OWENSVILLE — The Gasconade County Historical Society Museum in Owensville opened Friday for the 2026 season and features a special exhibit called “Working Hands, Lasting Legacy.”

Sandy Nolan, a member of the planning committee, wrote a piece to advertise the exhibit.

“‘Working Hands, Lasting Legacy’ will feature the unique handiwork of our county residents,” wrote Nolan. “Embroidery, hooked rugs, needlepoint, birdhouses, crocheted and tattered work, whirligigs, woodcarving, children’s furniture, handmade dolls and toys, and many other amazing examples of the ‘soul’s expression’ will be exhibited.”

Museum Director Linda Baehr shared information about the exhibit.

“Basically it’s people who have gotten any kind of handmade or unique items that they’ve made or someone else in their family has made in history,” said Baehr. “This is a real jewel to our community and people don’t even recognize that it’s actually here.”

The museum is open at 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays during the season.

“We don’t charge for admission or anything like that, it’s free, but we do appreciate any kind of donations graciously,” said Baehr.

Volunteer Coordinator Mary Ellen Hall mentioned how she and Janet Schnarre set up the exhibit.

“We get people scheduled to work,” said Hall. “Everyone only works one day a month, I think that’s easier to get somebody to say, ‘oh, okay sounds like something I can do’ if they only have one day a month.”

She said that people should be able to donate four hours of their time once a month.

Hall has been volunteering at the museum for 10 years and has lived in the area since she was 13. Her father was born and raised in Bland.

“To actually hang things up, (it took) two days to get people bringing in things,” said Hall.

The society started doing advertisements for donations starting in January.

“Every year we do something special, besides all the extra rooms that have permanent displays,” said Hall.

Hall mentioned last year that the museum did a special on dances.

“I went through newspapers.com and pulled up all these ads for different dances all the way from — I think the early one was like 1900 and I made a scrapbook of that,” said Hall. “It’s kind of fun figuring out what to do for our special exhibit every year.”

An exhibit that stuck out to Hall was “Huswif” loaned by Pam Willliams.

“I’m just amazed at the handiwork in those little tiny ornaments in that cabinet,” said Hall.

Huswif features Williams’ needlework. In 1997, when she retired from teaching piano for 30 years, she had two goals in mind — learn how to quilt and research her genealogy.

A huswif was a small portable case containing sewing supplies.

She got into volunteering at the museum because of her cousin.

“She’s like ‘ya know I think that’d you really enjoy that,’ okay, and I like history. I have an Ancestry account and so I do a lot of genealogy stuff,” said Hall. “I always bring my laptop in case people want to know something, I can look it up for them.”

In the school room of the museum there are folders of pictures from various schools in the county. There were 51 country schools in Gasconade County because of there being 51 townships and Hall’s goal is to make a scrapbook of the country schools.

Baehr shared a comment about the work of her volunteers.

“We couldn’t do it without the volunteers,” said Baehr.

The museum is located at 105 East McFadden Avenue in Owensville. People can contact the museum at (573) 437-5617 or follow the Gasconade County Historical Society on Facebook.