The Museum of Prehistory and History at Arkansas Tech University, chartered in December 1989 by the Arkansas Tech Board of Trustees, is part of the School of Liberal and Fine Arts. The mission of the museum is to serve as a regional history and archaeology museum and to interpret human experience in the Arkansas River Valley of western Arkansas and the history of Arkansas Tech in Russellville (Pope County).

The museum was established as a cooperative effort by Arkansas Tech, the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest Service’s Russellville office, and the Arkansas Archeological Survey Coordinating Office in Fayetteville (Washington County). Forest Service grants, along with monies from Arkansas Tech, funded the renovation of one-fourth of Tucker Hall to house the museum and early development efforts. Dr. Leslie Stewart-Abernathy, Arkansas Tech Survey Station archeologist, agreed to serve as the curator for the museum. The initial collections included the Louis and Thelma Gregoire Collection, a large archaeological collection donated to the National Forest Service and curated by the museum, materials from a campus history club that existed from the 1920s until World War II, and other items donated to the university.

The museum began public programming with an annual evening lecture series in the spring of 1991, but the official dedication was April 10, 1992. Since opening to the public, the museum has received numerous grants to aid collections stewardship and program/exhibit development. Judith Stewart-Abernathy was hired part time in late 1989 to create renovation plans, oversee the renovation, and develop the museum as a professional facility. Donated collections come primarily from Pope, Yell, Johnson, Logan, and Newton counties, and the same local region is generally the interpretive emphasis for exhibits.

As of 2007, the museum collections contain more than 120,000 items. The majority of the current collections consists of photographic negatives and some prints from Johnson County, the ongoing Arkansas Tech News Bureau photograph archive, and various smaller donations from the local area. In addition, the museum continues to curate the Forest Service collection, which includes approximately 100,000 archaeological artifacts from Pope, Yell, and Newton counties. Noteworthy permanent exhibit topics include Roots in a New Land, about early 1800s daily life in the Arkansas River Valley; Native American Stereotypes; Wish You Were Here, about discovering local history through postcards; and Colonial Arkansas, about the Hernando de Soto expedition and French exploration in Arkansas.

By the late 1990s, the museum had one full-time and three half-time employees. By 1999, the museum began to move some functions to the Techionery Building on campus, while maintaining other functions in Tucker Hall. Within these two buildings, the museum has three secure collections storage areas, three exhibit galleries, a museum store that also stocks archival supplies, a forty-seat lecture hall, a research library, offices and work areas, an exhibit shop, and a classroom. The museum staff also maintains two off-site exhibits elsewhere on campus.

For additional information:
Museum of Prehistory and History. http://museum.atu.edu (accessed June 28, 2007).

Walker, Kenneth R. History of Arkansas Tech University 1909–1990. Russellville: Arkansas Tech University, 1992.

Judith C. Stewart-Abernathy
Arkansas Tech University