Special guest Agnes Wynne Phillips was honored last week by the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Arkansas for her contributions to the Dallas County Museum at Fordyce.
Phillips helped establish the museum in 1997, and she acted as director until recently.
"We're very supportive of libraries and museums, especially those that help promote our stated goals," said Dana Nixon, Arkansas chapter president. "The Dallas County Museum has always been involved with those things and that's why we like to support them so much."
Established in 1895, the Colonial Dames organization has a goal of promoting historical preservation, patriotic service and education. To that end, the organization presented Phillips with a check for $1,000 for the museum.
The event was held in the Grand Room of the Country Club of Little Rock, which was filled to capacity for the semi-annual luncheon meeting.
Following her check presentation, Phillips said she was honored by the group's recognition.
"I was delighted that the organization remembered the museum," Phillips said. "When we began the museum in '97, Peg Smith with the Colonial Dames promoted the idea of granting us $500 in seed money. And it was fortunate they did because at that very time, the Alexander Photographic Studio negative collection that contained portraits and landscapes of Southeast Arkansas from 1920 until 1964, was put on the auction block."
Phillips said the museum used half of the money given to it by the Colonial Dames to purchase a photo history of the region for preservation in the museum.
"There are over 20,000 conservation envelopes of negatives stored in our large walk-in vault," Phillips said. "Thanks to the Dames, we continue to share reproduction copies of those black and white photos upon request for a nominal fee. After 20 years, they continue to be a source of income for the museum. There is a catalog atop the file cabinets that contains names of all the families and individuals to be found," Phillips said.
The Dallas County Museum is open Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m,. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Details: Dallas County Museum, (870) 352-5262, or the monthly newsletter on Facebook. Tax deductible donations may be made payable to the Dallas County Museum, P.O. Box 703, Fordyce, Ark., 71742.
