A handful of students are helping curate an exhibit at the Arkansas State University Museum expected to open in the summer. 

Katherine Baker, Ph.D, associate professor of art history, teaches the class museum fundamentals II in which the students are working on this exhibit. 

“These two areas are going to be dedicated to the history of A-State from the very beginning to today,” Baker said. “The students have decided on something we call ‘the big idea.’”

The big idea represents the central theme of the exhibit.

“Think of the big idea like the thesis of a paper: what is the point of this installation? That drives every exhibit that a museum creates- what’s the point? What are we trying to share with the audience?” said Elisabeth Engel, interim director of the museum. 

Mary Carden, a senior wildlife and museum science student from Wynne, Ark., said this exhibit allows students and alumni to see the change A-State has undergone to be what it is now. 

“It’s a good way to educate. I feel like it just shows everybody who we are and what we have,” Carden said. “There’s more history behind A-State than what we may know now.”

“It’s very much a bringing together of past and present, making sure that we’re speaking to alumni who have experiences here, current students who have experiences here and unifying the past and present, ” Baker said. “Something very important for museums is the way that you do that is through objects.”

Among the objects to be displayed in the exhibit are a nursing uniform from the 1970s early days of the nursing school, Carl Reng’s hat, beanies first-years were once mandated to wear, letterman jackets and pennants. 

Engel said the earliest objects in the exhibit are photographs dating back to the 1920s to late 1910s. 

Students from several different majors are involved in this class and curation of the exhibit. 

“A broad spectrum of people who are interested in museums and can bring their skills and their knowledge to something that we collaborate on,” Baker said. 

Construction to make room for the exhibit was recently completed.  Baker said later in the semester students will be painting this area and adding light to better display items.

“All the construction was essentially mocking out and creating a larger space for them to work with,” Engel said. “It’s contained within those two exhibit cases. It was just a revision and refreshment of the physical space so that they can drive the content that goes in it.”

The cases before were mostly empty, showcasing a few items from the courthouse belonging to the “Old Town” exhibit behind them. 

“It’s access to information that a lot of people you know either won’t do the research on or don’t realize that they have an interest in. There’s a reason why we’re doing this. There’s a reason why we want to save these things and talk about these stories,” Engel said.” History isn’t just a lesson it’s something that we can connect with and should be present. We should learn from it and not just read about it.”

Categories: News