Capturing Time: Historic Ozark Cameras

On exhibit now

Capturing Time: Historic Ozark Cameras takes visitors on an interactive journey through the past with historic cameras and the Ozark photographers who used them. Explore how these remarkable tools evolved and transformed the way we document history, capture everyday life, and shape our self-image. We take you to photography’s origins and an interactive photo studio where participants can experience 1800s photography using today’s technology. See the works of local photographers, such as Mrs. Young, J.H. Field, Ernie Deane, and Mary Maestri Vaughan, and view kaleidoscope patterns projected by a magic lantern. Catch a glimpse of a mid-20th-century camera store in Springdale, learn how film was developed in a darkroom, and explore the evolution of photography into the digital age.

The Shiloh Museum of Ozark History is the home to over 500,000 photographs and 300 historic cameras. What’s shown here represents a fraction of our collection!

One  Step Higher: Five Generations of a Black Ozark Family

On exhibit now

Betty Davis as an adolescent. Photo from the Betty L. Davis Collection (S-2015-71-49).

One Step Higher: Five Generations of a Black Ozark Family is a multimedia exhibit that shares the remarkable story of Betty Hayes Davis and her family of Fayetteville. Through photos, oral histories, music, and video, the exhibit traces their journey from emancipation through school integration and beyond, reflecting the broader Black American experience.

Visitors will learn about the violent racism Davis’s great-grandmother faced in the early 1900s, her grandmother’s Fayetteville business listed in The Green Book, and her nephews William “Bull” and Harold Hayes, who helped break racial barriers as Fayetteville High School athletes. The exhibit also features the jump blues music of Buddy Hayes and rare footage of Davis and her nephew, Clifford “Half Pint” Thompson.

At its heart is the story of Davis herself. She served in the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was a New York University graduate, and a lifelong advocate for local history until her passing in 2016.