Permanent Collection
Since its opening in 1990, the Delta Cultural Center has collected items for its permanent collection. In the beginning of the institution, the focus was artifacts that could help tell the story of the Arkansas Delta in the very first exhibit that was located in the Depot. Today, the museum artifacts number in the thousands. The permanent collection has grown through donations and purchases. The Delta Cultural Center has been fortunate to have received large gifts of both real estate property and collections of objects from families of the Arkansas Delta. Purchases of blues music related items have been added to help tell that important story, and recently Civil War and Battle of Helena artifacts have been added to the collection.
If you are interested in a specific category, use list below to sort our collection
Click on View Item to enlarge image and view full description.
(Note: The featured artifacts may not be exhibited at this time.)
Collection Sample:
Do you have something you’d like to donate?
The Delta Cultural Center has relied on the kindness of donors since it was founded. If you have something you’d like to donate, we’d like you to take a minute to read our mission statement below. It will help you better understand our collecting focus.
Mission Statement
It is the mission of the Delta Cultural Center to research, document, interpret, and present the heritage of the people of the Arkansas Delta. This mission is carried out through activities in four areas: Interpretive exhibits, public presentations, educational programming, documentation and resource acquisition.
Here are some things that we collect:
- Artifacts associated with the heritage of the people that have or are settled in the 27 counties of Eastern Arkansas, that make up the Arkansas Delta
- Artifacts associated with American blues music, especially those connected with the blues artists from Eastern Arkansas
- Artifacts associated with the American Civil War, especially those connected with the Battle of Helena, and any other information or artifact connected with the Civil War in Arkansas.
- Artifacts associated with agriculture and industry that have flourished in the Eastern Arkansas Delta region
- Artifacts that are from, or have a connection to Helena, Arkansas.
To make an offer of Donation
If you have an Arkansas Delta item you think might be appropriate for our collection, please contact the Curator.
Staff must evaluate all items offered to the Delta Cultural Center before formally accepting them for our collection. The more information you are able to provide on the history of the item, the faster and better it will aid the evaluation process. Once we decide to add your item to the collection, we will send you a gift agreement to sign and return. This transfers ownership to the Delta Cultural Center.
Value Appraisal of Items and Finding an Appraiser
The Delta Cultural Center is unable to appraise the value of any object. The museum recommends that an accredited appraiser be contacted directly. The following information is provided to aid in your search for an expert in the field of the object that you may own.
American Society of Appraisers
11107 Sunset Hills Road, Suite 310
Reston, VA 20190
Telephone: 800-272-8258
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.appraisers.org
International Society of Appraisers
303 West Madison Street, Suite 2650
Chicago, IL 60606
Telephone: 866-481-1689
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.isa-appraisers.org