On Monday, Sept. 19, ETSU College of Arts & Sciences hosted “Dessert with Experts” featuring Rebecca Proffitt, director of the Reece Museum.
During this Zoom presentation, Proffitt shared “Sharing the Vision of the Reece Museum.” She discussed her career within the Reece Museum, along with some fun facts that many people would not know about the museum.
According to Proffitt, before the pandemic, the Reece Museum averaged about 12,000 visitors per year, and they are working diligently on their community engagement to get their visitations back up to that number once again. She also spoke on how this year, the building for the Reece Museum turned 100 years old.
The Reece Museum is very important to the history of ETSU. According to the Reece Museum website, “As one of the first museums in Tennessee to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Reece continues to meet AAM’s high standards of excellence. Currently, the Reece is one of only eighteen museums in Tennessee to receive this accreditation.”
Proffitt also introduced the staff of the Reece Museum. Staff include Spenser Brenner, exhibition coordinator, and Mara Reynolds, digital access coordinator.
She spoke on the collection at the Reece Museum, which houses over 22,000 artifacts in its permanent collection. According to their website, “The Museum began in the late 1920s as a class project created by history professor Maxine Mathews. Under the supervision of ETSU President Charles C. Sherrod, the Museum continued to grow. During the 1930s and 1940s, librarians staffed the Museum and provided tours to visitors.” The Reece Museum has drastically grown over the past 100 years.
Rebecca Proffitt also noted her favorite dessert, Apple Shortcake, specifically her grandmother’s recipe. The recipe she shared with everyone was originally written in the 1930s. Her grandmother actually also graduated from ETSU in 1933 when it was the teaching college, making her story and the shortcake she shared even more special.
The Reece Museum is a unit of the Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services, which is housed in the ETSU Department of Appalachian Studies. The Reece Museum is located on the campus of East Tennessee State University and is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, please visit www.etsu.edu/reece or phone (423) 439-4392.
