Share Your Thoughts About the Shiloh Museum!

Black-and-white photo taken outdoors of a young woman in light-color dress standing in tall grass, reading letter with a fence, brush, and foliage in background. A Shiloh Museum of Ozark History logo is on the bottom right of the photo.

Hazel Langham Bodine reads a letter while in Richland View, Washington, in this 1920s-era photo. Photo is from the Shiloh Museum’s June Boyd Collection (S-98-166-59).

We want to know how we can support and engage you in 2024 and beyond. Will you please share your thoughts by taking our survey? Click here.

Why this survey?

We at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History care deeply about making our exhibits, archives, resources, and programs we share with you, our community, and our visitors, meaningful.

But we need your help. We want to better understand our visitors’ different needs and values so we can best serve you. Museums (like ours!) strive to encourage and expand learning while also addressing the challenges facing our society, and we need to hear your thoughts.

To do this, we are participating in a national survey of museum-goers, sponsored by the American Alliance of Museums. This survey will provide us with data from our visitors, as well as from visitors to museums nationwide, helping us be more effective in the coming months and in the communities we serve.

The survey only takes about 9 minutes to complete, but in those 9 minutes you will help our team make better decisions for our future. And as a thank you there will be an opportunity for you to win one of ten $100 Visa gift cards!

Simply click here to get started.

Thank you in advance for your time and thoughts!

What Goes with Turkey, Stuffing and Pumpkin Pie? Football!

Football Is a Thanksgiving Tradition

When the Arkansas Industrial University Cardinals ran on the football field for the first time in 1894, it did so only 24 years after Congress declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. As new autumn traditions, it was almost inevitable that football and Thanksgiving would be celebrated together. Indeed, football is a Thanksgiving tradition even here in the Ozarks.

Three rows of men in different uniforms sitting and standing in front of a stone building with arched windows.

This photo of the Arkansas Industrial University football team was taken in 1896, two years after its formation and Thanksgiving Day trouncing by the University of Texas. Latin Professor John Futrall, who coached the team in its early years, is on the third row, far right, wearing a dark suit. He would later become president of the institution after it was renamed the University of Arkansas. Photo is from the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History’s Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-793).

The new Cardinals football team had an unlikely coach in John C. Futrall, a young Latin professor who later became president of the institution after it was renamed the University of Arkansas. Futrall was tasked with leading the very green Cardinals in an 1894 Thanksgiving Day match in Austin with the more experienced University of Texas team. The outcome was nothing short of humiliating. Texas soundly handed the Cardinals their birdseed by scoring 54 points. Arkansas couldn’t even get on the scoreboard. An intense Arkansas-Texas rivalry had begun.

Razorback Football Is a Thanksgiving Tradition

As years passed, the Cardinals became stronger and more threatening. When Arkansas defeated LSU in 1909, then-coach Hugo Bezdek declared his team had played “like a bunch of Razorback hogs.” A few weeks later, the team lived up to Bezdek’s assessment in a Thanksgiving game in Little Rock against Washington University, who lost with a score of 34 to 0. Arkansas celebrated its first-ever undefeated season, and The Arkansas Gazette proclaimed a “new era” for the “cardinal-clad gladiators.”  A year later, this new powerhouse became the Razorbacks.

Football players on a field with a tree-covered hill, bleachers, building and a sign that reads,

The Arkansas Razorbacks appear to have made a touchdown in this photo taken on the University of Arkansas campus in 1938, a year before President Franklin Roosevelt shook up Thanksgiving Day football plans by moving the holiday up a week. Note the WPA sign in the photo. The Works Progress Administration was an infrastructure program created by Roosevelt as a way to pull the nation out of the Great Depression. Photo, taken by William Carl Smith, is from the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History’s Ada Lee Smith Shook Collection (S-2009-79-10).

