The Reece Museum is making final preparations to reopen in October after being closed for more than two months.
The Oct. 10, opening date has been declared “Reece Museum Day” and will showcase an exhibit called “Sweetness on the State Line: A Chronicle of Candy Making in Bristol, Virginia.”
“Every 10 years the president of the university declares Oct. 10, Reece Museum Day,” said museum director Theresa Burchett-Anderson.
After receiving a grant from the state for nearly $2,000 the museum closed in July to undergo extensive renovations to the floors, walls, windows – used to showcase exhibits – and even to the museum’s foundation. The installation of “micro-pillons” has been a large part of the renovation effort and will ensure the structural integrity of the museum’s foundation.
Many of the historic items put on display at the Reece are light-sensitive and require a specific environment to prevent damage from ultraviolet light. Filters have been installed on all the windows of the museum to block out such harmful rays.
“We do have UV film on all the windows so that filters out 98 percent of UV light,” Burchett-Anderson said.
“Right now the museum is in a period of transition because of the structural and cosmetic improvements that need to be made,” said Dr. Roberta Herrin, director of the Center of Appalachian Studies and Services.
The Center of Appalachian Studies and Services houses the Archives of Appalachia in the Sherrod Library and will be providing letters and uniforms for the upcoming exhibit “Through the Lens of Ed Westcott: A Photographic History of WW II’s Secret City.” Many of the items kept in the archives have yet to be displayed and are currently awaiting a suitable exhibition environment.
“We have a lot of things that haven’t been on display in a long, long time,” Burchett-Anderson said.
Plans for an archival database are already in the works for the museum as well as future plans for new UV-friendly lighting fixtures. The archival database will store an electronic reference to every single item kept in the Archives of Appalachia, including fragile textiles and paper documents.
“It’s going to take a while for us to get that done,” Burchett-Anderson said.
The Reece Museum has filled a capital maintenance request for much-needed additional funding in the near future. Inadequate lighting fixtures in the museum’s interior are preventing it from housing a large portion of traveling exhibits.
Museum officials are hoping future renovations and improvements will ulti-mately attract more students to the Reece. Students have largely ignored the museum despite its central location and compatibility to the arts and sciences.
“The museum is not on orientation tours,” Herrin said. “We want to get the museum on every tour that orients any student to this campus.”
Randy Sanders, public relations and marketing coordinator for the Center for Appalachian Studies, said the museum is seeking to offer “exhibits that are attractive to students and parents at orientation.”
For more information call: 439-4392 or e-mail: reecemus@etsu.edu.

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