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| January-March 2003 |
| The Museum is now open for the 2003 Spring and Summer season. Our hours will again be from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. With all the winter snows, everyone is ready for Spring and pleasant weather. |
| The Historical Society directors and staff have remained the same with the exception of Lois Brown. I want to thank Lois for her time and effort while serving on the board and we wish her the very best. |
| Larrie Collier was elected as the new board member to replace Lois. Larrie is a talented woodworker, a great volunteer and we look forward to working with him in the years ahead. |
| Marilyn Smith will again serve as curator and will be in the Museum each Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Marlene Rowe will fill in on Wednesday and a number of volunteers come in each Thursday. |
| We do have bad news to report in that long time friends, Harry and Betty Shinall are moving from Harrison. You may recall that Harry served as president from 1994 through 1997 and did an excellent job. Betty has been a volunteer for the past few years, since retiring from her long time job as secretary to Federal Judge J. Smith Henley. Betty is computer friendly and was a great asset to the Society. The Shinalls will certainly be missed by the Historical Society, the Museum staff and the community of Harrison. |
| We are also losing DeLois McGrew, a faithful volunteer and excellent computer operator. DeLois is moving to Fayetteville and pursuing a new career. She is a talented lady and was so helpful in the publication of our quarterly. We hope she returns to make Harrison her home in the near future. |
| I am sure you noticed a different look to the Historian / Oak Leaves. I hope you will be happy with the change. Financially, it will save money and you will get a better value. |
| Thank you for your support in the past and please continue to do so. Stop by the Museum anytime and bring someone with you! Remember, we need volunteers - if you have a few hours to share, please let us know. |
| Have a great Spring and Summer. |
| ~ Norman Rowe |
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| April-June 2003 |
| We are now into the summer season and a time filled with family vacations, outings and reunions. |
| We encourage former residents, in town for their class reunions, to take time and stop by the museum. The 1912 Harrison High School building that now houses the Heritage Museum is filled with artifacts and memorabilia from years gone by and offers a glimpse of the past for those who might have gone to high school or junior high in this building. |
| Our volunteers and board members have been busy this past spring and for your comfort, we added a new and larger air conditioner. You will find that all the rooms will be adequately cool. |
| Thanks to people who value preserving the past, items have been given to the museum on a regular basis. One particular thing that will catch your eye is a vintage gun donated by Robbie Cotton and given in memory of her late husband, Hugh Cotton. A big "Thank You" to Robbie. |
| Fourth of July fireworks are a regular summertime affair in Harrison and we encourage our out-of-town Society members to stay over if you are here during the holiday. Lake Harrison provides a wonderful place to watch the extravaganza of color explode from Harrison Hill. |
| We still need volunteers, so if you have a few hours to share, the museum can use you! Have a great summer! |
| ~ Norman Rowe |
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| July-September 2003 |
| Once again our monthly programs are underway. Sue Barger, program chairperson, has lined up some very interesting speakers for the rest of the year. Arkansas is celebrating the Bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase and one or more of our programs will focus on this part of our state's history. |
| The Museum has a new look as you enter the front door. Thanks to a donation by First Federal Bank, we have a new desk and credenza which gives the museum a much improved look. Many new items, brought to us during the summer, are now displayed. Thank you for braving the hot weather to share items with us. |
| The annual Harvest Homecoming date is set for October 3, 4 and 5 in downtown Harrison. This is a great time of the year to visit the downtown area and enjoy the crafts. |
| The 'Annual Railroad Day' is scheduled for October 11 in the Heritage Museum. We are especially honored to have Dr. James Fair, author of The North Arkansas Line, as our guest speaker for this event. All railroad buffs are invited to attend and hear about the old M&A, the M&NA and the A&O rail lines that played such an important part in the history of our area. |
| Rusty Wheels will have their celebration both Friday and Saturday on October 10 and 11. Anyone interested in railroads or just wanting to see some machines displayed, this will be the weekend to be in Harrison. |
| Thanks to everyone who stopped by the museum this summer. We hope you enjoyed your visit. We still have the History of Boone County, Arkansas books available - this would make a wonderful Christmas present for anyone! |
| ~ Norman Rowe |
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| October-December 2003 |
| First and foremost, I would like to wish everyone a joyous holiday season. I hope the new year will be even better than 2003. |
| Next, special thanks to the curator, Marilyn Smith, for all the hard and wonderful work she did this year. I need also to thank all the volunteers for their cooperation, and especially to my wife, Marlene, for filling in where needed. To all those who visited the museum, Thank You! You are the most important reason we have had a successful year. |
| We have some sad news, as our long time treasurer, Bob Vinyard, is resigning after 11 years of hard work. Bob has been a faithful volunteer and I thank him for his service. Melba Holland and Kirby Cowan also plan to retire from the Board as they both have health problems. We appreciate the time they have given the Board and the museum. |
| New ideas have come on the horizon this year, thanks to Marilyn Smith. She is writing a weekly column for the newspaper, in the form of questions and answers about Boone County history. This is very interesting and bringing much discussion to people in the area. |
 The cemetery clean-up project is underway, with wonderful publicity from the newspaper editor, Dwain Lair. More about this preservation of county cemeteries in the October-December issue of the Boone County Historian / Oak Leaves.
We continue to have more items of interest given to the museum each week. This only adds to the enjoyment our visitors experience when touring the museum.
Bring your friends and spend a few hours in the museum reminiscing about things of the past. You might even consider volunteering a few hours each week. |
| Thanks for your support and have a great 2004. |
| ~ Norman Rowe |
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