Traveling Smithsonian exhibit opens at Wheatley

By Liz Ellis, Reporter

During the month of January, the historic Wheatley School will be the temporary home for the traveling Smithsonian exhibit, “The Way We Worked,” and a local history exhibit centered on Poplar Bluff’s history told through photographs. The exhibit will be open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 7 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. through Jan. 29.

Carl Warren of Farmington checks out one of the displays during the traveling Smithsonian exhibit’s opening day Tuesday at Wheatley School.

The exhibits were organized through a cooperative effort of Downtown Poplar Bluff, Inc., Wheatley Historic Preservation Association, and donations from area businesses. The local exhibit images were from works written by local historian John Stanard and designed by Rose Anne Huck, manager of Poole Advertising.

“I think the Smithsonian exhibit is great, but hands down the local one is the one you need to see,” said Mary Ann Allen of Poplar Bluff at the grand opening Tuesday. “The history of Butler County is just fascinating… I was just thinking, I’m from central Missouri, and I wish they would do something like this for my hometown. It’s really neat. Everyone should come out and see this.”

“To see our local exhibit up next to the national exhibit is very, very competitive,” said Bill Turner, secretary for the Wheatley Historic Preservation Association. “It gives a lot of pride in our community, knowing that we have this kind of history and talent in our community.”

“Everyone knows somebody who lived in or around then or they know that place… everything is significant in some way,” Huck said.

“I think there is a lot of power in the national exhibit and it smoothes the way for the local. I think it’s neat, and that’s the way it should work. Then, [when patrons] go over to the local exhibit, they get into it,” said Tracy Frish, Downtown Poplar Bluff director.

While Wheatley School is not exactly downtown, Frish explained, this event is still part of the revitalization of downtown. Wheatley, she said, is an important a part of the history of Poplar Bluff, and should not be left out because of its location. Frish and Huck agreed they hope the exhibit will help build more of a sense of community through the memories attached to the photos.

“It doesn’t matter how much money you pump into downtown or how many bricks and mortar you use if you don’t have a cohesive sense of community behind it,” Frish said. “Because that’s what’s really successful. This is a perfect project. It’s not in the heart of downtown, but it’s a historic piece that is in the heart of [the city’s] history.”

The Smithsonian exhibit is part of the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service’s program: Museum on Main Street, designed to bring quality exhibits to places that otherwise would not get to see them. According to the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street website, their exhibit is meant to, “…Explore how work became such a central element in American culture by tracing the many changes that affected the workforce and work environments over the past 150 years.” The exhibit includes both photographs and artifacts from the past set up in an easy-to-process format.

The topic—work—may not sound like something that is interesting to many. After all, work is mostly a necessary part of life. But, Frish noted, it is not as dull as it sounds.

“Actually, it’s pretty fascinating, because that’s your life. That’s everything about how you are and what you do,” Frish said.

“I think it’s great they can put this out for us to look at and marvel how people used to do things,” Joe Whalen of Poplar Bluff said during the ribbon cutting.

Wheatley was chosen as the exhibit’s location for a number of reasons, Frish said, but primarily for the history and beauty of the building and because of the interest of the Wheatley Historic Preservation Association.

As part of this exhibit, Downtown Poplar Bluff has also hung up nearly 30 posters in the windows of various empty storefronts in downtown, both to brighten up the place and to hopefully make people stop and realize how much the downtown needs these efforts.

“We’re downtown PB and we still have a lot of work to do in downtown proper, but what we’ve always thought is that revitalization of downtown has to include the historic parts of our town,” Frish said. “So I just think this exhibit is perfect; it brought our community together and touches on things that matter.”

Liz Ellis can be reached by emailing lizellis@semotimes.com or call 573-785-2200.