The Old State House museum opens a new exhibit today – “Things You Need to Hear: Memories of Growing Up in Arkansas from 1890 to 1980.” The exhibit is a collective memory of growing up in Arkansas from 1890 to 1980 and is told by the people who did it.  Through the exhibit, Growing Up in Arkansas, curator Dr. Margaret Jones Bolsterli conveys the importance of passing family histories from one generation to another.

The exhibit is comprised of five themes: community, family, work, school, and leisure. Bolsterli said that she “envisions this exhibit as a collective memory of growing up in Arkansas told by the people who did it.” Oral histories will be a highlight of the exhibit, some included in surprising ways. Each theme of the exhibit will be encapsulated in its own vignette, detailing a special sense of time and place. Artifacts will be included in each of these settings, revealing the layers of what life was like for past generations. Visitors will experience these time capsules and reflect on the past in Arkansas.

The museum, a division of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, is open from9am to 5pm on Monday through Saturday. On Sunday it is open from 1pm to 5pm.