With Support From G.I. Surplus & Pawn and AR Consultants, Inc.

This year marks the Museum of the Red River’s fiftieth anniversary.  To celebrate this milestone, staff members have planned five exhibits for 2025- each focusing on a particular decade of the Museum’s existence.  For each, fifty objects have been selected to illustrate a cross section of the Museum’s holdings for the respective period, and to commemorate the facility’s fifty years of service.  The current exhibit highlights the third ten years, 1995 – 2004.

Though it opened in 1975, the Musuem of the Red River was established by the Herron Research Foundation in 1974 and began accessioning collections that year.  The grand opening in April of 1975 was undoubtedly a proud moment for Museum founders Quintus and Mary Herron, who had long planned to establish a facility to curate and display regional archaeological materials, which in the past had been excavated and removed to repositories outside of the area.  As Mary Herron once explained, “area residents were losing the opportunity to learn about the rich heritage of their region.”  Because of this, the Museum sponsored field schools, published site reports detailing the findings of these excavations, and provided archaeological services under contract to various governmental agencies.  Collections were primarily archaeological, and exhibits reflected this, highlighting field projects, recovered artifacts, and the stories they told.

During the mid-1980s, the Museum entered a new era, as Director and field archaeologist Greg Perino retired, and Mary Herron became Director.  The Museum ceased archaeological field operations, and all materials recovered under government auspices began to be returned to the respective agencies.  Museum leadership focused on strengthening existing collections, acquiring new materials, increasing programming opportunities, and marshalling resources for future projects.  While exhibits of the period continued to feature regional archaeology, displays increasingly showcased other cultures of North, Central, and South America from prehistoric to contemporary times.  Collections growth continued throughout the 1990’s- in particular, holdings of historic Southeastern materials, historic to modern Southwestern ceramics, and Precolumbian materials from Middle and South America were enhanced.  The Museum also began to make use of funds set aside for select purchases of items that filled in voids in the collections.

In 1997, Henry Moy joined the Museum as Director and Mary Herron transitioned to the role of Senior Curator.  After years of planning, in 1998, a major expansion began, which saw a significant increase in the size of the Museum’s footprint.  This project greatly enlarged the size of collection storage, galleries, and public programming spaces.  Following renovations, the Museum once again broadened its collecting horizon and began to acquire representative materials from Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands and other regions; essentially lifting geographical restrictions from its collecting focus.  At the same time, holdings from the Americas continued to be augmented by new donations and purchases.  By 2004, the Museum had acquired a cast of the Acrocanthosaurus atokensis and would begin to plan another expansion to house this reconstructed cast skeleton of the dinosaur discovered in McCurtain County.

The objects in this exhibit were selected for their importance- to the history of the Museum, the people and cultures they represent, and to the general study of art and archaeology.  Obtained from 1995 – 2004, (a period that saw over 3800 objects added to the collections), these examples were also chosen to showcase the growth of collecting focus for the Museum; and they stand as testament to the Museum’s commitment to serve the community, and the world.