Sultan Museum improving community access to history

Tucked away above the Sultan Post Office, the Sultan Museum brings history to life through its interactive collection of historical artifacts representing Sultan's many eras. Now, through its yearbook digitization project and a newly donated laptop, history has become even more accessible to guests.

Operated by the Sky Valley Historical Society, the museum takes up the entire second floor of the post office. It is staffed entirely by volunteers and open 1-4 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of the month, and 1-4 p.m. on the third Saturday of each month. The museum offers a vivid glimpse into Sultan's past, embracing numerous aspects of local heritage, including logging, criminal justice, the fire service, mining and farming.-á

The museum offers an extensive look at the history of Sultan's schools, including historical photos and related heirlooms. The display features a water pail and dipper used at Sultan's first schoolhouse in the 1890s, along with a 1920s ink jug that was used by students at Sultan grade school.

Over the years, the historical society has accumulated a vast collection of Sultan High School yearbooks, which were available to guests who wanted to page through and locate their relatives. But the task of locating someone in the books could be labor intensive if a person didn't know exactly what they were looking for, said Sky Valley Historical Society President Iris Jensen.

Now that the books have been digitized, she said, all one needs to do is pop a DVD into the museum laptop computer to find their loved ones.

The yearbooks were digitized by Oklahoma Correctional Industries (OCI), which is part of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. Inmates scanned the yearbooks in color, creating DVDs filled with images in standard jpeg format. The OCI offers its digitization services free of charge to high schools, libraries and historical societies, and even picks up the tab for shipping.

Yearbooks from an assortment of years during the 1920s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s were digitized, along with one handmade yearbook from 1938.

The museum's new laptop, a donation from local resident Jana Yarbrough, is another recent update. Through the laptop's comprehensive Sultan Museum database, guests can have museum staff search for specific museum items based on the name of the donor, what the item is or even by where it's located in the museum.-á -á

"So you have three different ways to look things up,GÇ¥ Jensen said. -á -á -á

Many of the museum items have been donated to the historical society or are on loan from local residents. One recent donation came from local resident Bonnie Donaldson, who gave the museum an antique locomotive bell from the Wallace Logging Camp. The donation was given in honor of her husband, Robert Donaldson, who passed away several years ago.

Robert Donaldson was a geodetic surveyor from Sultan who worked at the Wallace Logging Camp.-á Someone at the camp had given him the bell, which was used in the daily operations. -á -á

"The Sultan Post Office is proud to display the bell in its foyer, beside the safe from the first bank in Sultan,GÇ¥ Jensen said.-á

Through its desire to make history accessible to youth, the Sultan Museum has the ability to "take the show on the road,GÇ¥ by bringing small, easily portable artifacts to local classrooms for interactive presentations. Additionally, teachers are welcome to tour the museum with their students, to enjoy everything it has to offer. Recently, Sultan Boys & Girls Club Teen Director Ruth Shapovalov showed up with a cluster of teenagers, who all enjoyed their visit.

It's fun watching youth make connections, Jensen said. She recalled a time where one youth was particularly taken aback that the museum's vintage 1900s Burroughs adding machine ' a large and cumbersome object 'performed the same function as today's calculator. His eyes got really big, she said.

"I said, "Man, wouldn't you hate to pack that around in your back pocket?' GÇ¥ Jensen said.

The Sky Valley Historical Society is in need of volunteers, and has issued a call-to-action for anyone who might be interested in creating a virtual tour of the museum. Some residents are unable to navigate the stairs, Jensen said, and it would be nice if they could also enjoy the museum.

The project would involve photographing different displays in the museum, spotlighting items of particular relevance, collecting data and crafting a user-friendly online portal showcasing the entire collection. It would make an ideal project for an aspiring Eagle Scout, Jensen said.

Anyone interested in tackling the Sultan Museum virtual tour project should contact Jensen at 360-793-053, or email at irisjensen1@frontier.com.