How We See It: Shiloh Museum's Work Important For Region's Future

It's sometimes tough to get young people, especially, to appreciate what everyone should cherish: history.

As people age, the subject of history can take on more significance. We start to figure out those who came before us faced challenges and issues from which we can learn a great deal. Learning about our natural, local, state, national and world histories also provides a valuable sense of place and connection between our individual lives and our collective experiences.

Yet how many of us can remember history lessons in school that made a visit to the dentist seem like a nice break from the classroom?

Thankfully, there are people and institutions who seek to preserve and present the vast storehouses of art, culture, traditions, music and history until the rest of us come around to a greater appreciation. In the last three years, Northwest Arkansas' finest example is the world-renowned Crystal Bridges of American Art in Bentonville, a facility that has raised the bar of expectations for what a museum experience can be.

Northwest Arkansas and the rest of our state also has outstanding museums that tell the stories of Arkansas history, including the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale. Since 1968, the Shiloh Museum, primarily through financial support from the city of Springdale and private donations, has served as a depository and a exhibition space for great volumes of knowledge and images about our region. Its collection is extraordinarily valuable to today's and all future generations of people who call this corner of the state home.

That's why it's great news the Shiloh Museum is working to ensure its facilities don't themselves become a relic of the past. Employees are in the midst of a program to update all permanent exhibits, renovate buildings, improve lighting and connect to the Razorback Greenway, a major pedestrian and bicycle trail running through the region's four cities.

"We want to make sure the story [of Northwest Arkansas] is up-to-date and inclusive, to have new things people haven't seen before," Allyn Lord, director of the museum, recently told a reporter. The project is slated for completion by the museum's 50th anniversary in 2018.

The goal, museum officials say, is to attract past visitors to come back and encourage new visitors to learn through the museum's exhibits and photo collections.

The museum has more than 500,000 images of life in Northwest Arkansas, many captured by photographers of local newspapers. The museum is seeking a grant to convert the images into digital media, which will make these valuable images far more accessible than they are today. While we're glad to see such materials preserved, they are at their very best when people can browse them easily and get a real sense of the history they portray.

The renovation and exhibit work at Shiloh is one more good thing happening in and near downtown Springdale that suggests a great future for the town. Renovation work on the old Apollo Theater on Emma Avenue, for example, will help bring new vitality to an area that's needed a rejuvenation for years.

Letting go of the past may be a prime element of forgiveness, but it's a mistake for people to forget the past. We're thankful for places like the Shiloh Museum. Give them some support if you can.