Chapter 28 • Full story exercise 20
TIPTON, Mo. — Change can be slow in museums, but well-planned improvements can
breath new life into old institutions.
The Moniteau County Museum reflects the blush of ongoing changes.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” said Orion Emery, who was hired as museum
director about 15 months ago and has a masters degree in museum studies.
Emery’s two biggest projects are organizing museum collections and completing the new
“A Rural Way of Life: Moniteau County, Missouri 1845-2001” exhibition that was started in
2006.
“The museum has a good foundation for going to the next level,” said Tom Edmondson,
president of Heugh-Edmondson Conservation Services. “They’re really trying to go
somewhere.”
The completed exhibit will be opened to the public in the not too distant future, Emery
said.
“It will occupy 4,000 square feet and be the same caliber display as a Smithsonian
exhibit,” he said.
Exhibit Associates Inc., of Kansas City, is constructing the displays based on plans by
Steve Feldman Design, of Philadelphia. The museum had held a capital campaign and raised
$830,000 for the exhibit — the lion’s share of the $900,000 price tag for the exhibit.
Emery inherited a 32-year collection that didn’t have climate-controlled storage and good
records detailing the individual pieces. Working with state-of-the-art museum software,
volunteers and an intern from the University of Missouri, the museum is properly photographing,
measuring and describing its collection items.
The storage room has proper shelving, acid-free storage materials, a constant temperature
of 62 degrees and 45 percent to 50 percent humidity, Emery said.
There are other ongoing projects.
The museum acquired a National Endowment for the Humanities grant and hired a
conservator to study its extensive photographic collections. A cooperative project with the
Missouri State Historical Society is continuing to produce a complete microfilm collection of
“The Tipton Times.”
In 2009, Emery said the museum’s board would begin work on a new set of future plans
for the museum, including the following: apply for museum national accreditation, look at new
exhibit possibilities, authorize outreach programs and seek new ways to ensure financial
viability.
In 2005, Moniteau County voters passed a one-fifth of a percent sales tax that generates
about $200,000 a year for operational expenses. The museum also began renovations, which
included new exhibits and improved accessibility for the handicapped.
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