A Challenge To Coaches

A challenge to Thanksgiving Day football came in August 1939 when President Franklin Roosevelt moved the holiday from the last Thursday of November to the fourth (November had five Thursdays that year) to help boost the Depression-era economy with a few extra shopping days before Christmas. It also boosted outrage by football coaches who now faced a dilemma: how to reschedule their Thanksgiving Day football game on short notice, including the Razorbacks’ game against Tulsa. (So upset, Ouachita Baptist College’s coach in Arkadelphia threatened to vote Republican!) Many governors heard these outcries, including Arkansas’ and Oklahoma’s, and ignored Roosevelt’s declaration. The Razorbacks played Tulsa as originally planned and won.

Now, all states observe Thanksgiving on November’s fourth Thursday with millions spending the day watching their favorite professional football teams compete on television.  Without a doubt, football is a Thanksgiving tradition. Thanksgiving Day Razorback football, however, didn’t survive. Yet a newer tradition takes place: Razorback football on Black Friday.

Originally published in the November/December 2022 issue of Butterfield LIFE magazine for Butterfield Trail Village, Inc.

Footnotes
Henry, O., & Bailey, J. (1996). “Instantly in the Red”. In The Razorbacks: A Story of Arkansas Football (pp.6–7, 23-25). essay, University of Arkansas Press.
The Thanksgiving holiday. US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2022, from History.House.gov
Serving Arkansas and Beyond. University of Arkansas. (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2022, from Uark.edu/athletics
Arkansas is at Last Triumphant. (1909, November 26). The Arkansas Gazette, p. 1.
Odom, J. (2022, September 30). Razorbacks football team. Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from Encyclopedia of Arkansas
Infoplease. (n.d.). Perpetual calendar. Infoplease. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://www.infoplease.com/calendar/193911

Arkansas Football Coaches Bemoan Changing of Thanksgiving Holiday. (1939, August 15). Hope Star, p. 4.
Associated Press. (1939, November 23). Half of States Are Thankful Today, Rest Will Wait a Week. The Daily Oklahoman, p. 20.
Associated Press. (1939, December 1). Porkers Win Easily Over Tulsa, 23-0. Northwest Arkansas Times, p. 9.

 

Welcome Home Member Series: Clio Rom

As a part of our 2022 Welcome Home to Shiloh campaign, we are highlighting interviews with some of our members and exploring what Shiloh means to them. Here, in our Welcome Home Member series, we feature Clio Rom, an arts educator and third generation of the Rom family to call Shiloh home. Visit Welcome Home to learn more about the benefits of becoming a member of Shiloh Museum.

Woman standing in front a barn with long dark hair, black and white dress, holding the leash of a dog.

Welcome Home Member Series Q & A

Q: Why is Shiloh Museum special to you?

A: The Shiloh Museum has become increasingly important and special to me in the past few years. The halls don’t just contain a collection of objects but rather guide the visitor through the incredible narrative of a complex, ever-evolving landscape and people that make up the Ozarks. After moving back from Italy, it was incredible to visit and relearn so many things I had forgotten or not fully understood as a kid while growing up here. The museum covers everything from the geology of the Boston Mountains and the architecture of the Ozarks to the long-standing traditions of folk art and music — all of which I still see in our everyday culture in NWA, despite the rapid change in recent years. Every time I go to the museum, I learn something new and leave with a greater sense of pride in being from the Ozarks.

Q: Do you have any memories about the Shiloh Museum that you would like to share?

A: My favorite memory is from when I visited the museum for the first time in a while, perhaps a decade. I was exploring the grounds’ gardens, old barns, rooms, and structures. One shed was full of old, rusted iron machinery–some recognizable, others were completely unintelligible to the non-20th century farmer. One machine in particular caught my eye and I couldn’t quite figure out why. As I looked it up and down, I saw a wooden piece that had been recycled from an old post sign. “Jonagol-…” it clicked! This was the old apple polisher from my grandpa’s Rom Family Orchard. I remember my grandfather letting me help polish apples but always warning me to watch my fingers as he pointed towards the gears!

Q: What ways does the Shiloh Museum feels like home to you? 

