Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006 - (Page 53)

————————————————————————I———————————————————————— Biedenharn Museum and Gardens won’t let fire halt mission A n arsonist’s fire in 2004 inextricably changed the Biedenharn Museum and Garden’s future. The fire gutted a second-story office of the Monroe museum and damaged portions of its collection. Still, the staff persevered and ensured that the museum’s mission would continue. The multi-faceted institution was closed for only three days. The Biedenharn home (a historic house museum) quickly reopened, along with the elegant ELsong Gardens. Since that day in 2004, however, the Bible Museum has remained closed to the public, its collections spread out between Monroe, Chicago, Illinois and Greensboro, North Carolina, where conservators are restoring damaged artifacts. Also, just days after the fire, the Biedenharn’s board moved Biedenharn Museum and Gardens 2006 Riverside Drive Monroe, LA 71202 Phone: (318) 387-5281 Hours: Mondays – Saturdays 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sundays, 2 – 5 p.m. E-mail address: bmuseum@bayou.com to return the museum to its former status and also to expand the facility to meet the increasing visitor demand that had grown over the previous five years. The museum had seen a recent increase in programs offered and visitation, from 12,000 guests in 1998 to nearly 30,000 visitors in 2004. In January 2005, after almost a year and a half of planning, the Biedenharn announced a project to double the Bible Museum’s exhibit space and provide state-of-theart facilities to store and care for its collections. The museum will also move parts of its operations to a building down the block from the current site. The property, Natural beauty is just one of the Biedenharn Museum and Gardens’ assets that survived a fire in 2004. — — — — — — — — — ———————— — known generically as “the white house,” will hold a CocaCola exhibit chronicling the first bottling of the soft drink in Monroe by Joseph Biedenharn in 1897. Exhibits will include historic and nostalgic CocaCola items. It will also have a museum store, new offices, an educational building and increased parking. Museum Director Ralph Calhoun hopes construction will begin in late spring or early summer, with full operations beginning in 2007. Winter 2005-06/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 53 Subscribe. Enjoy the best of Louisiana four times a year. Simply fill out the enclosed card and mail today! Arts, culture, history, literature, all for a mere $12. Don’t delay. League that documents the sugar-making process from field to factory. The museum also features a changing schedule and has hosted exhibits from the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Louisiana Art and Science Museum, among others. The museum staff has also developed themed exhibits based on local cultural traditions and history. The West Baton Rouge Museum has received acco- lades for its educational programming, including SugarFest, held annually the first Sunday in October. This celebration of the harvest features mule-driven sugar-cane grinding and syrup boiling along with folklife demonstrations. The grounds serve as a backdrop to artisans who practice crafts associated with sugar plantations such as blacksmithing, bousillage making, and broom-making. Other activities include sugar-train tours of the grounds designed for children and their families, a cake walk, and plantation cooking. The Ethel Claiborne Dameron series, named after the museum’s founder, offers lectures, films, and trips exploring area cultural and historical sites. The museum also offers an outreach program called “Grandmother Marguerite’s Trunk” that brings educators and artifacts to schools and community centers.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005 Contents Letters Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Louisiana State Museum After Katrina: “It’s time somebody woke us us up.” Missing New Orleans On Perilous Ground The Buildings of Louisiana (Architectural History by Karen Kingsley) Historic New Orleans Collection Louisiana Association of Museums Back to New Orleans Diary of a Displaced Person Jazz Notes (Music History by Bruce Raeburn) Cradle of the Stars The Terrible and the Brave Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) Forum (Commentary by James Lee Burke)

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006

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