Demopolis and Marengo County History & Archives Museum named host for Bicentennial Traveling Exhibition.

The story of Alabama, over two hundred years in the making, has been captured in “Making Alabama, A Traveling Exhibit” a new exhibition that will debut at the Marengo County History & Archives Museum.

Alabama Humanities Foundation has selected Marengo County as one of 67 communities in the state to be a host community for the Traveling Exhibit in celebration of Alabama becoming a state 200 years ago, December 4, 2019.

The museum, located at 101 N. Walnut in the Rosenbush Building, is set to host Making Alabama: A Bicentennial Traveling Exhibit beginning Friday, May 4 and running through May 26, 2018. The exhibit will kick off with a reception and lecture at 6pm. Guest speaker is Mike Bunn, an Alabama Humanities Foundation Road Scholar. Mike is currently Director of Operations at Historic Blakeley State Park in Spanish Fort, Alabama, a 2,000 acre site within the scenic Mobile-Tensaw Delta preserving the sites of the territorial-era town of Blakeley, the Civil War Battle of Fort Blakeley, and colonial era and Native American occupations.

Previously, he directed the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, and worked with the Columbus (Georgia) Museum and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Mike obtained his undergraduate degree from Faulkner University, and earned master’s degrees in history and higher education administration from the University of Alabama. He also completed a graduate certificate in public history at the University of West Georgia. Mike serves in leadership roles with several cultural heritage organizations including as a board member of the Alabama Historical Association and as a member of the Baldwin County Bicentennial Steering Committee.

The exhibit focuses on the state’s history, culture and geography over the past 200 years, and showcases the major moments and decisions that shaped Alabama into the state it is today. Making Alabama looks back at the state’s origins in the 1700s and tracks its evolution to the present day. It tells that story through an exhibit that incorporates interactive displays for information, as well as teaching resources.

The museum is honored to be among the first counties in the state to be chosen to present the bicentennial exhibit. Along with the bicentennial exhibit, the museum is also showcasing some history of Marengo County with artifacts from those who created and developed Marengo County and other keynote speakers.  Making Alabama Exhibition can be seen on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Alabama Humanities Foundation Executive Director Armand DeKeyser said sending Making Alabama out on the road was an effort to maximize the accessibility to the entire community.

“Just like the Smithsonian, where not everyone will have the opportunity to view a Smithsonian exhibit in Washington, not everyone can make it to Montgomery to see Alabama Department of Archives and History’s unparalleled ‘Voices’ exhibit,” DeKeyser said in a statement. “What we are putting together gives them that opportunity.”

Making Alabama is scheduled to visit all 67 counties in the state by the time the tour ends in November 2019. The exhibit is presented by the Alabama Humanities Foundation in partnership with the Alabama Bicentennial Commission, Alabama Department of Archives and History, and the Marengo County History & Archives Museum.

(This article originally appeared in the Saturday, April 28 issue of the Demopolis Times.)