“Get To Know Your Roots.” That is the slogan for the Arnold Area Historical Society (AAHS) and that is the message the group is focusing on with their current “Cornerstone Campaign” fundraising effort.
Before exploring information about the campaign and its goals, it is imperative to “get to the roots” of the Arnold Area Historical Society itself. In a recent interview with KCNI/KBBN News, Renee Bubak, President of the AAHS, said the real catalyst of this whole project was a March 2022 community vision meeting hosted by the Arnold Community Foundation. At the end of that meeting, participants identified eight key areas they wanted to see developed for Arnold and one of those areas was preservation of the area’s history, as well as a local museum to house that history.
In July of 2022, a meeting was held for those interested in creating a historical society and museum for Arnold and a committee was formed. Bubak said “the committee hit the ground running”, meeting every couple of months and applying for non-profit status—a goal achieved in February of this year. Planning by the group has centered around two main aspects–a virtual museum and a brick and mortar museum.
The first part of this feature story about the Arnold Area Historical Society centers around the virtual museum envisioned by the group. Because the ability to obtain a brick and mortar facility was unknown at the time, the committee began by focusing on a virtual museum with research options that would allow worldwide access to the historical story of Arnold.
Holly Hornung Remund, another member of the AAHS committee, told KCNI/KBBN News that a unique and creative relationship has since grown with the Arnold Public Schools. According to Remund, history, science, and English teachers at the Arnold High School have been doing research projects about the area’s history for several years and those projects have only been housed on the school server. Now, plans are underway to include those projects on the historical society’s virtual website that students at the Arnold Schools are helping develop. In addition, with assistance from some passionate teachers, Arnold students are assisting with the virtual preservation of community stories and historical documentation.
Other pieces of the virtual museum that will eventually be displayed on the AAHS website are recorded recollections of residents that help tell the story of the community and area, the Rotary project that has placed historical signage around the town, and walking/driving tours.
Tomorrow’s local news will focus on the work that is now underway to make Arnold’s brick and mortar historical museum a reality.
