Join our Mailing List!
Please click the link below to sign up for your community paper mailing list. Stay up to date with all the events going on in your community as well as the latest news.Sign Up Today!
Between Fences traveling exhibit opens Friday
By: Sarah Maloney, smaloney@miconews.com
A traveling exhibit that weaves the history of fences into the story of America will open Friday at the Miami County Swan River Museum in Paola.
Whether it is barbed wire, white picket, post rock, split rail, electric wire or a wooden privacy fence, Americans’ uses of fences are visible along highways, county gravel roads and city streets. Fences aren’t always literal. Americans have built fences with language, heritage, religion and education to separate themselves from others.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Between Fences exhibit explores Americans’ use of fences, both literal and figurative, throughout history, said Pat Fox, site chairman for the museum. The county museum is the fourth of six Kansas host sites.
A grand opening reception will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at Evergreen Events on the south side of Paola’s Square, following by a opening ceremony in Park Square.
The first visitors to the exhibit will be welcomed at 11 a.m. at the museum, 12 E. Peoria St., just east of Park Square.
Museum hours will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays until April 29, the last day of the exhibit.
Five kiosks at the museum will explain the various types of fences, materials used and placement of fences to define space and who or what we fence in and fence out, Fox said.
Between Fences explores the role fences played in the settling of the United States, from the battles between farmers and ranchers over barbed-wire fences to the introduction of the picket fence to represent “the good life.”
A companion exhibit covers early land surveyors with some visual displays about how land is divided and a display of vintage survey instruments.
Another local companion exhibit, Art of the Fence, will feature photographs of fences submitted by Miami County residents.
Several special events are planned during the exhibit’s stay in Paola. They include:
Germany’s 600-Mile Fence: A program by Elisabeth Stubbs of Paola, who was born in Germany before World War II, at 7 p.m. March 26 at the museum.
Good Fences/Good Neighbors: A program about fence laws sponsored by the Miami County Extension Service at 4:30 p.m. March 30 at the Extension office, 20 S. Gold St., Paola.
Between Fences: A lecture followed by musical entertainment at 6:30 p.m. March 31 at the Paola Community Center, 905 E. Wea St.
printable version
e-mail this story
Whether it is barbed wire, white picket, post rock, split rail, electric wire or a wooden privacy fence, Americans’ uses of fences are visible along highways, county gravel roads and city streets. Fences aren’t always literal. Americans have built fences with language, heritage, religion and education to separate themselves from others.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Between Fences exhibit explores Americans’ use of fences, both literal and figurative, throughout history, said Pat Fox, site chairman for the museum. The county museum is the fourth of six Kansas host sites.
A grand opening reception will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at Evergreen Events on the south side of Paola’s Square, following by a opening ceremony in Park Square.
The first visitors to the exhibit will be welcomed at 11 a.m. at the museum, 12 E. Peoria St., just east of Park Square.
Museum hours will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays until April 29, the last day of the exhibit.
Five kiosks at the museum will explain the various types of fences, materials used and placement of fences to define space and who or what we fence in and fence out, Fox said.
Between Fences explores the role fences played in the settling of the United States, from the battles between farmers and ranchers over barbed-wire fences to the introduction of the picket fence to represent “the good life.”
A companion exhibit covers early land surveyors with some visual displays about how land is divided and a display of vintage survey instruments.
Another local companion exhibit, Art of the Fence, will feature photographs of fences submitted by Miami County residents.
Several special events are planned during the exhibit’s stay in Paola. They include:
Germany’s 600-Mile Fence: A program by Elisabeth Stubbs of Paola, who was born in Germany before World War II, at 7 p.m. March 26 at the museum.
Good Fences/Good Neighbors: A program about fence laws sponsored by the Miami County Extension Service at 4:30 p.m. March 30 at the Extension office, 20 S. Gold St., Paola.
Between Fences: A lecture followed by musical entertainment at 6:30 p.m. March 31 at the Paola Community Center, 905 E. Wea St.