Museum board meets to discuss success and changes for museum

The H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum Board discussed the recent success that the museum has had this past month during its monthly meeting held at Havre Inn and Suites Monday night.

Museum Director Emily Mayer said the museum has been doing pretty well because attendance at the mall has increased.

Festival Days also helped bring people in to the museum.

“We had 60 people in the museum on Saturday alone,” Mayer said.

She said having the craft show at the mall contributed to an increase in foot traffic for the museum. The plan for next year is to put more signs up, she added, and attempt to have enough volunteers to open the museum Sunday during Festival Days weekend.

Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump also saw increased visitation. Third-grade classes from Lincoln-McKinley Primary School came to visit Sept. 24-26, Mayer said. Two tours ran in the morning, with 130 students attending along with 55 adults. This brought in an extra $740 for the buffalo jump.

Oct. 4, an eighth-grade class from Glasgow visited the jump as well, Mayer said. That trip saw 60 students and eight adults. Mayer said the students got to witness a stone boil and “really enjoyed that.”

Museum Chair Lela Patera said they will explore credit card services through FourSquare or another app for the Buffalo Jump. Patera said that having an app like FourSquare would be easier than having an actual credit card machine connected to the phone line when the Buffalo Jump is only open for three or four months of the year.

H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation President Elaine Morse said that Digging Up History was canceled during Festival Days, in part because of the lack of a fair manager and lack of an area blocked off for use.

“So we’re going to try and do that again, but I don’t know if it will be next spring or next fall,” Morse said.

The board discussed moving the stagecoach back in front of the former Sears location now that the store has closed permanently. Morse said the stagecoach had been in that location but they had to move it when Sears opened.

Board member Alison Hecker said the museum will have an addition to the Great War Exhibit. The addition to the display will feature a family with members who had served in both World War I and World War II and will include uniforms from each respective period.

The Phillips County Museum is having a free training session Oct. 18 in Malta at 9 a.m. for museum officials only, Mayer said. The training is for the care, storage and display of Native American artifacts.

Museum officials who are interested in attending must RSVP by Oct. 12 and lunch will be provided by the Phillips County Museum, Mayer added.