A Friend Indeed: Museum preserves, provides resources

Tell us about your organization:

• Mission: Shiloh Museum of Ozark History serves the public by preserving and providing resources for finding meaning, enjoyment and inspiration in the exploration of the Arkansas Ozarks. The Shiloh Museum is a department of the city of Springdale, but our mission area includes the six counties of Northwest Arkansas: Benton, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Newton and Washington.

• Vision: We envision a community where children and adults are inspired by local history and understand their natural and cultural heritage.

• Values: We are welcoming as we meet, interact with and respond to those who visit and use our services.

• We engage our audiences to stimulate wonder and learning.

• We value preservation, the primary goal for our local history, culture and artifacts.

• We are professional, making a continuing commitment to maintain the highest standards in the field.

• Services provided:

Exhibits, both long- and short-term; children's and adult programs, community outreach programs, discovery boxes for classes, educator development opportunities; research library and research assistance; collections of Arkansas Ozarks history, historic photographs, help with artifact identification. This winter, we'll feature an online gallery of items from the museum's founding collection, which belonged to Springdale attorney and municipal judge William Guy Howard (1876-1965). Howard began collecting arrowheads as a boy and spent the rest of his life amassing a huge collection of prehistoric and historic Native American artifacts and more.

Almost three acres of grounds and seven historic buildings.

Website full of history, blog, podcasts, online "Minute Histories" and "Shiloh Shout-Outs," and other social media content.

Our museum store is temporarily closed due to the pandemic.

• Who is eligible? Everyone! Admission to the museum is free. We have activities for toddlers to seniors, for those who read either English or Spanish, for those who need wheelchair or other disability assistance, for the curious and knowledgeable, for those with just 10 minutes or an entire day, for nature lovers, history lovers ... just everyone! We welcome onsite and virtual visitors from Arkansas, the nation, and scores of other countries.

We're currently open Mondays through Fridays (temporarily closed Saturdays due to the pandemic), 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Thursday mornings (10 a.m.-noon) reserved for high-risk visitors. We're also open most holidays. On-street parking is available.

• How can services be accessed? Visit us onsite at 118 W. Johnson Ave. in Springdale, just a few blocks off 71 Business and a block from downtown Springdale. Also visit us online at shilohmuseum.org, or on Facebook, Instagram or Shiloh Museum's YouTube channel. Questions? Call us at (479) 750-8165. Prefer to email? shiloh@springdalear.gov.

• What are your organization's most pressing needs?

We preserve for the community artifacts and photographs that tell the stories of Northwest Arkansas history, so we welcome donations to help keep your legacy alive.

We're deeply engaged in the preservation of objects, historic buildings, traditions and culture, so we welcome monetary donations of any amount to help us provide those services. Right now we're especially welcoming donations for our digitization project, log cabin repairs, land acquisition and storage solutions.

• Are there volunteer opportunities in your organization? What are they? Volunteers help us in education, collections, research and grounds work. We'll welcome back most volunteers after the pandemic, but there are also opportunities now to virtually volunteer. All our volunteer positions require a commitment of at least three months. If you would like to share your time and talents with us, contact outreach coordinator Susan Young (syoung@springdalear.gov).

• What other ways may people help? Become a museum member (shilohmuseum.org/membership). Or take your place in history through a gift -- large or small -- to the Shiloh Museum Endowment Fund; contact Director Allyn Lord (alord@springdalear.gov).