Smithsonian exhibit visits at John A. Logan College

MURPHYSBORO, Ill. -- The exhibition currently on display at the John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro, Ill., isn't the typical small-town museum offering.

The exhibition, called "Between Fences," is a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., telling the social history of the United States through photos and stories involving fences and their ramifications.

"When people look at this exhibit they not only have formal names for all the different types of fences, but you also come away with knowledge about the function of these fences in terms of our nation's history, and how fences have influenced settlement patterns, especially in the West," said museum assistant director Cynthia Baer.

"Fences create conflicts between neighbors, farmers and ranchers, and also across our borders."

The exhibition opened Dec. 27, runs through Feb. 3, and has already had 709 visitors, including some from Southeast Missouri. It is accompanied by local exhibits using the same theme. The museum has also applied for a Smithsonian exhibit for next year called "New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music."

But "Between Fences" isn't likely something that will be seen in Cape Girardeau. The reason -- the city is just too big.

The Logan museum was selected to exhibit "Between Fences" not because it's big, but because it's small. A group called Museums on Main Street works in partnership with the Smithsonian Institute and state humanities councils to bring Smithsonian exhibitions to small towns.

Murphysboro, one of six Illinois museums selected, won "Between Fences" because it had a population less than 20,000.

Without the help of the Museums on Main Street program, the Logan museum could never have afforded "Between Fences," said Baer. But the point of the program is to bring these cultural experiences to populations that likely wouldn't have access to them otherwise.

Traveling exhibitions are very important to museums, said Dr. Stanley Grand, director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Museum. They allow museums to change their content, but also have economic advantages for groups owning the exhibitions.

The exhibitions allow them to pay once for construction of materials like state-of-the-art shipping crates while getting fees multiple times from numerous institutions, said Grand.

Fees for the Logan museum to display "Between Fences" are zero, which is not the case for most traveling displays.

Grand's museum had to pay a fee for its latest traveling exhibition, "Fowl Play," a national exhibition of waterfowl paintings.

The museum also explored getting an Ansel Adams traveling exhibition, with 50 to 60 unpublished Adams works. The cost for two months was $6,000.

With exhibitions of paintings, fees can reach $15,000 to 20,000, and up to $100,000 for very famous works.

At that point the issue becomes funding, something which programs like Museums on Main Street take care of for small museums like the Logan museum.

For more information on the "Between Fences" exhibition, call the museum at (618) 684-3455.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182