas ornaments for $15,” Langley-Ware said.
“We still need about $125,000 to finish our renovation project. We have received funding and grants that made it possible for us to put a new roof on the building, repair the masonry, paint the building and refurbish the windows and doors. We also have the funds to address the drainage problem on the outside of the building. That will start soon after our open house event and will be the final part of keeping the building in the dry,” she said.
“The additional funding will allow us to install a new heat-and-air system, work on the electrical and lighting systems, and refurbish the floors and ceilings. Then we will turn to interior renovations … flip-flopping the exhibits and the storage space for the archives. The exhibits will all be in the front of the building and the archives in the back,” she said.
“Although we received six grants in four months for a total of $27,215, I still need money,” Langley-Ware said, laughing. “That money helped take care of what was done to the outside of the building. We now need to work on the inside of the building.”
Langley-Ware said the idea for the Faulkner County Museum originated in 1992 when a group of concerned citizens who believed Faulkner County should have a permanent repository for its history petitioned the Faulkner County Quorum Court for a museum. The museum was created in August 1992 by an ordinance that created a museum commission but did not provide for any funding or a building. Between 1992 and 1995, the museum commission raised funds, collected artifacts and looked for a home for the museum.
In 1995, the Faulkner County Library moved to its present location on Tyler Street from the 1896 building that once housed the Faulkner County Jail on the Courthouse Square. The Faulkner County Museum moved into that historic structure and opened its doors to the public in 1997.
The Faulkner County Museum and dogtrot cabin are on the grounds of the Faulkner County Courthouse, 801 Locust St. For more information on the open house or other programs at the museum, contact Langley-Ware at (501) 329-5918 or fcm@conwaycorp.net. More information is also available on the Museum’s Facebook page, which features an “Artifact for the Day” story.