The Dorcheat Museum wants to expand the museum to include the other communities in Webster Parish, but they need help from the community to do so. They need at least $50,000 to complete the expansion, but only have around $6,000 so far.
“We haven’t gotten any new donations in several weeks,” said Jessica Gorman, the museum’s director.
The museum’s annual fundraiser is scheduled for September. This year the title is “Lights, Camera, Auction,” and it will be a cake auction with Dr. Richard Campbell and Tracy Campbell acting as the auctioneers. If you’ve never witnessed these two men working together, it is something you need to see, so grab your wallet, come bid on cakes, and enjoy the hijinks.
The museum has much more in storage than they currently have room to display, but they’re always looking for more, especially from all the other towns and villages in Webster Parish.
“Our big goal is to better represent all the other communities in Webster Parish and give them their own exhibits as much as possible,” said Gorman. “We hate for people to come in from Springhill or Shongaloo and not feel like there’s anything here to represent their communities. The reason the museum focuses so heavily on Minden is because the people who have donated to the museum were primarily from here.”
Gorman also spoke about their resource library and wants people to know that it is available if they want to use it for research. They have such items as land certificates from the 1830s and a diploma from the Minden Female College from the 1850s.
And Gorman pleads with the public to not just throw away items that may have historical value. “Don’t throw anything away! Just call us, and I’ll go through it if you don’t want to.”
The museum is experiencing more visitors than usual this year, both out-of-towners and locals. If you’ve never been, you should certainly check it out. There is no admission, and they are open Tuesday through Friday. For more information, go to www.dorcheatmuseum.com/.
