Curator hired to oversee Marshals Museum exhibits

FORT SMITH -- The U.S. Marshals Museum on Tuesday announced the hiring of a curator to design and care for the museum's exhibits and collections.

David Kennedy will began his duties in Fort Smith Nov. 2, a news release from the museum said. He is curator of collections for the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center in Enid, Okla., a position he's held for five years.

Kennedy's "strong background and experience will be an asset to the museum as we continue to build our exhibits and educate the public about the history of the U.S. Marshals Service," museum President Jim Dunn said in the release.

In addition to his experience in Oklahoma, Kennedy served as curator of the Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyo., the release said.

The release said Kennedy earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from the University of Texas at El Paso, and a master of arts degree in history from Montana State University in Bozeman.

He is the author of Guns of the Wild West: A Photographic Tour of the Guns That Shaped Our Country's History, and he is content adviser for Katherine Brevard's The Story of Guns: How They Changed the World.

Kennedy previously served as a board member in the Mountain-Plains Museums Association, a Colorado-based group that supports museums in 10 states, and is a board member of the American Alliance of Museum's Curators Committee.

The U.S. Marshals Museum has raised $26.5 million of the estimated $55.5 million needed to develop the 50,000-square-foot national museum on the banks of the Arkansas River.

Dunn said Tuesday that negotiations with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its easement line along the river will be resolved in the next few weeks.

Museum officials can then set the exact location for the building, and architects can proceed to draw up the plans, he said. Dunn hopes construction can begin next year.

The museum will consist of three permanent exhibit galleries, a temporary exhibit gallery, the Samuel M. Sicard Hall of Honor and a National Learning Center, the release said.

State Desk on 10/07/2015

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