32 NEBRASKAland • MAY 2017
of items for sale to soldiers and civilians.
Running a successful living history program requires
an extraordinary amount of organization and oversight.
Someone is needed to manage new volunteers, make
schedules, plan events, coordinate volunteers, and develop
and maintain standards of quality for the program. Many
sites have found it impossible to do all of this without an
official organization of some sort. In the early 1990s, Fort
Atkinson superintendent John Slader decided it was time
for the park to form one of its own. He pitched the idea to
the people who were doing living history activities at the
fort at the time – those who were intrigued by the idea but
undecided on whether to go forward. In April 1995, they
called together an open meeting to discuss what to do.
"The auditorium at the visitor's center was packed full,"
Davis recalled. "People were afraid, people were excited.
Some thought that if we had an official organization,
perhaps the living history wouldn't be fun anymore."
After several hours of discussion, the group unanimously
voted to form the organization. They named it the Friends
of Fort Atkinson, and adopted a set of bylaws introduced
Archaeology on the fort's grounds started in the 1950s. It took about 25 years to reconstruct various buildings, including the
soldiers' barracks, the Council House, the Trader's Cabin, Powder Magazine and the Sutler Store.
Volunteer Tom Wood portrays fort commander Col. Henry
Leavenworth.
PHOTO
BY
NIKKI
MCDONALD
