News from Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Missouri:
What could have been a stand-off over the Civil War Museum at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield has ended in a truce.
A plan by the National Parks Service to close the museum on Route Z and store its collection in an underground vault near Kansas City prompted protests by the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation.
Conflict was averted late last week when the NPS regional director Ernie Quintano announced nothing will done until after the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Wilson’s Creek is commemorated in August.
The museum, purchased by the park service in 2005, will be emptied and converted to park staff use but the museum’s collection will stay at the battlefield — at least for now.
Foundation president Steve Ross said he was pleased with the outcome of the meeting, at least to a point….
For many years, any visit to Wilson’s Creek has included a stop at the Sweeny Museum. Last summer, I visited with my son in tow, and the stop became a highlight of an event filled day.
Tom Sweeney created the museum in the early 1990s, naming it after his ancestor General Thomas Sweeney who fought in the Mexican and Civil Wars. He collected artifacts of the war, with special focus on the Trans-Mississippi. The set is the largest single display of its kind related to that theater of the war.
The museum is, as the article says, part of the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, being purchased in 2005 with congressional funds – around $4.5 million at the time. The park service renamed the museum to simply “The Wilson’s Creek Civil War Museum” and made some small changes to the displays (improvements in my opinion).
While I would agree that the building is not the best place to keep the collection at this point, I would rather see the collection remain on display. It is just too rich a resource to have locked away in a vault. The compromise – storing the artifacts at the battlefield and displaying a portion – still removes many interesting and important items from the average visitor. But, as the article points out at the end, funding is a problem.
On a positive note, nobody is suggesting a liquidation of the collection or disbursement of the artifacts to other venues. All options thus far presented, including the initial plan from the park service, keeps the museum collection intact.
Perhaps with the focus on Wilson’s Creek in this sesquicentennial year, other options will emerge. For those interested in further details or ways to get involved, I would recommend contacting the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation.