PHOTO OF THE DAY: PUBLISHER’S DESK
I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent last week at Heritage Hall Museum & Archives watching local youngsters take in what was probably a first for most of them — a local museum that is nothing short of a treasure.
More than 30 boys and girls and adult chaperones were there as part of the Freeman Public Library Summer Reading Program, a right-of-passage for many children that has been part of the outstanding quality of life enjoyed here in Freeman for decades. With the theme of “adventure,” the museum was a perfect landing spot for one of the program’s weekly installments, and Heritage Hall delivered.
Children delighted in working with Terry Waterman to crack open geodes and were wide-eyed when they saw the crystals revealed inside, and around the corner, the Natural World gallery was the perfect platform for exploration and education. I had seen the exhibit before, but standing there with the children on Thursday, experiencing it as though it was my first time, I was awe-struck by my surroundings. There is the centerpiece, Molly the Mosasaur, a spectacular look at the extinct aquatic reptile based on a fossil the museum has in its collection. There are other stuffed animals on display, framed photos of Mother Nature at work, and the story of the 1965 tornado that visited the community and which Willis Wipf famously photographed from his home on the east side of Freeman.
The Natural World exhibit is new and representative of the work and attention to detail that has taken place at the museum since Marnette Hofer stepped in as archivist and executive director in 2017. Since then, additional staff members have been added and they have collectively invested time and energy to take the museum to another level of awesomeness.
Heritage Hall Museum & Archives is one of this community’s oldest institutions and has a storied history of establishment and growth. It lived a wandering life for its first decades of existence before settling in at its current home in 1976, the year I was born. Soon after, outbuildings began joining the campus, the collections were improved and refined, a major addition was built in the late 1990s and, just in the past few years, there has been a high level of attention paid to the curation process.
It only makes sense that the Freeman Public Library would use it as a platform for its Summer Reading Program, and hopefully other groups will see its value and use it to their advantage, too.
And if you’ve never been to Heritage Hall Museum & Archives — or if it’s been a while — by all means, go and check it out. The collections are priceless, the stories are fascinating and there is something for everybody, guaranteed.
Everything you need to know is on the museum’s website found at heritagehallmuseum.com. Not only is it one of the community’s hidden gems, but one of South Dakota’s greatest finds. It’s too bad more people don’t know about it.
Jeremy Waltner is husband to Stacey and Dad to Ella & Oliver, who takes particular interest in the story of the 1965 tornado.
