Every child wonders what they will be when they grow up. Alisha Tietjen is living her childhood dream as the museum curator for the Museum of Rexburg. She said, “I have always had a love of history, ever since I was growing up and I would go to my grandparents’ home and I would see their little trinkets and their photographs and watch the old movies... I just always had a fascination with history and why people did the things they did. I knew that that was what I wanted to go into when I went to BYU-Idaho and as I progressed in my education, I knew I wanted to be in a museum someday...that I wanted to give tours and to express my love of history to others.”
It is this love of history that Tietjen wants to share with others. That is why the Museum of Rexburg fought hard to get a Smithsonian exhibit to be featured at the museum. Starting on Monday, the museum will finally be open to the public after a break preparing for the new exhibits.
The new exhibit will be highlighting changes in rural America. It is the first Smithsonian exhibit to come to Rexburg. The museum felt the Smithsonian exhibit would be relatable to many in the area because we are a representation of rural America.
Tietjen says, “For many people here in Idaho, they will never travel to Washington to be able to see the Smithsonian, and so this is a once in a lifetime experience for a lot of them and for children to be able to come see something at the Smithsonian’s level. I am really excited about bringing my kids over so they can experience that and feel that power of the Smithsonian.”
The museum will be featuring not one, but two new exhibits opening tomorrow. Along with the Smithsonian exhibit, the Museum of Rexburg has created a new exhibit all about the relationship between students and locals in Rexburg. She explained, “...we’ve designed an exhibit called “Building Bridges”, that shows the relationship that exists between BYU-Idaho/Ricks College and Rexburg and that they have needed each other, over the last hundred years, or more that the school has been in operation, that it has been a partnership...that when one was weak, the other was strong. So, we’re showing that in our exhibit to hope to unify and to bring that feeling of we’re all together in this.”
Come and learn at the Museum of Rexburg. The new exhibits will be open to the public starting Monday. The Smithsonian exhibit will be at the museum until April 17th.
Admission is three dollars for an adult, two dollars for ages 4 to 17 and children under 4 can come for free. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 1pm to 7pm and Saturday from 12pm to 4pm. The Museum of Rexburg is in the basement of the Rexburg Tabernacle, and the entrance is facing the library. To learn more, visit museum.rexburg.org.