Sultana Museum in search of full-time Director

Sultana Museum in search of full-time Director

Marion A& P looking to fill position

news@theeveningtimes.com Marion Advertising and Promotions Commission has agreed to fund the hiring a director to help develop the Sultana Disaster Museum and guide the city’s tourism efforts.

A& P, which oversees collections of the city’s one cent sales tax on prepared foods, voted in favor of providing the city $60,000 for the position for the next three years.

“We’ve got a museum, humble as it is.

We’ve done a feasibility study. So somebody now needs to work on this 40 hours a week to breathe some life into this effort,” said Mayor Frank Fogleman.

A preliminary design study estimates that it will cost $2.8 million to build a 10,000square-foot facility. The study also determined that the museum will attract about 35,000 visitors a year.

The Sultana was a Civil War paddlewheel steamboat that exploded just north of Memphis in the early morning hours of April 27, 1865 and resulted in the deaths of over 1,700 people, mostly Union soldiers who had been held captive and were returning home from the war. The sinking of the Sultana is the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history.

Marion has a special connection to the disaster as many of its early residents helped rescue the survivors. The remains of the boat are buried under a soybean field in Marion.

The city opened a small museum last year on Washington Street and is considering building a bigger, permanent museum next to the Woolfolk Library. A& P has agreed to spend up to $400,000 to help build the museum.

Fogleman told A& P that Dr. Ruth Hawkins of Arkansas State University, who has been helping the city with developing the museum, advised him that hiring a full time director will help speed up the

process of getting a museum built.

Hawkins oversaw the efforts to build the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Museum in Dyess, Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, and several other museums for ASU.

“I agree with her,” Fogleman said. “We are at that point that if we want to grow this museum and see if it will work, we need to invest some money in somebody who is focused on it as a job. I really think this is an example of if we spend some money it will help further this cause.”

Fogleman said he expects the salary to about $45,000 with the remainder to be used for travel and promotional expenses.

The person hired would be a city employee with city benefits and would report to the mayor.

The job would entail promoting and improving the existing museum, seeking out grants, working with the design architects, attending trade shows, visiting schools, and coordinating with other museums and setting up tours.

“I expect them to walk, talk, eat and sleep Sultana,” Fogleman said. “If this museum is going to gain life, this person is going to be the one to breathe life in to it.”

Marion Chamber of Commerce

president Mike

Demster said there is a lot of opportunity out there for the museum to be a real asset to Marion.

“I think we should give it our best shot,” Demster said.

Councilman David Bigger agreed.

“I’m a big supporter of the Sultana museum,” Bigger said. “I think it is a great idea. It differentiates us.

Right now we’re at a crossroads. We need something to push it along. Let’s give it a fair shake. That’s what I think this will do.”

Fogleman said interest in the museum is building, but needs somebody full time who is energetic.

“No volunteer, or me, or anybody else working for the city has the time to do it,” Fogleman said. “So rather than have us go out and round up $3 million, let’s invest in this person and have somebody working around the clock to help us build this museum. I think this is the right next step.”

By Mark Randall