History buffs advocate museum

JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - The city of Palmer has more than just an abstract sense of its 70-year history.

Original colonists still walk the downtown sidewalks and original colony farms still grow record-size vegetables. Tucked away in the scattered homes of aging residents and their grown children are hundreds of antique lamps, clothing, dishes, furniture and old tools - all potential artifacts that could one day be donated and exhibited in a newly proposed Palmer Museum of History and Art.

The goal of the proposed museum is to offer professional care, organization, and exhibition of the countless physical reminders from the Colony era, an era that is slipping irrevocably away as each original colonist dies.

Organizing the

tale of history

Currently, a large number of historical items sits in the Palmer Visitor Center, where they've been for the better part of three decades. Recently, a group of local history buffs and longtime residents began an effort to bring professional care to these items that would eventually culminate with establishment of a permanent, professionally run museum.

The artifacts were first collected in the 1970s, when a group of Palmer residents gathered donations from friends and family in an effort to preserve a tangible slice of Palmer's past. The group had no place to exhibit the items, however, so members donated them to the city. The city agreed to build the current Palmer Visitor Center, where the items have been housed and displayed ever since.

Unfortunately, the items were never officially catalogued or legally documented in terms of original ownership and location, but that began to change with the recent arrival of Geri McCann. For more than 10 years, McGann ran museum operations in both Talkeetna and Wasilla before coming to Palmer, where she naturally took an interest in caring for the artifact section of the visitor center.

McCann helped the city secure a $3,000 grant from the Alaska State Museum Grant in Aid program. The city used those funds to contract with McCann to survey the current artifacts and come up with a plan for how to care for, register and acquire legal title to the items. Throughout this process McCann has used a program and workbook provided by the American Association of Museums, to answer questions and guide her through the process of artifact care and documentation.

"The survey asked questions about who our board of directors were," McCann said, Friday. "We didn't have one, so it caused us to look at what we needed. We said we needed to develop a museum organization."

Historical guardians unite

According to McCann, an official organization with collection policies, bylaws, and a mission statement will make it easier for the museum group to secure future grants and funding.

Hence the Palmer Museum of History and Art was born, consisting of a seven-member board and a number of residents with a penchant for local history.

"We developed a proposed, tentative mission statement and a long-range plan, which included a proposed museum," McCann said.

McCann is not a member of the board but is working closely with the members.

Once she finishes surveying artifacts, McCann will send the completed study to the American Association of Museums, which will then fly a museum curator to Alaska to give further recommendations on how to proceed with artifact care and future museum operations.

"From there we'll know our strengths and weaknesses and we'll be able to apply for grants based on the survey results," McCann said.

Tony Pippel, a Palmer city council member, said he's excited about the prospects of an official Palmer museum.

"About four or five weeks ago, I talked with the mayor to invite everyone who was interested so we could get everyone on the same page," Pippel said. "We thought it would be a good idea for the museum to form their own organization."

Currently the group is continuing to take steps toward founding Palmer's first history and art museum. Their next step is to establish nonprofit status and secure their own building. In the meantime, the museum group and the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce plan to share the visitors center building - the museum group caring for the artifacts and the chamber working with tourists and promoting local business.

"The goal of this process is to work together cooperatively with the museum, the chamber and the city," Pippel said. "In Palmer we have limited resources, and to go from having nothing to a full-time museum was a big jump for the city. I said, why don't we get a bunch of do-gooders together? That would reduce our costs and workload and the city could still offer a little money and support."

If the museum effort is successful, Pippel said it will be easier for longtime residents to donate historically significant items to the group.

"People could have confidence that there is a place to contain and store this stuff," he said, adding that a museum could also be used for education and cultural tourism. "Palmer has a somewhat unique story to tell; tourists like this and they want to know more."

Mike Chmielewski was elected to be the president of the recently formed museum group. He said the museum effort is a product of a lot of people interested in guarding Palmer's history - including members of the Palmer Historical Society, which owns and operates the Colony House Museum, a renovated Colony-era home.

"The intention is to work together with other groups that have interests in the study of local history," he said. "Over the years there's been attempts to develop a true museum, but that never developed completely. I see here a confluence of people supporting this effort; this is an opportunity, a window."

Creating a town treasure

Chmielewski said he thinks the joint effort of the historical society and the museum group could create historic treasure for the city.

"If you look around at other historically significant places, you'll find that there may be historical districts and historical houses, but there is also a place for a museum to display photographs and exhibits," he said. "Restoring a house is one slice of history that is compatible with a museum."

The Palmer City Council is set to vote today during its regular meeting as to the specific role it wants the museum group to play in caring for the visitor center artifacts, which the city still owns.

The museum group will meet next at Palmer City Hall, July 19, at 7 p.m. to recruit more support for its effort. That evening will be an opportunity for residents to become official museum board members or join a Friends of the Museum support group.

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.