Vice Chairman Mrs. Nancy Bassett Called the Meeting to Order

A regular meeting of the Collierville Heritage Commission was heldOctober11th, 2017 at 2:30pm at the Morton Museum 196 N. Main Street, Collierville, Tennessee

The following members of the Heritage Commission were present: Mary Alice Brock, Nancy Bassett, Joe Clayton, Cheri Kilmurray, Taylor Stamps, John Shepherd, Mayor Stan Joyner. Absent members were: Clarene Russell, Betty Edmunds, Jenny Cordell, and Anurag Epparla.

Staff members present wereMuseum Director,Brooke Mundy and Collections and Special Project’s Coordinator, Nur Abdalla.

Vice Chairman Mrs. Nancy Bassett called the meeting to order.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM May 18, 2017

Mrs. Bassett asked if there were any corrections or additions needed to the May 18th, 2017 meeting minutes.

Mr. Clayton motioned to approve the minutes. Mr. Stamps seconded. The minutes were approved.

Museum Director’s Report

Ms. Mundy reported that the Museum has had 3,825 visitors since May.

Upcoming programs at the Museum are:

10/12 – Lunch n’ Learn: Battle and History of Fort Pillow

10/13 – Kid’s Dairy Making Workshop

10/19 – 5th Grade Civil War Field Trip

10/21 – Dairy Day: Barnyard Jam 6pm

10/26 – Lunch n’ Learn: Frisco 1351 (last one until January)

10/27 – 3rd Grade Field Trip

11/4 – Art on the Move

12/2 – A Country Christmas

This summer the Museum offered some new programs such as a walking tour of Town Square, which was offered in partnership with the Tourism Division, and Adult DIY workshops in July. Both programs were well attended.

Summer attendance for programs was 1,200 people.

The Museum’s International Spotlight program was on September 30th. It featured performers and groups that represented different cultures from all over the world. It was a great way to share the diversity of the Collierville community.

Ms. Mundy reported that the Museum has several field trips coming up and the Museum is projected to have around 875 this semester between onsite and offsite school programs.

This summer the Museum featured the exhibit Collierville’s Town Square: 1940 – 1950s. It included the items that Nancy Perkins loaned to the Museum as well as items loaned to us by Bill Kelsey. It closed at the end of July.

On view now is the exhibit Making a Town: Collierville’s Railroad, which opened in August and will close October 20th. This exhibit opened on August 12th which was also Train Heritage Day. The Train Heritage Day event had around 1200 attendees, our biggest yet. The exhibit was developed in partnership with the Memphis Railroad and Trolley Museum.

The Museum’s Retrospective art exhibit will open November 1st and at the end of the year the Museum will open a visiting exhibit on volunteers during WWI from the National World War I Museum and Memorial.

Ms. Mundy explained that the Friends of the Morton Museum are accepting donations for the Frisco 1351 project and that they are conducting an art contest where the winning piece will be reproduced into prints to help raise money for the project. The Friends of the Museum are still offering bus grants for school’s transportation.

Ms. Mundy reported the Museum is welcoming Amy Bouche as the Museum’s new Visitor Services Coordinator. The Museum is also hiring for the position of Collections and Special Projects Coordinator.

The library will be doing a display on the Civilian Conservation Corps and Ashley Carver will be giving a talk about Collierville’s Civilian Conservation Corps camp.

OLD BUSINESS

None.

NEW BUSINESS

The group discussed the decision to move to quarterly meetings. The group agreed and the Heritage Commission will now meet in January, April, July, and October on the second Wednesday at 2:30pm.

Donations

Ms. Mundy presented a list of 117 items being donated by Nancy Perkins. Discussion ensued on the feasibility of housing the collection.

Mrs. Bassett made a motion to accept the collection by acclamation. All were in favor. The motion was passed and the items will be accepted.

Ms. Abdalla presented a program from Collierville’s Bicentennial celebration donated by Kay Stamps.

Mr. Shepherd made a motion to accept the program. Members voted by acclamation. All were in favor. The motion was passed and the item will be accepted.

Ms. Abdalla presented a print of various Collierville historic building donated by Phyllis Agnew.

Mr. Shepherd made a motion to accept the program. Members voted by acclamation. All were in favor. The motion was passed and the item will be accepted.

The next meeting will be held January 10th, 2018 at 2:30pm at the Morton Museum.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business or discussion, at approximately 3:15pm.Mrs. Bassettadjourned the meeting.

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Mrs. Clarene RussellJames Lewellen

Chairman, Heritage CommissionTown Administrator

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