Be more inclusive

Dear Editor,

A recent report in the Gazette stated that attendance at the High Plains Museum was down. Imagine that!? It is not surprising if you've been there more than once, say two or three times. Not much changes between visits, and the atmosphere does not encourage a revisit. Let me explain.

I love to do research. Anyone who has read of my work knows that I try to use every source and reference to get at the heart of whatever I'm working on.

It has puzzled me for over 20 years why I must go to the city library to view microfilm copies of the McCook papers. Why aren't there two or three microfilm readers at the museum and a collection of papers from all of Red Willow County?

And what of family files or records? Again, I am sent out the door, across town to the college library and the Southwest Nebraska Genealogical Society, who are more willing to help than anyone at the museum. Isn't that a sad statement to make?

Ask a question and receive an answer such as "Oh, I don't think we have anything like that."

What does the museum have? Is there an inventory list of items, of people who donated and/or an address to contact that person?

For as long as the museum has been in McCook, there ought to be an archive that will not quit. And, not just of McCook but of Indianola and Bartley, Danbury, Lebanon and Marion, and of Red Willow and Perry, and the many small towns that aren't here anymore.

That brings us to the work "inclusion"; asking people outside of McCook to help tell the story of Red Willow County as a whole. There has long been the thought of it being a "McCook" museum, and so there is a separate museum in Danbury, and private collections everywhere else.

I could easily go on, because I have a passion for the history of the Red Willow community. I wish the High Plains Historical Society would look at its role and re-evaluate its purpose as an institution.

Recently, I received a letter from Tennessee, from a man whose great great grandmother made the flag that flew over Indianola during the July 4 celebration of 1876. It is in my private archives. When visiting Nebraska, he called on me. I was not at home, and he missed seeing the relic. His question asked why the flag wasn't in a museum for all to see. I could only tell him that the museum and I do not agree on how best to preserve history.

I was fortunate some years ago to help Lester Harsch place the sign east of McCook denoting the High Plains Museum, "Interesting and Free."

When I asked "Why 'High Plains?'", he said "so we can be as big as we can be."

That is a happy thought, but let us not be too big; just more inclusive.

James J. Sughroue

Indianola