{"id":1553,"date":"2010-10-18T15:52:09","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T20:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/library\/"},"modified":"2024-08-12T13:13:53","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T18:13:53","slug":"museum","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/archives\/archives\/history\/illustrated\/am\/museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Curating a Museum and Sponsoring the First Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Samuel<\/a>

Samuel Dickinson and NYA Student Assistants at Museum (Click photo to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

(Excerpted from James F. Willis, Southern Arkansas University: The Mulerider School\u2019s Centennial History, 1909-2009<\/em>, pp. 128-31)<\/p>\n

Celebrating history was a driving force for Magnolians who persuaded Overstreet to renovate a faculty residence on the campus\u2019s west side in 1934 to house the South Arkansas Museum. An amateur historian, Nettie Kilgore, then gathering materials for her book on Columbia County, secured Overstreet\u2019s promise in 1930 to establish a museum and headed a committee to collect artifacts. Overstreet finally provided space when he moved football players who had been using the former residence and calling it the Mulerider Stables.<\/p>\n

Overstreet hired Samuel D. Dickinson, a young anthropologist, to serve as museum curator and teach full-time. A native of Prescott, Arkansas, Dickinson had a B.A. degree from the University of Arizona and had done graduate study at Mexico\u2019s National University, one of the world\u2019s premiere institutions in his field. His appointment was not hurt by his friendship with A&M board member Judge Harry J. Lemley of Hope, an amateur archeologist. Together they had collaborated in archeology \u201cdigs\u201d in Southwest Arkansas that earned Dickinson a claim to the title \u201cfather of Arkansas archeology.\u201d He was among the first academically trained to undertake scientific excavations in the state. His studies and publications about the Crenshaw site in Miller County were among the earliest analyses of the region\u2019s prehistoric peoples.<\/p>\n

\"Museum<\/a>

Museum Displays, 1936 (Click photo to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

Within a few months, Dickinson organized the museum\u2019s collection to illustrate the state\u2019s rich past. Exhibits included hundreds of fossils and Indian stone implements; a spinning wheel and other household furnishings of early white pioneers in Columbia County; a sword and other relics of the Civil War battle of Poison Spring fought some forty miles north of A&M; and the dueling pistol of famous Arkansas lawyer, general, and author Albert Pike.<\/p>\n

Dickinson had a wide knowledge of literature, art, and theater that he shared in a variety of ways with A&M students. For example, Dickinson and his NYA assistant, Robert Dusenbury from Mena, painted three large murals on the museum\u2019s burlap-covered walls. These were bright enamels using line and color and distorted figures reminiscent of Pablo Picasso\u2019s creations. They also painted a less avant-garde but still striking mural in the foyer of the New Girls dorm (Caraway Hall).<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/a>

Robert Dusenbury, 1937 (Click photo to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

An immensely popular instructor\u2014a cigarette constantly hanging from his lips as he loped across campus, recalled Dorothy Couch Longino\u2014Dickinson was liked as much perhaps for his social as his cultural pursuits. He sponsored the first formal student dance ever held on the campus and established the Geoanthropology club that became, in 1934\u201335, the single largest club exceeding in size even the YMCA and YWCA. His primary purpose was to create interest in his \u201cdigs\u201d at fossil and Indian sites, but without doubt, many students joined for the club\u2019s dances.\u00a0 Magnolia citizens had held the National Guard Armory\u2019s first dance on January 30, 1934; called the President\u2019s Ball, it like others across the nation supported President Franklin Roosevelt\u2019s charitable efforts on behalf of polio research and rehabilitation. School rules prohibited student dances, a policy that most small colleges in the state still followed.\u00a0 The decision to permit Magnolia A&M dances may have been a response to an open student rebellion in the 1934 spring semester at Monticello A&M. Monticello students\u2019 demands included dances. Their protest eventually led to longtime Monticello president Frank Horsfall\u2019s resignation. The controversy probably nudged Overstreet and the state\u2019s other college presidents to make some changes. The first informal student dance at Magnolia A&M occurred on October 6, 1934, at the Clubhouse. That year\u2019s Mulerider<\/em>cheerfully declared that the event had turned the institution \u201cfrom a reform school to a real school.\u201d The first formal dance took place on January 1, 1935, at the armory; onstage was a large dinosaur replica in recognition of Dickinson\u2019s sponsorship of the milestone event.\u00a0 When he left A&M in 1938, the school\u2019s museum shut down. The dancing continued.<\/p>\n

\"Clubhouse\"<\/a>

Clubhouse (Click photo to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Varsitonians, a student dance band, at the Clubhouse 1937 (Click photo to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Excerpted from James F. Willis, Southern Arkansas University: The Mulerider School\u2019s Centennial History, 1909-2009, pp. 128-31) Celebrating history was a driving force for Magnolians who persuaded Overstreet to renovate a faculty residence on the campus\u2019s west side in 1934 to house the South Arkansas Museum. An amateur historian, Nettie Kilgore, then gathering materials for her… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":1724,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-1553","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4222,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1553\/revisions\/4222"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}