Museum name, move again among topics at board meeting

The H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum Board again took up what name should be used for the county museum, with the head of a committee that is rewriting its bylaws suggesting the board approach the county government about a name change.

Among other topics covered at the monthly meeting Monday at the museum office in the Holiday Village Mall was work to eventually move the museum downtown and upcoming events, as well as an annual report from the Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump archaeological site north of the mall.

Board member Raela Hulett, who has been heading the work to revise the museum’s bylaws and other documents, has pointed out in past meetings that numerous names have been used for the museum on different documents over the years. Hulett has requested the board determine what name should be used in the bylaws and in future documents.

She, and other board members, said during Monday’s meeting that people often think the museum is private and funded by the Clack family.

The museum was named in honor of pioneering Havre businessman H. Earl Clack, and has received support from the family, but is a county-operated entity.

Hulett moved Monday that the board ask the Hill County Commission if it would consider renaming the museum to include Hill County in the formal title. The board approved the motion.

The board also heard from Wahkpa Chu’gn manager Anna Brumley.

Brumley said she and her husband, museum curator of archaeology John Brumley, are working on compiling a detailed history of the bison kill site.

She said numbers at the site were down from last year, but school tours already are being booked.

She said the site also started accepting debit cards and credit cards this past season and saw quite a bit of use of them at the site and the gift shop in its interpretive center.

Brumley said museum foundation chair Elaine Morse also is working on a grant application that would pay for erecting a small garage on the site to store the jump site's cart used during tours and machinery such as weedeaters and lawnmowers.

The site also is planning its part for the annual Hands on History, scheduled this year for Saturday, April 12, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Brumley said stone boiling of bison meat will be displayed at the entrance to the site, and tours will be offered at a $1-off discount.

Morse said the plans are to shorten the event, which had been held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in previous years. Some 30-35 events are in the planning stages, she said.

Morse said work also is progressing on the building the foundation purchased to house the museum, the Griggs Building on 5th Avenue and Main Street. Jim and Bonita Griggs sold the building to the foundation with the requirement Griggs Printing can continue to operate in the location.

At a work session last month, volunteers hauled out two dumpsters-worth and six or seven pickup-truck-loads worth of material, and barely made a dent, Morse said.

She said architect Becki Miller, also historic preservation officer for the Havre-Hill County Historic Preservation Commission, is drafting different plans on how to remodel the building, one set while Griggs Printing is still operating there and another for after Jim Griggs retires and closes the business.

The board also approved summer hours for the museum, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting Tuesday, May 27, the day after Memorial Day, and resuming its winter hours Sept. 1.

The shortened hours — the museum had stayed open till 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday in the summer — will help save some money during a time of tightening budgets, Morse said.

Board member Gary Wilson said new displays made by Glassworks will be ready soon to show some special displays. They include a lantern given by the Havre Volunteer Fire Department to its assistant chief, Carroll McCulloch, on his retirement.

McCulloch was part of the Broadwater-McCulloch trading post at Fort Assinniboine, and served on the volunteer fire department in the young community of Havre as well. Another item that the museum is acquiring from his family is a quilt given to McCulloch by his young wife, valued at $4,300, Wilson said.

The display will include a letter certifying that items on the quilt include military insignia belonging to then-Lt. John “Black Jack” Pershing, who was stationed at Fort Assinniboine before serving in the Spanish-American War and later becoming commander of Allied Forces during World War I.