A: I am honored to say there are pieces of home in the Shiloh museum: a photo of my father teaching at the university and my grandfather’s old equipment from his apple orchard. I take great pride in my family having laid roots here (pun intended) and it’s always amazing to see their contribution towards NWA. Beyond that, the Shiloh Museum feels like home because it collects and shares the stories, people, and objects of a land that I call my home. The Ozarks is a region that is often overlooked at best, and misrepresented at worst, and the Shiloh Museum’s collection affirms that our history and culture is worth preserving, teaching, and celebrating!

Welcome Home Member Series: Margarita Solórzano

As a part of our 2022 Welcome Home to Shiloh campaign, we are highlighting interviews with some of our members and exploring what Shiloh means to them. Featured here is Margarita Solórzano, the Executive Director and one of the founders of the Hispanic Women’s Organization of Arkansas. Visit Welcome Home to learn more about the benefits of becoming a member of Shiloh Museum.

Woman with green blouse, glasses, long gray hair, standing in front of windows.

Welcome Home Member Series Q & A

Q: Why is Shiloh Museum special to you?

A: Having a museum in our community means that our community can share its history, stories from the past to see now and to preserve for generations to come. A museum impacts our community by preserving and sharing stories of time and space. You cannot erase where we came from, and knowing these stories can impact our community’s future. The Northwest Arkansas area is in constant change, and the museum has to keep up with demographic and technological changes. When visiting the Shiloh Museum, you cannot help being inspired by the achievements, art and history of people who established themselves in the Ozarks from prehistoric times to modern history. Learning about the stories that have defined the different groups established in the Ozarks throughout the years helps us to understand our present-day reality.

The Latino Experience

The Latino experience may be different from that of other groups established in the area.  Hispanics need to be able to tell their story not only as perceived by historians, but also to tell these stories in their own personal and powerful terms. Through collaboration in creating the narratives for our community we share our struggles for equity, equality and inclusive participation in defending U.S. democracy and highlight each group’s contribution to this intrinsically Ozark identity. The museum can help us bring history to life and show everyone how people create bridges for community integration and embrace the benefits that diversity brings, making our community prosperous and strong. Through the Museum, the journey of social and political events that started in our community can be preserved in the collective memory as people attain their own version of the American Dream.

With our participation, the Museum helps us define ourselves rather than let others define us. The museum can help us tell our own stories, instead of inaccurate versions that for too long painted some groups as outsiders or made them invisible. Each group is an integral force for good and part of the progress. In the end, our local museums provide a sense of community and a place where we all can come together, celebrate a collective heritage, share common knowledge and develop a sense of belonging.

Museum visits allow us to travel through the time and space of history and as in the words of Mark Twain, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” A museum has the power to bring to life the history hidden in our homes and dispel hatred and intolerance.  Knowledge and understanding in the museum hallways show our humanity and celebrate our heritage and shared experiences, making everybody feel at home.

Q: Do you have any memories about the Shiloh Museum that you would like to share?

A: I found the Museum personnel to be interested in learning about my culture. For a long time, the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History has shown interest in being inclusive presenting exhibits of Mexican and Latin American arts, crafts, traditional toys and photography projects. Seeing the pride of Latino families when they see their children’s work displayed at the museum is priceless.

Q: What ways does the Shiloh Museum feels like home to you? 

A: The Shiloh Museum of Ozark History has opened its doors to all and has given different groups the space to claim it as part of our community and our home.

Welcome Home Member Series: Jim Meinecke

As a part of our 2022 Welcome Home to Shiloh campaign, we are highlighting interviews with some of our members and exploring what Shiloh means to them. Featured here in our Welcome Home Member Series,  is Jim Meinecke, our current board president. Visit Welcome Home to learn more about the benefits of becoming a member of Shiloh Museum.

Man wearing glasses and patterned orange shirt standing in front of wall with a map of the Buffalo river and photographs on top of the map.

Welcome Home Member Series Q & A

Q: Why is Shiloh Museum special to you?

A: Shiloh Museum is special because it is so specific and tailored to our area of the Ozarks.  Anyone that has lived here will be able to relate to the things they see and hear at the museum.  If someone is new to the region, then Shiloh is the perfect place to get a feel for our unique culture and history.  You can learn about everything from Native American artifacts to Marshallese sailboats at Shiloh Museum.

