NASHVILLE,
TN—June 2013—The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH)
proudly announces that the
Lakeport Plantation is the recipient of an Award of Merit from the AASLH
Leadership in History Awards for Lakeport’s Permanent Exhibits. The AASLH
Leadership in History Awards, now in its 68th year, is the most prestigious
recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and
local history.
In September 2012, permanent exhibits were installed at the
Lakeport Plantation house near Lake Village, Arkansas along the Mississippi
River. Lakeport, an Arkansas State University Heritage Site, is one of
Arkansas’s premier historic structures and the state’s last antebellum
plantation house along the Mississippi River. The interpretation tells a
remarkable story of Delta laborers, families and the plantation cotton economy
that built and sustained the Lakeport house in 1859 until its restoration
between 2002-2007.
The achievement of Lakeport’s permanent exhibits is telling
this unique Delta story and its plantation heritage while maintaining the
historic integrity of the Lakeport house and weaving together the stories of
planters, enslaved laborers, sharecroppers, farm laborers, craftsmen, and
preservationists. Since the house had changed little since its 1859
construction, the goal was to treat the house as the major artifact. To meet that goal, unobtrusive exhibits,
designed in collaboration with Quatrefoil Associates of Laurel, Maryland, complement
the restoration and preservation of original architecture and historic paint
finishes. No interpretation is placed permanently on walls; instead
minimalist-styled exhibits tell Lakeport’s stories Original furniture and
smaller artifacts, displayed in vitrines, complement Lakeport’s interpretive
themes throughout the house. Other innovative media engage visitors: projection
of images, text and video onto walls; oral history kiosks, and soundscaping
makes the house feel inhabited.
This year, AASLH is proud to confer eighty-eight
national awards honoring people, projects, exhibits, books, and organizations.
The winners represent the best in the field and provide leadership for the
future of state and local history. Presentation of the awards will be made at a
special banquet during the 2013 AASLH Annual Meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, on
Friday, September 20. The banquet is supported by a generous contribution from
the History Channel.
The AASLH awards program was
initiated in 1945 to establish and encourage standards of excellence in the
collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and
local
history throughout the United States. The
AASLH Leadership in History Awards not only honor significant achievement in
the field of state and local history, but also brings public recognition of the
opportunities for small and large organizations, institutions, and programs to
make contributions in this arena. For
more information about the Leadership in History
Awards, contact AASLH at 615-320-3203, or go to www.aaslh.org.
The
American Association for State and Local History is a not-for-profit
professional organization of individuals and institutions working to preserve
and promote history. From its
headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, AASLH provides leadership, service, and
support for its members who preserve and interpret state and local history in
order to make the past more meaningful in American society. AASLH publishes books, technical
publications, a quarterly magazine, and monthly newsletter. The association also sponsors regional and
national training workshops and an annual meeting.
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What a disappointment. This house was not restored to its original state, but rather redesigned with shutters, modern colors and the inside is stripped of any sign of original color, furniture, presentation or history. The work is nice, but it seems to me, the whole "restoration" just missed the mark. How will the children of Arkansas ever know their history if it is revised in this way? To me, a piece of yesterday such as this should have been maintained in such a way to truly reflect the period.
ReplyDeleteLisa do you have information about Lakeport's "original state" that we don't have? As it says in the press release above, "Since the house had changed little since its 1859 construction, the goal was to treat the house as the major artifact." The shutters appear in the earliest photographs and are not a "redesign." All the exterior and interior paint colors were determined by paint analysis (not every plantation house was white). In the case of the interior walls of the house, there was no original paint color in most rooms. The family lived with bare plaster walls because the Civil War interrupted decorating. Lakeport was restored using the highest standards of the Department of Interior; we have never been interested in making up history or turning Lakeport into "just another pretty house."
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