The Three Valley Museum board of directors recently named Brianna Reed as director/ curator of the museum after a search and interview process.
“We had our former director Nancy Ferris who retired at the end of October and so we put a search out for a new director/curator of the museum and we got many resumes,” said Greg Phillips, chairman of the TVM board. “We got about 12 resumes from people. We went through the interviewing process and met Brianna. We were excited about her skills that she has.”
Phillips said Reed has experience as a museum director and curator. She still works for the Forest Heritage Center Museum in Beavers Ben State Park.
“She has the skills,” Phillips said. “She brings knowledge of Durant because she’s from here. She had everything that we were looking for. She knows about writing grants. She knows about fundraising. She knows about events and she really loves history and put all of that together, she was a great package. A perfect package for what we thought would be a director/curator to move the museum forward to the next level or to the next direction that we want to go.”
Reed was born and raised in Durant. She is a 2013 graduate of Durant High School who graduated from Southeastern in 2017. She later obtained her teaching certificate.
Reed said she is a historian who previously worked at the Sherman Museum and that she has volunteered at Fort Washita for more than 10 years and at Fort Towson for almost 10 years.
She said that she is looking forward to bringing TVM back to its former glory.
For starters, Reed said the museum is seeking more volunteers.
“We’ve got some sources for that and some people who could come in and help us out,” Reed said. “We’re also going to look locally for some of our funding and try to get the Journey Stories started back up. Get some presenters. So, if there are any local historians or artists, writers, poets, anything. Like if there are any locals that would like to give a presentation, they’re more than welcome to reach out because we would definitely like to start doing that again.”
She said she also is hoping for TVM to partner with the Choctaw Cultural Center and Fort Washita.
Reed credited her parents for cultivating her interest in history and growing up, the family not only went to theme parks, but they also visited museums.
“I’ve always been interested with history probably because where I was raised,” Reed said. “I grew up in Silo, so I was just 10 minutes up the road from Fort Washita and so that was a big part of my childhood. But then also in my family, there’s always been some connections here. Mygrandmawasatelephone operator for Southwestern Bell back in the day, and my pawpaw worked for OG & E for over 40 years here. John Teel, he’s one of my cousins. I’ve got close family ties to history in this area.”
Her mother worked for Dr. Gordon Wright and his wife Glenna was friends with Rue McClanahan of “The Golden Girls” television show. Mc-Clanahan attended Washington Irving Elementary School in Durant before the family moved to Ardmore.
“I just love local history, and I want to find out more local history by being immersed in it,” Reed said. “So, I plan on doing a lot of research if I can. I really want to just go out and talk to folks. Obviously, just bring the history in and bring the culture in and have people give presentations and just take care of this museum because I’m not saying it’s been neglected but it needs some love to bring it into the modern era.”
When Reed was at the museum in Sherman, she said they worked to put out new exhibits and change things around which helps draw visitors.
“It’s still going strong from what I know and then I walked into the Forest Heritage Center and it hadn’t changed in a long time and then myself and the director there, we just were young and we collaborated and we’ve repainted areas and we’ve put new exhibit things in and we’ve had new programs,” Reed said. “Yeah, just trying to bring it back to life because if a museum is stagnant, no one’s going to come.
“If a museum stays the same, the person who visited it for so many years, they’re going to just keep getting older and then they’re going to tell their kids about it and their grand kids about it and it’s never going to have change and then it’s going to die with the older generation. If you can’t make something appealing to the younger people, then no one’s going to come and visit it. You’ve got to keep it from being stagnant.”
She plans to change some things at TVM and update signage.
“At the heritage center, we’ve really been working on trying to make our museum immersive, and you’ve got to make it appealing for kids,” Reed said. “If you’re going to call something immersive, it has to be appealing for kids and so maybe do some more with this museum and outside of this museum that appeals to kids. Maybe, start going to the schools. Bringing some artifacts and saying ‘Hey, who loves music? This is an old band uniform from back in the day.’
“What if we could come with an old doctor’s bag and talk about medicine or we bring some old books or old school supplies from back in the day and just talk to kids. It’s a field trip to them. They just have to go to their auditorium, and we give them something special or maybe have someone read to them. We have local authors. We have local artists. We could do all sorts of stuff with kids.”
Three Valley Museum was founded in 1976 and it will be celebrating its 50th anniversary later this year.
Phillips said TVM wants to get out in the community and join with other museums, including the Choctaw Cultural Center and the Semple Family Museum of Native American Art. They also are seeking to become involved with the Durant Area Chamber of Commerce and active in more community events.
“Be more supportive of things going on in our community,” Phillips said. “Basically, by helping each other by supporting each other and being part of that circle, our community of other museums and other civic clubs.”
Durant Main Street Executive Director Stephanie Swicker recently moved her office into the museum, and she also joined the museum board, according to Phillips.
“Durant Main Street’s back on Main Street and as part of the museum, we have more people coming in and out of the museum and the museum is alive,” Phillips said. “Having those kinds of partnerships and then working with them right in our own museum. Bringing more of the community into the museum has been wonderful.”
The museum’s current hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and TVM will post on their Facebook page when it is open on additional days.
“We are trying to get the museum volunteer pool of people as well as the Workforce Oklahoma employees to help us expand those hours to all day Wednesday and Thursday as well,” Phillips said. “Monday, a lot of Durant is closed downtown and statistically, people are coming to the museum Wednesday to Saturday more than the other days.”
