Part of the USGenWeb Project and the TXGenWeb Project

THE PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM
 HAS A NEW HOME

Subject: Museum changes Odessa residence
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 20:33:43 -0500

Museum changes Odessa residence

By Aaron Bensonhaver

Odessa American

Relics large and small, all of national and historical importance, are getting

 a new home in Odessa.  The Presidential Museum, founded in 1965, after the 

assassination of President John F. Kennedy, is moving from its current

 location at 622 N. Lee Ave. in downtown Odessa and will take up 

permanent residence at 4919 E. University Blvd., next to the 

Ellen Noel Art Museum.

Both museums are on property owned by the University of Texas 

of the Permian Basin.

"This is an exciting time for us," said Carey Behrends, executive

 director of the museum. "This will create a great cultural environment

 for students and school groups; having the two museums side by side

 like this."

Behrends said this melding of cultural sites will be a benefit to both. 

"Hopefully, people visiting one of the museums will be attracted to the

 other, raising visitor numbers for both. We'll be complementary to 

each other."

This equally excited Bill Fannin, vice president for academic affairs 

at UTPB. 

"It will be a great help to the educational enterprise to have these 

two things so close," Fannin said. "The fact that it's right here on

 campus makes it so much easier for students and school groups

 to use."

Vice President for Facilities Management for UTPB Rick Dempsey

 said he feels bringing the two museums together is a fantastic, 

"opportunity to broaden one's self. You can see one museum, 

and take in art as culture, then see the other and learn the political 

side of our culture."

Also being moved is the Leadership Library. Behrends said 

it is currently "the best kept secret in the museum," because 

nobody seems to know about it. "At the new facility, it will be a 

focal point."

Dempsey said bringing the library and its many resources to 

UTPB's campus will be an invaluable tool for the history and

 political science departments and students.

Beyond making it more visible, Behrends said the move will

 help the 4,500-volume library grow and expand in focus to include

 memoirs and documents from other important leaders within the 

nation, not just the presidents.

Once completed, its new name will be the John Ben Shepperd

 Leadership Library, and it will work with the John Ben Shepperd

 Leadership Institute, run by UTPB, Behrends said.

The library, which does not and will not allow materials to be checked

 out, will be beneficial to students researching the presidents or the 

American political system since it will be on campus, Fannin said.

The final phase of the project will be moving the Odessa Bush

 house from its current location on 17th Street to behind the new 

museum, facing University Boulevard., Behrends said.

With an estimated cost of $150,000, the house will become an

 educational facility catering to children "because George W. 

was just a child when he lived there," Behrends said.

This phase will not begin until after the necessary funds have been 

raised. Once this has happened, the final planning for the exact

 purpose and furnishings of the Bush house will be determined, 

Behrends said.

The new museum will not be completely open with permanent exhibits

 until fall of 2003, Behrends said. To fill the void, three traveling

 exhibits will be housed in the permanent exhibit areas until the

 actual permanent exhibits have been moved.

The first exhibit is called "Presidential Hopefuls." It is a collection of

 campaign artifacts and other memorabilia of candidates who have not

 won the presidency. It will run from September to March 2003.

The second exhibit, opening in March, is entitled "We Shall Overcome,"

 and features items relating to what Presidents Kennedy and

 Johnson had to deal with during the civil rights movement in the

 1960's. It will run until May.

The third exhibit, which will carry the museum until the official

rand opening, is a scale model of the White House. Built one inch 

for every one foot of the real White House, it is 60 feet long and

 30 feet wide.

"It is an exact replica of the White House, with great detail,"

 Behrends said.

Behrends said this model has already been featured in the 

Bush Presidential Library and has visited other presidential libraries 

around the nation.

The benefits of having a new facility, besides being next to UTPB 

and the Ellen Noel Art Museum, Behrends said, is they will have

 better storage facilities, a new building and a conference room 

with an attached full-service kitchen, which can be rented by the

 public for parties or events.

Groundbreaking for the facilities occurred in February of this year.

 The grand opening, while no official date has been set, will occur

 next fall.

Behrends said one of the first permanent exhibits at the museum

 will be a timeline of the history of presidential campaigns.

"What is said and done in campaigns are signs of the times. 

This will identify what was going on and what was important,

 and how these things have changed over time," Behrends said.