Commemoration, Preservation, Education
Kicks Off New Exhibits
Whispers of Change: Commemoration, Preservation, Education exhibit campaign kicked off on August 26, with about 70 major donors and guests in attendance.
The campaign will reach out with personal visits and contact with all past donors and friends of the museum. Everyone will have the opportunity to contribute to the campaign in the course of the next several months. Gifts of all sizes are appreciated.
After the completion of the Visitor's Center, the Friends of the LSU Rural Life Museum began moving forward with Phase II. This continuation phase will build six permanent educational exhibits to fill 7,000 square feet of gallery space. The Friends of the LSU Rural Life Museum have already committed $100,000 toward exhibit design. The Burden Foundation has also pledged its support for the campaign.
Our total goal for the project includes $1 million for the exhibits and an additional $500,000 for an endowment fund that will be a start toward setting aside funds that will preserve the museum for the future.
New exhibits will include: Introductory Area; Plantation Life; Yeoman Farmer; Slavery in Rural Louisiana; The Civil War; Reconstruction; and The Industrial Revolution. These exhibits will focus on Louisiana's rural, agricultural and industrial history and interpret the life ways for working class Louisianians in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.
The exhibits will serve as an introduction to the museum's outdoor exhibits, vernacular architecture, and special collections. Our goal will be to commemorate, preserve and educate.
After a lengthy process, Explus of Dulles, VA, was selected to design and build the exhibits. Explus has been involved with developing museum exhibits for more than 30 years. Explus provided detailing, interactive displays and exhibit fabrication at the Louisiana State Museum in Baton Rouge and the World War II Museum in New Orleans.
John and Frances Monroe are leading the Whispers of Change Phase II Campaign team.
For more information on the campaign, contact Molly Sanchez at (225)765-2437, ext. 206 or email msanchez@lsufoundation.org.