HUTCHINSON, Kan. — There is no hiding Mike Ables’ enthusiasm for The Reno County Museum. Ables, who is a graduate of Hutchinson Community College and Wichita State University, has been at the helm of the Reno County Historical Society for nearly three months.
The path to Hutchinson and his current position started from a chance meeting while at WSU. That meeting led him to Jerry Martin and an anthropology class. “He basically took me under his wing,” Ables said. “That’s kind of the beginning for everything. He led me down this path.” After working at several museums around Texas, Ables went to California and the General Patton Memorial Museum before coming to Hutchinson.
Ables says the museum is not just about looking at the past, it is an important teaching tool. “What we do here, now, always goes back to education. Everything we will always do goes back to education.” That education is moving toward high technology to not only promote the museum, but bring it to everyone, everywhere. “Having the use of technology is a force to go with you rather than against you,” Ables added. “Here at the Reno County Museum, we have that opportunity to play with it and we’re starting to invest more time and energy into that so that we’re able to apply those new mechanisms into the educational realm.”
It also takes the museum to the public. Especially when nearly 90% of the artifacts in the museum are not on display. “What we’re trying to do is get more and more of the pieces people are giving to us disseminated to the public. We not only want people to know about the Reno County Museum, but also know about our history,” Ables said. “People donate here. An unbelievable amount of artifacts come through these doors and I’m trying to wrap my head around them. It’s amazing to see how many people donate to the museum.”
Ables also talked about how some areas of the country are seeing their history erased because of certain events that have reflected negatively on the country’s history. “Unfortunately the reality is we cannot rewrite history. However, let’s look at it and be fair about it,” Ables said. “Its never going to be black and white, it’s going to have its gray (area). The thing is we have to be capable as an organization to be objective about subjects like that.”
Ables says the public will see some changes inside the museum as he looks for more display space and prioritizes what is shown. The museum is getting ready to take down the display of artifacts depicting the history of the Hutchinson Fire Department and is preparing the same display for the Hutchinson Police Department. The museum is also getting ready for a memorial brick campaign starting next month.
As far as his favorite artifact in the museum, it’s the old Indian motorcycle and sidecar currently on display.