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Hyrum Museum contains more than
just history
By Cory Broussard
April 20, 2006 | HYRUM -- The Hyrum Museum holds more
than just the history of the town, it also holds the
past of one of its residents, Valoei Albrecht.
Albrecht, who gives tours and runs the museum in the
Hyrum Civic Center, has lived in Hyrum her entire life.
She can't remember where or when exactly she was born,
but every item in the museum has a lengthy story about
her past.
Albrecht started the museum with her husband over
10 years ago, and most of the artifacts are things they
collected over the years together. When her husband
died a few years ago Albrecht continued to run the museum
by herself.
When asked about her past, the small-framed woman
leans on her cane and struggles to remember. But ask
her about the school bell that used to hang from Lincoln
Elementary and she can tell you that it could be heard
from over a mile away, and it used to signal the end
of her recess break. She can't tell you if her brother
is still alive, last she heard he was near death, but
she can tell you he was a world-renowned botanist and
show you the book he wrote.
"He was a very smart man," Albrecht said.
The museum almost seams like a catalog of Albrecht's
life, helping her remember things she would have otherwise
forgotten. A display that shows baby clothes from Hyrum's
old days contains the dress that her mother wore when
she was a baby. There is a photograph of her father
and his colleagues that is blurred from ice on the lens.
"I don't know which one he is, but I remember that
he had a high forehead that went all the way to the
back of his head," Albrecht said. "If they didn't have
hats on in that picture I would know which one he was."
A picture of the local doctor who looked after her
while she was pregnant, hangs against one of the walls.
On July 1 he told her that she was going to be fine
while he was on vacation. On July 4 her son was born.
Albrecht didn't mind though. "He's my Yankee Doodle
Dandy," Albrecht said.
She leads patrons to a globe in the corner of the
museum and asks if they want to know how she gets ahead
in the world. Her shaky hands open a flap in the globe
and she places an old Barbie head inside.
"That's how I get ahead in the world," Albrecht says.
Albrecht give tours of the museum three times a week,
on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Visitors can step
back into the history of Hyrum and Albrecht's life from
2 to 5 in the afternoon.
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