| The Depot Museum
pursues a mission to preserve Rusk County’s material
and cultural heritage, with special emphasis on preserving
folk arts. Opened in 1979, the museum consists of eight
historical structures, a children’s hands-on Discovery
Center, and a picnic pavilion. Visitors can experience the
county’s history through a video, displays of artifacts,
models of institutions of the past (school, beauty shop,
country store, syrup mill, doctor’s office, depot,
and dogtrot home). The Depot Museum sponsors Folk Art Day
and the Heritage Syrup Festival as part of its Folk Life
Preservation Project.
Year 1 | Year
2 | Year 3
Click
image for slideshow!
Year 1:
Rags to Riches: Handcrafted
Rugs
Goals:
By focusing its efforts on public programming (with the
assistance of consultant Dr. Deborah Kuster), the Depot
Museum set forth several ambitious goals for Year One of
the HELP project. They wanted to use the themes of the traveling
exhibition to initiate a year-long program of classes and
activities to increase public knowledge of the social significance
of rag rugs and textile techniques. They also hoped to include
more fiber artists in the museum’s folk art preservation
program and to increase visitation during the exhibition’s
stay.
Accomplishments:
To accomplish its goal of increasing the public’s
knowledge of rugs, the museum used the theme for educational
emphasis on their Web site. They also hosted a juried rug-making
contest (15 rugs from 10 contestants) and a family day opening
event with a storyteller and rug-weaving demonstrations.
Rug-making workshops attracted good numbers of visitors
and provided a new pool for future volunteers and instructors.
Furthermore, a world-renowned master of natural dye techniques,
Norman Kennedy, held a successful workshop.
New promotional strategies were tested, such as special
targeted mailings, personal invitations, and broader media
advertising. The success of the Depot Museum’s public
programming put them on the map in this region of Texas
as being a good resource for fiber arts enthusiasts.
Improvements:
-
Theme-based classes
-
Special contests to target specific audiences, volunteers,
and instructors
-
Effective promotional strategies
-
New display methods utilized for rug exhibition installation
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Personal invitations sent to individuals
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Family day
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Involvement of college students
-
Two new volunteers recruited
Goals for Year 2: Apron Strings: Ties to the
Past
2004 marks the Depot Museum’s 26th anniversary, and
Apron Strings will be the main celebration event.
In their HELP training in exhibition design, the museum’s
goals are to use their exhibition installation to spark
new interest and enthusiasm for the museum; involve the
community overtly in the museum’s exhibition-related
activities; develop special educational activities for children;
and develop new and versatile exhibition furniture.
Year 2:
Apron Strings: Ties to the
Past
Goals:
Focusing on exhibition design as their area of training
in year two, the Depot Museum wanted to take advantage of
the Apron Strings exhibition to spark new interest from
the community in the museum and its events. They planned
to achieve this goal by incorporating a local element to
the exhibition and collecting aprons from the community.
Another strategy the museum identified for reaching this
goal was finding sponsors for the exhibition via local businesses.
Since they are primarily a local history museum, they made
a concerted effort to use items from their collection to
display with the exhibition and interpret it in a way more
appropriate to a history museum, and less like a fine arts
museum.
Accomplishments:
Museum director Susan Weaver was able to accomplish the
museum’s goals of involving the community with exhibition
planning and events. They hosted their first-ever opening
reception, which was met with great enthusiasm from all
who attended. The museum also collaborated with the Henderson
Women’s Forum to host a speaker for their monthly
luncheon and were able to attract more people to the museum
as a result. They effectively used the time between their
call for apron loans and the exhibition opening to build
excitement in the community. They enjoyed working with their
consultant and gained many new exhibition design skills,
such as creating mannequins and Plexiglas exhibition furniture,
by attending the regional booster meeting.
Improvements:
-
Hosted a speaker in conjunction with an exhibition
for the first time
-
Had first opening reception for an exhibition, complete
with local musicians and an apron fashion show
-
Formed new connections with the community
-
Tried a variety of new marketing techniques, including
printing rack cards and advertising in the local newspaper
-
Created a Web site and posted the press release
on it
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Received TCA grant for speaker
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Attracted new volunteers as a result of the exhibition
Goals for Year 3: Grand Ole Opry
The Depot Museum will be turning their focus
to marketing and PR in year three. With better publicity
for the museum as a goal, they will work with consultant
Seth Davidson on designing a new brochure for the museum,
creating a press kit to have ready for the media at all
times, hosting and publicizing a fundraising event, and
improving their Web site and niche marketing.
Year
3:
Grand Ole Opry
Goals:
The Depot Museum focused on PR and marketing in
year three of Texas HELP. Consultant Seth Davidson worked
with
them on establishing a very lengthy and ambitious list
of goals. Their first priority and most challenging
goal was to develop a press kit that would include
the museum newsletter and brochure as well as information
on local tourism. They also began thinking about developing
a new message that better communicates the museum’s
mission; a complex of buildings representing Rusk County
history. Additional plans included expanding their
Web site, and surveying visitors on their experience
at the museum.
Accomplishments:
The Museum did a remarkable job of accomplishing nearly every
goal on their list. They had a strong local connection
to the exhibition and used it to their marketing advantage
Their greatest success of the year was the performance
organized by director Susan Weaver, “A Tribute to
Jim Reeves”. Reeves was a local country music legend
who grew up in Henderson. Over 150 Henderson residents
attended and packed the downtown opry house. Susan has
a strong relationship with the local media outlets and
was able to secure over $3000 in free publicity and a spot
on the nightly news. They were pleased with the amount
of local interest the exhibition generated. The museum
has even been asked to do more musical programming in the
future.
Improvements:
Developed a press kit with a cd of photographs (both electronic
and paper versions) -
Developed a new slogan, "Your Ticket to East Texas
Heritage-The Depot Museum"
Designed a new rack card
Began distributing museum information at the hospital and
convenience stores
Partnered with Tyler radio station to promote HELP exhibition
and performance
Began market research to track where visitors are hearing
about the museum
Recruited 3 new volunteers -
Doubled museum attendance in the
6 week period that Grand
Ole Opry was on display
Goals for Year 4: Keep ‘em Flying: Everyday
Life in a WWII Fighter Squadron
The Depot Museum will be turning their focus towards fundraising
in the final year of HELP. They face unique funding challenges,
being a county entity. Consultant Scott Cooksey has encouraged
them to look into private funding through the Historical
Foundation. The museum has developed a list of goals for
the year that includes a capital campaign to move a cotton
gin onto the museum grounds, and securing additional city
and hotel/motel tax funding.
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