Second floor at Mattoon museum now open

A local museum is sticking with its theme of not letting history be forgotten.

The Mattoon Area Historical Society Museum has recently added on to their collection, introducing a new second-floor section. Features include an exhibit displaying the sports history in Mattoon, a Native American exhibit and an exhibit detailing what women would traditionally wear throughout the years. The second floor opened on May 30.

“We needed more room for everything that we wanted to put in the building, so we had the upstairs redone,” said historical society secretary Kathy Zarda. “We liked having old furniture up there and old clothing.”

Former society president Dick White said the society wanted to create another area in the museum where memories can be preserved.

“We are trying to preserve the history of Mattoon, not the artifacts,” said White. “The artifacts are all from this area. They are not all antiques; they all have meaning to someone in this area.”

Zarda said that most of the items on display were donated from people with past connections with Mattoon.

She also said that it took a couple of months to get the second floor completed.

“We didn’t start until February, but you know I think it got done quite nicely,” said Zarda.

White said the historical society wanted to display sports, Native American life and women’s clothing, because Mattoon has a history surrounding those three topics.

“We thought that those sections were meaningful to the people that live here,” said White. “These are just aspects that people can relate to, as their families started and grew.”

White said it’s important to maintain memories of Mattoon’s history.

“This means a lot to me, because it is starting to fade away,” said White. “We need to put the brakes on it and preserve it, so it doesn’t go away forever. We have people here who are in their nineties, who won’t be around much longer.”

White added that the upstairs section of the museum gives younger people an opportunity to put a face or an event to mind when they hear about their grandfather’s sports career.

“These displays really give the younger generation a chance to relate to something that maybe they have not seen, but have heard about,” said White. “Throughout the museum, there are things that they can see, where they say, oh, that’s my uncle, or grandma, or any family member.”

Talking about the sports section, which highlights school teams and club teams, White said Mattoon has always had a strong interest in community sports.

“School leagues, city leagues, little league and even beer leagues — those were all big social parts of the community,” said White. “We have had the Harlem Globetrotters here. In a small town, there is not always a lot to do. So, when there is a ball game, it is a big deal — where people would come out and just hang out and catch up with neighbors.”

White added that they wanted to display Native American history in Mattoon as well, because of the strong history behind it.

“We are about a mile from the (Menominee) reservation,” said White. “We had a lot of Native American foster children, who were raised in Mattoon and went to school with us. There is a very strong connection between Mattoon and Native American history.”

Finally, White said that the historical society wanted to display what clothing and bedrooms looked like over a century ago.

“It is just to show the differences in how people dressed back then, compared to today,” said White. “The dresses upstairs are small. People were a lot smaller back then than we are now.”

White hopes that those who come to the museum will be an addition to preserving the memories and history of Mattoon.

“People really do appreciate these new sections and we want them to continue to shares memories and history,” said White.

The museum is open in the summer on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. or anytime by appointment.