Oswego’s Little White School Museum invites all area residents to visit their annual “Remembering our Veterans” special exhibit at the museum, 72 Polk Street (Jackson at Polk), just two blocks from historic downtown Oswego.
This is the 16th year the exhibit to honor area veterans has been hosted by the museum.
The exhibit will officially open to the public Thursday, Nov. 10, and will continue through Sunday, Nov. 27. Public exhibit hours will be Thursday and Friday, 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Monday, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.. The museum is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
A special event during this year’s exhibit will be an Oswegoland Chamber of Commerce members-only preview coffee from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9.
Admission to the museum and the exhibit is free, but donations are always gratefully accepted.
Curating the extensive “Remembering Our Veterans” exhibit will be museum manager Anne Jordan with museum assistants Emily Dutton and Shawna Sullivan.
This year’s exhibit will again completely fill the historic building’s main Roger Matile Room, and will include hundreds of rarely-seen artifacts including dozens of vintage uniforms, war souvenirs, photographs, and documents selected from the museum’s collections, each with a direct connection to Oswegoland residents who served from the Civil War through the modern conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan. In addition, each year’s exhibit features a “Wall of Honor” recognizing the service of more than 200 local military personnel.
The Little White School Museum was built in 1850 as a Methodist-Episcopal Church. The congregation dissolved in 1913 and the Oswego School District turned the building into a one-room school in 1915. Classes were held in the building until 1964, when it was used for storage. The Oswegoland Heritage Association began a grassroots effort to save and restore the badly deteriorated building in 1976 assisted by the Oswegoland Park District. The restoration, largely accomplished by volunteers, was completed in 2002. Today the building protects and preserves Oswegoland’s rich history and heritage through a partnership between the heritage association and the park district.
For more information, call the museum at 630-554-2999; send an email to info@littlewhiteschoolmuseum.org; or visit the museum web site at www.littlewhiteschoolmuseum.org.
—Little White School Museum