One Room School House Project

Last August an interested individual put together a proposal for the "Establishment of a One Room School House at the Barker Historical Museum." The establishment and implementation of One Room School Houses in the United States and around the world is a documented success. One room school houses exist in Historical Museums, at Universities and as stand alone exhibits. The nostalgia associated with the movement makes it easy to generate community support, voluntary participation and donations.

The creation of a One Room School House at the Barker Historical Museum would be consistent with the Mission Statement of the Museum. The Mission Statement includes articles on promoting educational programs, interpretive exhibits, conducting on-going research and working with other scholarly, community and student organizations. A One Room School House Program would be completely consistent with these articles.

This proposal deals with the following areas:

• Turning the current Children's Museum into a physical space of a One Room School House would require the acquisition of desks once used in a one room school house as well as making minor changes to the space aesthetically to create the look of a one room school house.

• A cadre of volunteers to donate their time and effort to restore the physical space.

• A cadre of retired teachers who would be volunteers manning the operations of the One Room School House

The benefits of the One Room School House would be numerous. It would be an instant draw into the Museum. It would be attractive to both the schools in the county and the local SUNY College. It would greatly increase attendance at the museum and community participation.

One of the goals of the Museum in the past has been to increase volunteer participation in the Museum. Some of the volunteers enlisted in the One Room School House Project could possibly be interested in general Museum operations such as manning the floor during operational hours and general tasks.

Since preparing the physical space and manning the School House would be done by volunteers, the cost to the Library would be minimal. Donations of school house materials would be expected from the community. This proposal does not underestimate the scope of this project but believes that it would galvanize the community and the staff of the Museum in a very positive manner that would breathe new life into our programs and mission to the people we serve.

Currently the Museum has located 25 desks once used in one room school house, but, alas, the desks are located at the Historic Fourth Ward School, Virginia City, Nevada. The Historic Fourth Ward School would happily donate the desks to the Barker, if we cover the cost of shipping. The Barker Museum now needs to raise the cost of shipping the desks (approx. $1,000) to Fredonia, New York. If anyone, you don't need to be a member of the Barker Historical Museum just interested in a community minded project, can help financially please call the Museum at 672-2114.