School exhibit brings back memories

Schools are an integral part of the fabric of a community. It's no different in the Albany area.

That's why the Albany Regional Museum constructed a major exhibit in 2004 that traces the history of schools in Albany and its surrounding area.

Beginning with pioneer times and continuing until the 1980s, the schools exhibit is built around the idea of a school district storeroom that contains hundreds of artifacts collected over the years. Items range from a diploma to a Dick and Jane reader to a championship athletic trophy to an actual locker to band instruments. One needs to visit the exhibit in person to really get a full impression of the quantity on display and the memories that it will invoke for the viewer.

The exhibit also features a notebook where visitors can individually write down their own favorite recollections of attending Albany schools.

Both public and private schools are represented in the exhibit constructed under the direction of 2004 Museum Task Force Committee co-chairmen Kris Schuttpelz and Mary Jacq Burck. Oscar Hult was responsible for the construction and many of the ideas encompassed in the exhibit. Another key contributor was June Satak. Many of the items in the exhibit are on loan from city and rural schools, including St. Mary's, from individual collections, and from people who were once students in these schools.

The exhibit is expected to be on view through July 2007, with some cycling of specific artifacts.