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10
December 2004
Evelyn Burrow Donates $9 Million Art Collection to Wallace State Community College-Hanceville
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A selection from the Burrow Collection at her museum on County Road 222.
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HANCEVILLE,
AL-- Thursday was a momentous day in the history of Wallace State Community College. Evelyn Burrow, president of the North Alabama Museum of History and Fine Arts, made the largest single donation in the college’s history--a museum collection valued at $9,053,000 and an Irrevocable Charitable Remainder Trust for the college’s new Future Foundation.
“This is a gift from my husband and me. I hope people will enjoy this collection forever,” Burrow told an audience at Wallace State on Thursday during a reception in her honor.
“Mrs. Burrow could have sent her collection anywhere, and we are so grateful to her for keeping it in this community,” said Wallace State President Dr. Vicki Hawsey. (See Hawsey’s remarks below.)
“We pledge to be good stewards of your museum,” Dean of Academic Affairs Jenny Folsom told Burrow on behalf of President Hawsey and the Wallace State family.
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Dr. Vicki Hawsey, Mrs. Evelyn Burrow and Dr. Roy Johnson at the State Board of Education Meeting in Montgomery.
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The State Board of Education approved the transfer of Burrow’s collection to Wallace State at its December Board meeting in Montgomery on Thursday. The Board also adopted a resolution officially recognizing Burrow for her generosity. (See below for Resolution.)
“This lifelong collection will inspire students for generations to come,” said Dr. Roy Johnson, Chancellor of the Alabama College System. “Her legacy will live on in the lives of students long after we are gone. This is a contribution that cannot be measured.”
At the Wallace State reception, Rep. Jeremy Oden and Rep. Neal Morrison presented House Resolution HIR220 to Burrow, recognizing her unselfish generosity.
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Rep. Neal Morrison, Mrs. Evelyn Burrow, Dr. Vicki Hawsey and Rep. Jeremy Oden at the Wallace State Reception.
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“Every time a student walks into the Evelyn Burrow museum, her grace and presence will be felt,” said Rep. Neal Morrison. “Aside from the monetary value of this donation, it will have a tremendous impact on lives. People will be able to see parts of the world most of us only dream about.”
Burrow’s collection includes pieces from around the globe, from France and Austria to China and Egypt. It is comprised of 5,000 pieces, including more than 100 pieces of rare Dresden china, four large urns titled The Four Seasons, Faberge eggs, Remington sculptures, Tiffany lamps, paintings and other antiquities.
Previous estimates put the collection at $5.5 million, but a federal appraisal received Wednesday valued the collection at approximately $9 million while noting that Burrow has the largest collection of horse sculptures in the world. Individual pieces in her collection were valued at up to $1 million.
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Mrs. Evelyn Burrow with her dog Toby in front of a fountain at her museum.
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The college is constructing a new fine and performing arts center, which will include a museum to house the collection. The new center will be named the Ottis and Evelyn Burrow Center for the Fine and Performing Arts and the museum will be called the Evelyn Burrow Museum. Groundbreaking on this building is planned for next April. For now, the collection will remain at the North Alabama Museum location on County Road 222 in Cullman County operating as a Wallace State annex.
Music instructor Mike Sparks summed up the importance of the arts before presenting Burrow with a performance by the Wallace State Singers of Carol of the Bells. He put it like this: “A child can sing even before he can speak; he can dance almost before he can walk; he can paint and draw before he can write. Art defines who we are, but it is valuable most of all not for its monetary value but because of its intrinsic value. It is a window that allows us to look out of our world of imperfection into a perfect world of beauty and love.”
Burrow said that she plans to continue to help the college and the museum grow and to work to promote cultural arts in the area.
“I want to help the children of the future generations of North Alabama to get the education they need. All the children of Cullman County are my children,” she said.
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Mrs. Evelyn Burrow with a portrait of her late husband Ottis Burrow.
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Burrow’s late husband, Ottis, was instrumental in the 1963 selection of Hanceville for placement of the Wallace State Trade School, which later became Wallace State Community College. The Burrows owned five businesses in Cullman County during their 65 years of marriage--the PanAm Service Station in the 1940s, the Palomino Café and Motel, the Holiday Inn at Good Hope, Evelyn’s Red Barn Gallery and the North Alabama Museum of History and Fine Arts, Inc.
“I am proud to be part of this school and part of this community. It is a pleasure to give back what God has provided us. I know my husband would be proud of me for what I have done,” she said.
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Kristen
Holmes
Media Relations
Wallace State Community College
P.O. Box 2000
Hanceville, AL 35077
256/352-8118
E-mail: Kristen.Holmes@WallaceState.edu
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