Four Decades at the Pioneer Museum

I must have pulled a Rip Van Winkle! It is hard to realize that it has been almost 40 years since I became involved with the Pioneer Museum. It has been a wonderful experience. About 1977 or so, Irma McInerney and Gladys Silk approached me about becoming part of the Historical Society. Having always had a love of history, it sounded like a good fit for me.

A little bit of background on the museum. The Diamond Jubilee of the county we all celebrated in 1962 was when the people became aware of the need for a museum in Valley County. One of the projects of the celebration was to ask the people if they would be willing to put their artifacts on display. They had lined up a building on Main Street in Glasgow. I believe it was the old Federated store. The people proved more than willing to display their treasures. That building, both the ground level and the basement level, were filled.

The people who had started it all were amazed. Iva Holiday, who was the county extension agent at that time, had the foresight to realize that if something was not done, all of these artifacts would be lost to this area. So she went to the Home Demonstration groups of the county and explained to them how important it was that something be done to encourage the people to make their artifacts part of a permanent collection. They were in total agreement and they formed the Historical Society. They raised enough money to build the original building on the site where it still stands.

Oh, how large and empty that building looked when it was up in 1972. They wondered how on earth would they every fill it up. They found out very quickly. In 1973 they purchased what is now the machine lot across the street. They had to get another building built. It was to house the threshing machine belonging to Adam Lenz. It was one of the first threshing machines in Valley County. It was made of wood. This 105-year-old threshing machine is still housed there today, along with other pieces that are about the same age. Needless to say, the original building would not hold all of the machinery collection we have today.

Then they had to build an addition to the main building, and it was opened in 1974. It was to house the Kalinski Collection. And the museum continues to grow. It was decided early on that in order to have continuity and security for the Pioneer Museum, it would be best to deed it to Valley County and its people.

As I became more involved with the museum, we became aware that we were the only county in northeast Montana that had not published a history of their county. So a group of us approached the Historical Society about doing the history of Valley County. The Historical Society gave their blessing. So we began the project. What an amazing experience! Little did we realize that what we thought would be one volume, quickly grew into a three-volume set called “Footprints In The Valley,” or that it would take five years from the beginning to the end of that project. We ended up with almost 2,000 pages. We printed 3,000 sets. (By the way folks, there are only 75 sets left and they will be gone.)

“Footprints In The Valley” was also a learning experience for those of us working on it. Along the way we became aware that there was concern out there regarding the care and upkeep of the museum. Since the Historical Society’s duties were to collect, preserve and display the artifacts, we felt the need to create a group that would work for the upkeep and maintenance of the Pioneer Museum. The county had awarded a levy of one mill for wages and maintenance but there never seemed to be enough money to get it all done or to extend the hours. So when Friends Of The Pioneer Museum was formed, it was to try to take care of some of these needs. The Historical Society does a wonderful job of collecting artifacts, but that requires space and upkeep also.

It is through the support of all of you out there that we were able to do a retrofit of our main building. A new roof, upgraded insulation, a new furnace system, handicapped bathrooms, an office, a security system and a larger archive area. This was made possible by the addition that was built on the north side of the main building. Before that, the archives had about a 10’ x 12’ space.

One of my favorite projects during my time with the Friends Of The Pioneer Museum has been the Heritage Wall Collection of the history of the people of Valley County. You can see these beautiful plaques in the lobby of the courthouse and at the Pioneer Museum. The collection now numbers almost 300 plaques. That is history saved. We have my husband, Al Franzen, to thank for making the beautiful plaques. He worked on that project for about 20 years. He retired from that activity about a year ago.

Friends Of The Pioneer Museum still has a couple of goals they would like to accomplish. One being to get space built where our agricultural and railroad history can be preserved. These two histories are the basis that this area was built on. Another thing we would like to accomplish is to make our museum a year-round facility. That way our schools would be able to take better advantage of what we have to offer. Not only that, but we would be open when our own local agricultural people would be able to spend more time there. Then they would be better able to enjoy the museum or take advantage of all of their heritage that is there. Genealogy has a treasure there that many of them would be able to use to do family histories etc.

And why am I rambling on like this? Because as of the first of July, I am going to stop being involved in the museum. I will always be concerned about it and enjoy watching it continue to flourish. But there a number of family things I want to attend to while I am still able. Now it is time for some of the younger generation to take their turn at preserving what we have. I feel so blessed because I had the privilege and honor of working with so many of the founders of the museum. They were an incredible group of people to whom we all owe a deep debt of gratitude. I also want to thank everyone for their support in what we have been doing all of these years and the personal support they have been kind enough to give to me. I still look forward to seeing all of you in my activities around town. Two of my favorite places to meet and greet everyone are the grocery store or the Oasis at lunch time.

So we invite you to become involved with Friends Of The Pioneer Museum. It is a different type of work than what the Historical Society does, but is equally as important. Friends needs your time, your skills and your new ideas as well as your financial support. We have been incredibly blessed with the financial support we receive from all over the country through our mailing. The mailing goes out to people who have their roots in Valley County and they have been very generous. So we invite you to call Sue Henderson or Sherri Turner and ask them how you can get involved. Keep in mind that passing on our heritage to all of our children and generations to come is the greatest gift you can leave them.