Q: Do you have any memories about the Shiloh Museum that you would like to share?

A: I have a lot of good memories about Shiloh. My favorite memory is seeing the inside of Shiloh Meeting Hall for the first time. There is so much interesting history connected to that one structure. I am so glad that it has been restored and is still being used.

Another special memory for me occurred as I was browsing through the exhibits at the museum. There is a picture of Bethlehem Church there and I recognized it as the church that is on property that some friends and I own near Devil’s Den State Park. The church was originally located at the confluence of Rich and Lee Creeks. I believe that is where the picture was taken. There is a large pool there that is still called the “baptizing hole.” Neighbors told me that the church was moved out of Lee Creek valley to the top of the ridge in 1939. The old Fayetteville Road followed the creek but was replaced by a new road that ran along the ridge above the valley. The old foundation and church cemetery are still down on the creek.

Q: What ways does the Shiloh Museum feels like home to you? 

A: The Shiloh Museum of Ozark History has opened its doors to all and has given different groups the space to claim it as part of our community and our home.

Finding Alsey Timberlake

Carnahan Cemetery, looking west toward Oklahoma.

NOTE: This is an update of a blog originally published in 2013.

I recently participated in a driving tour of the west Washington County community of Cane Hill to get a sneak peek at preservation efforts being undertaken by the Historic Cane Hill organization. A highlight of the trip was a visit to Carnahan Cemetery, established with the burial of John Billingsley on Nov. 14, 1827. The old graveyard is high atop a windswept hill overlooking a lovely and expansive valley. To the west, seemingly just a stone’s throw away, is Oklahoma.

Immediately upon setting foot inside Carnahan Cemetery, I found myself transported back to 1837. On October 13 of that year, some 360 Cherokees led by Lt. B. B. Cannon left the Cherokee Agency in Tennessee bound for Indian Territory. They were going voluntarily as members of the “Treaty Party,” a small group of Cherokees who supported the Treaty of New Echota ceding all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi River in exchange for $5 million and land in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Most Cherokees protested the Treaty of New Echota and refused to leave their ancestral homeland. This faceoff with the federal government resulted in the forced removal of thousands of Cherokees, a dark time in our history known as the Trail of Tears.

The Cannon detachment traveled overland through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas on their trek to Indian Territory, arriving there December 27, 1837. Sickness and death accompanied them along every step of the ten-week journey. It is heartbreaking to read B. B. Cannon’s journal and his stark mentions of death along the way. Seventeen people lost their lives: fourteen children (including one “black boy”) and three adults.

For the Charles Timberlake family, the journey was horrific. Smoker Timberlake, age about eleven, was buried on December 17, 1837, after the detachment passed through Springfield, Missouri. Ten days later, on December 27, Smoker’s thirteen-year-old sister, Alsey, was buried somewhere near Cane Hill, Arkansas. The next day, December 28, another Timberlake child (whose name was unrecorded by Cannon) was buried in Indian Territory, most likely in the vicinity of present-day Stilwell, Oklahoma.

Receipt to James Coulter showing payment of $2.25 “for furnishing a coffin for a deceased Cherokee belonging to a detachment of Cherokees on their way to the west.” National Archives and Records Administration

A receipt discovered in the National Archives by members of the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Trail of Tears Association shows payment of $2.25 on December 27, 1837, to James Coulter of Cane Hill “for furnishing a coffin for a deceased Cherokee belonging to a detachment of Cherokees on their way to the west.” December 27, 1837the day B. B. Cannon recorded the burial of Alsey Timberlake. The “deceased Cherokee” listed in the James Coulter receipt is thirteen-year-old Alsey Timberlake.

Land records show that James Coulter didn’t live too far from Carnahan Cemetery. Could this old burial ground be the final resting place of Alsey Timberlake? We’ll probably never know for sure. But I can tell you one thing for certain. On that day, in that place, high atop a hill looking west toward Oklahoma, Alsey Timberlake was right there with me.

Susan Young is the Shiloh Museum’s outreach coordinator.