Smithsonian’s traveling exhibit “Crossroads: Change in Rural America” meshes perfectly with Atlanta’s historical works on education and its impact
Now open - A must see

 

[February 04, 2019] 

You don’t have to travel to Washington D. C. to view treasures of the Smithsonian Museum. The second floor exhibit space of the Atlanta Museum in historic Union Hall is now filled with a unique presentation as part of Smithsonian’s nationwide outreach ‘Museum on Main Street.’

Every two years the Smithsonian creates a traveling exhibit that brings major themes to small museums across the country. The exhibit currently housed in the Atlanta Museum is entitled “Crossroads: Change in Rural America.”

One aspect of being selected to receive the Smithsonian exhibit is the requirement that the host community create a companion display that intersects with the Smithsonian traveling display.

Atlanta residents, museum and library personnel brainstormed for a year and came up with a locally pertinent exhibit entitled “Classroom and Community: Changes in Rural America’s Sense of Community.”

Atlanta did not know until recently what the theme of the Smithsonian exhibit would be, but it seems the two parts of history meld beautifully.

Atlanta’s rural history and the flow of education from one room rural schoolhouses that were a staple of Logan County education for decades to a consolidated school system, Olympia Community Unit School District 16, fits perfectly with the theme of change that the Smithsonian exhibit stresses.
“We have been planning for over ten years to host a Smithsonian traveling museum. Our recent partnership with Illinois Humanities and their contacts at the Smithsonian produced the perfect opportunity to apply for a Museum on Main Street display,” said Atlanta Museum Director Rachel Neisler.

The Smithsonian has several exhibits touring the country, and the selection of Illinois to host “Crossroads” could not have been better.

“With the Illinois Bicentennial and Atlanta’s rural history, we could not have asked for a better theme for the Atlanta Museum. It spoke to Atlanta’s history,” commented Rachel.

The “Museum on Main Street” themes are changed approximately every two years and one state is selected to host it. Within the state, communities vie for the honor of hosting the exhibit. Within Illinois, seventeen communities applied for this exhibit and six finalists were selected. Atlanta was one of those.

Some heavy lifting was necessary to get the “Crossroads” exhibit to Atlanta. Each community is required to travel to the exhibit’s prior location, disassemble it, transport and set it up in their own space.

Last Tuesday, Rachel Neisler and her volunteer team traveled to Shelbyville and packed the exhibit in fifteen specially designed cases, lifted them into a large truck, returned to Atlanta and set up the display on the second floor of the Atlanta Museum.

“Believe me, those cases were very heavy,” said Neisler with a laugh.

The display will be available for viewing until mid-March when Marshall County has the task of taking the Smithsonian portion down and moving it to their community.

The Smithsonian exhibit is fascinating. It is a pictorial and audio/visual tour of early days America and how the hardships and joys of rural life shaped the country. Its many themes are displayed at numerous kiosks, each focusing on an aspect of rural life.

Wandering through the exhibit and you will be transported back to days when perseverance in the face of the harsh realities of rural life created a community of hardy citizens.

Learn how the widely spread residents of rural America, and of course Logan County, interacted with their far flung neighbors.

Peruse a small library where books from noted authors describe the land and its people.

Gaze at an art exhibit that captures the soul of rural America.

Hear and see interviews of those who lived the life of rural America.

The exhibit is a creative and flowing history lesson that draws the visitor in. Come get lost in the world of rural America.

The Atlanta exhibit

Volunteers from Atlanta created the companion exhibit “Classroom and Community: Changes in Rural America’s Sense of Community.”

The display follows the arc of education in Atlanta and surrounding townships. In the 1850’s one room schoolhouses were built within two miles of every family with school age children. Later students were sent to large magnet schools in surrounding communities. The final iteration of educational journey is the consolidated school district represented by present day Olympia School District.

“It took a year of thinking about this theme to finally come up with the mission statement of what we wanted to do,” said former Atlanta Library and Museum board member Bill Thomas.

The transition from the Smithsonian exhibit designed by national museum professionals to the Atlanta display, which was designed by volunteers from Atlanta and the surrounding area, is seamless. The Atlanta exhibit is every bit as informative and transfixing as the Smithsonian exhibit.

The Smithsonian exhibit is a macro view of rural American, while the Atlanta presentation telescopes in for a micro view of life and education in the history or our own small rural area.

Volunteers for the Atlanta exhibit fanned out in town and rural Logan County to interview those who lived the education passage in rural America and collected mementos from school days that had been stored away for decades.

Each station focuses on an aspect of education in rural Atlanta that formed the lives that created a community, and how that community changed as the educational system changed.

The two exhibits currently on display at the Atlanta Museum are absolutely worth a visit. You’ll want to take the time to go there and become immersed in our shared history.

Another event occurred Friday evening during the initial viewing of the exhibits. The first floor of the Union Building is being turned into a visitor’s center for those traveling through Atlanta.

Just minutes before the Friday evening event commenced, a mural on the walls of the visitor center was unveiled. It depicts the history of Atlanta and covers much of the wall space. It is spectacular.

Artist Regan King of Normal is responsible for the new work. Ms. King was selected as the muralist after Atlanta Library Director Cathy Maciariello reached out to a friend in the Bloomington/Normal arts community for a recommendation.

King took to her commission with unbridled enthusiasm and presented a volunteer committee from Atlanta with her idea. Thus began a collaboration that resulted in six reformulations of King’s original idea. The final design brought the artist together with the Atlanta residents to create lasting friendships and a wonderful visual history of their town.

“We had a wonderful time working with Regan. She was open to our suggestions of where we wanted the art to go,” said volunteer Susan Hoblit. After sketching the finished work on the walls, a call went out for volunteers to become artists themselves and fill in the lines with paint. People who said they could not paint a wall in their home gathered with Regan King and completed a true work of art.

The finished mural can be seen through the front window of the visitor center as a person drives down old Route 66. Stop in and see the colors and ribbons that convey a sense of community. And remember, one artist and numerous amateurs created the work of art. Volunteers who take pride in their community are the Atlanta way.

The Smithsonian exhibit and Atlanta companion display is open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. through March 16.

[Curt Fox]