The continuation of a 15-year partnership between the Springfield–Greene County Library and Missouri State University brings a year of exhibitions showcasing the historical research and restoration work of MSU students.
Run by Dr. Billie Follensbee, Museum Studies Program Coordinator at MSU, the grant-funded program showcases student research and conservation work done on historic and prehistoric artifacts that celebrate the history and culture of the Ozarks. The program encompasses rotating exhibitions of student work in two display cases at the Library's Park Central branch and an accompanying bimonthly public presentation series.
Follensbee says the mission of this collaboration is twofold: “We want not only for our students to have wonderful opportunities to expand their experiences and build their resumes beyond their regular coursework, but we also want to do a public service. That is what this exhibition series is all about: It’s to serve the Ozarks.”
A Longstanding Partnership
As a professor of museum studies and art history and visual culture, Follensbee has long been a partner of the Library. Starting in 2007, she began collaborating with the Park Central branch for a First Friday Art Talk series in which MSU and Drury University students conducted public presentations on their research and conservation work.
“It’s a symbiotic relationship,” says Shannon Wortham, Park Central branch manager. “[The talks allow] her students to present to a non-academic audience, and of course it is an excellent pairing with our First Friday Art Walk programming.”
The Park Central branch was chosen not only for its proximity to MSU — it’s located between the university’s main and city campuses — but also for its focus on arts and culture. Park Central is a regular stop on the First Friday Art Walk circuit, featuring rotating monthly displays of local artists’ work, and the branch brings color to the Park Central Square with vibrant window paintings and a warm weather pop-up park.
Humanities in the Square
Throughout the First Friday Art Talk series, Follensbee had been interested in displaying 3-D works done by the students in her art and artifact conservation courses; however, the Park Central branch did not have locking glass display cases to house such an exhibition. So, in 2024, Follensbee secured a Missouri Humanities major grant to purchase two display cases for long-term loan to the Park Central branch.
“Secure, locking, archival display cases are very expensive, so we used all of the grant money to fund the purchase of the cases, and everything else has been freely and generously donated by everyone involved,” Follensbee says. The corresponding program features restored cultural items donated or loaned from individual donors, local museums, and cultural institutions. Lenders include the History Museum on the Square, the Christian County Museum & Historical Society, the Bonniebrook Museum at Rose O’Neill’s family homestead. Other items come from MSU’s own art and artifact collection.
Within the museum studies program, Follensbee teaches conservation courses where students learn how to properly handle, conserve, exhibit, and store these relics. Her courses cover simple repairs and cleaning techniques on a variety of media, including metal, wood, stone, cloth and canvas, and paper. Using the art or artifacts loaned or donated for this purpose, students then attempt their own conservation projects. The results of some of these projects are on display in the “Helping to Bring Humanities to the Public Square” exhibition series. The students’ background research, display labels, and some before and after photos are displayed along with their cleaned, repaired, and restored pieces.
Some of the artifacts have endured extensive damage, leading to a dramatic restoration process. In one such transformation, student Jessica Winslow studied Coushatta basketmaking techniques in her work restoring a pine needle basket. The piece, loaned by the History Museum on the Square, had been crushed and damaged during its life in a hands-on children’s exhibit. Winslow’s restoration work was featured in the program’s first exhibition, “Celebrating Native American Cultures of the Ozarks Region,” and is now on display at the History Museum on the Square.
Learning History Through Play
The grant program encompasses six exhibitions throughout the year. The current exhibit, the program’s second, runs through the end of January and celebrates “What’s on Your Wishlist,” featuring restored toys of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“Toys are an often neglected source of information,” Follensbee says. “They can tell us a great deal about history. A number of toys that are on display in this exhibition show us that people in the Ozarks at the turn of the century really cared about their children, and their toys reflect not only what the children of the time liked, but also what parents wanted their children to learn.”
Follensbee references china dolls, which were often used to teach childcare and clothes-making. Animal toys instilled lessons about caring for farm animals, and tea sets helped children practice socialization skills.
Among this exhibition’s featured artifacts are hide-covered pull-along horses, which underwent an extensive restoration process. Student Emery Wilcoxon touched up pigments, restored the mane and tail, and cleaned the cart and wheels. Follensbee says these soft hide-covered toys were significant because they were precursors to stuffed animals, which became popular in the early 20th century with the arrival of the teddy bear. Additionally, the exhibition features Kewpie dolls donated by the Bonniebrook Museum, and a rare sulfide marble.
A Public Service
Coinciding with First Friday Art Walks, the presentation series has drawn a mixture of Missouri State students, family and friends of the presenters, and the general public. Wortham says the program reliably draws a small crowd of people, many of whom see advertisements for it in Bookends and throughout MSU’s campus. However, he sees continued interest among those who stumble upon the exhibit.
“It’s our browsers — people who come in to pick up a book and then browse the shelves, they almost universally will spend quite a bit of time at the display cases,” Wortham says. “It’s been nice.”
Follensbee attributes the program’s popularity to the quality of the students’ work. “The students have done a phenomenal job on their research and the presentations that they’re giving,” she says. “They’re really working hard and showing what they can do, so they really rise to the occasion.”
The ongoing exhibition series will be on display at the Park Central Branch Library during regular branch hours through September 2025, with new exhibits debuting every two months. “Keeping Warm in the Ozarks: Cast Iron Stoves in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries” opens Friday, February 7, with a presentation on preserving iron artifacts led by MSU alumna Madelyn Pohl.
The Missouri State University Museum Studies Program, Department of Art and Design, and the Park Central Branch Library, Springfield-Greene County Library System, are sponsoring this program in partnership with Missouri Humanities and with support from the Missouri Humanities Trust Fund.