The Passing of Our Curator and Researcher:
Russ Amacher
by Peg Sullivan
Our museum is a treasure-trove of historic artifacts, stories, clippings, pictures, and books. Finding an answer to our visitors’ questions requires an understanding of the collection, the filing system, and of course, what the actual question behind any inquiry really is. Our museum had a fabulous resource, a patient listener with years of experience exploring the collection. Russ Amacher liked to be known as our curator and researcher. He was outstanding in both roles.
A curator is the person who is a caretaker or steward of materials. They help build access to the collection through organizing content and having a knowledge of where that content is stored. Russ spent years reading through our cabinets and boxes of material. During his long, tranquil hours at the museum on Wednesdays, he would occasionally greet a visitor but the slow afternoons provided him with time to explore. His remarkable memory allowed him to recall a folder or artifact or book which might lead to a solution to a visitor’s historic quest.
During a discussion for an exhibit on the upcoming 100th anniversary of the women’s vote, Russ scrambled off, when he returned he had a list of the first 40 women who registered to vote in Cambridge. He remembered seeing it once and from that piece of information, our museum won the Wisconsin State Historical Society’s Outstanding Small Exhibit in 2020 for our local women’s suffrage exhibit.
His curiosity and keen research abilities lead to many of the books we have at the museum. One of our most popular books, “Cambridge: Then and Now” was revised in 2021 by Russ. The photographs, cutlines, stories and newspaper clippings capture the history of each building on Main Street. He also helped compile “The History of Cambridge & Lake Ripley in Post Cards,” a delightful, visual story of the area.
In 2021, he published, perhaps his most endearing research book. For years, Russ devoted time to documenting the stories of men from the area who served in the Civil War. He self published, “Cambridge Area Soldiers Who Served in the Civil War.” He tells the story of the monument in Veteran’s Park on Main Street; a statue dedicated in 1914. He visited cemeteries throughout Dane and Jefferson counties to find long forgotten graves, he photographed them, completed research, and told the story of the men resting beneath those headstones.
Russ was a contributor to almost every book the museum has related to veterans of any war. It is particularly moving to sit at the table in our museum’s Veteran’s Room and read through the binders he compiled of letters written back to parents and community members by servicemen overseas. He shared his research in many formats through curated content and also, most importantly, through conversations.
He hustled around the museum answering questions when the place was busy, especially when our grade school classes visited. But the real joy of knowing Russ was to sit with him, share stories, or examine a single, new artifact. Those were moments well spent. Guests who knew his schedule would make a point of stopping by with a family treasure perhaps to donate or maybe just to discuss it with Russ until they were ready to pass it along to the museum.
Although, Russ was a quiet person, for years he was the face at the museum door. He greeted visitors with a smile, a pleasant request to please sign our guestbook, and a soft inquiry if he could help them. When he was invited to speak publicly, his quiet, respectful demeanor carried forward. Whether he was talking in Veteran’s Park on Memorial Day, sharing Main Street history with people in nursing homes, or regaling school children with Civil War antidotes, he knew his facts and wove them into a compelling story.
Russ was also a good sport. Last year when we hosted the fundraiser play, Lettuce and Lovage at the Winery, I could think of no one better suited to play the surly, old historian who questioned Lettuce’s outlandish facts from the audience. He bravely stood up and launched into his role with: “Excuse me. Could you give me the references for that story?” He was the prefect character to give the audience an unexpected laugh. He was fun in rehearsals and priceless in the performance. Russ was a wonderful actor who also participated in historical pageants in Fort Atkinson. He could deliver historical facts on any stage. But it was pure acting for him to be surly or confrontational. He was always a gentleman, a researcher, and the guardian of our shared history.
So we are left to celebrate his legacy as we mourn his passing.
Russ’s obituary can be read at: https://www.dunlapmemorialhome.com/