History meets high-tech interaction at Camden County Museum

This newly added QR code is posted near the Loom Room entrance at the Camden County Museum in Linn Creek to allow guests to scan with their smartphone and learn additional information about the items that are part of the exhibit.
This newly added QR code is posted near the Loom Room entrance at the Camden County Museum in Linn Creek to allow guests to scan with their smartphone and learn additional information about the items that are part of the exhibit.

Hundreds of guests will visit the Camden County Museum today in Linn Creek for the finale of its annual Apple Butter Festival and Living History Weekend.

Visitors are able to purchase homemade apple butter, pies and dumplings from volunteers, browse artisan and craft vendors, and witness "living history" through Civil War re-enactors' on-site educational experiences during the two-day event.

However, guests are also encouraged to take a walk back in time as they roam the rooms at the museum, a historic 1800s-era school filled with county artifacts, displays and photographs. This year, a technological addition will offer more detailed information to a visitor's tour.

A new QR code system was installed Tuesday at several museum exhibits, enhancing visitors' experience by providing more information about specific items on display.

A museum volunteer suggested the idea to install QR codes for museum exhibits last winter because he thought his grandchildren would be more encouraged to visit the museum with high-tech interaction, said Camden County Museum Director Daphne Jeffries.

"We are trying valiantly to come into the 21st century," Jeffries laughed. "We thought this would encourage younger people take an interest in history."

Earlier this year, the museum switched website hosts, updating its online presence.

"Crystal Johnson, our new webmaster and who is very technologically savvy, said she was going to do some research on QR codes. She discovered the web host would host them for us," Jeffries said. "When the smartphone passes over the code, it connects to the information on that item, museum exhibit or room on the cloud. Then the visitor can learn more about it."

Currently, several QR codes discuss items in large exhibits within the Camden County Museum, including the Civil War display, Ha Ha Tonka display, Loom Room, School Room, Tool Room and Pioneer Room.

Some of the information available through the QR codes comes from journals written on the county's history. Additional information comes from the combined efforts of two museum volunteers, Jim and Mary Snyder.

The Snyders work together, as Mary describes items and Jim types the descriptions.

"Jim also has a very nice speaking voice, so we will use him in some of the audio narrations we plan to include with the QR code scans," Jeffries said. "We can also put photos and videos with the information."

The general exhibit descriptions are the only ones currently available at the museum, but they plan to have QR codes for the majority of the thousands of artifacts on site in the future, Jeffries said.

"It is a long process of getting the information in there," she said. "It takes time, and that is why our volunteers are so important. If you don't have the volunteers, you can't do the work. It will take several years, but we will continually have new items added during that time."

Check out museum QR codes during upcoming events

Jeffries hopes museum volunteers will receive feedback on the new QR code system from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. today during the two-day Apple Butter Festival and Living History Weekend.

The event is free and open to the public, and a chili and soup lunch is available for donation.

The Museum Players will hold their final dinner theater production, Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," at the museum Nov. 4-5. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with dinner at 6 p.m. and the play at 7 p.m. Admission is $15 per person. Reservations are strongly encouraged.

Additional events at the museum include a holiday marketplace from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 18-19 and the children's Christmas play, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson, at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 10. Admission for this performance is $5 per family.

The final event at the museum this year is the annual Old Tyme Christmas on Dec. 17. Children can enjoy a breakfast with Santa at Tonka Hills Restaurant, crafts, vendors and children's activities at the museum, a tour of historic Linn Creek homes decorated for the holidays, town home holiday decorating contest and more.

For more information about the Camden County Museum, call 573-346-7191 or visit camdencountymuseum.org.