Ralph Foster Museum

   The museum is located on the campus of the College of the Ozarks which is affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The college opened in 1907 as a high school and became a four year college in 1965. All full-time students are provided a tuition free education in exchange for 15 hours of work a week which ranges from taking care of farm animals, to working with stain glass or serving as a lifeguard.  We did not visit anything on the campus but the museum however the restaurant, the grist mill, the student built chapel, and some other areas look worth visiting.

  Visitors must stop at a check point and provide their name and phone number. License plates are also checked.

  The three floors of the museum are filled with donated collections but not a lot of historic information. The first floor contains collections of smaller items such as glassware, clocks, tools, and dolls plus the original truck from the Beverly Hillbillies television show.  The doll collection includes many Kewpie dolls, the creation of Rose O’Neill who had a vacation home in the Ozarks for thirty years, dolls from around the world dressed in native costumes, and dolls made by Ozark folk artists.

   Hundreds of guns and stuffed trophy animals are on the second floor. The third floor has more animals and exhibits on the history of the college and the Ozarks.

       

   The museum is accessible except for a small log cabin that has a step.

  RVs will fit in the lot if parked lengthwise across the spaces.  Museum  36.61897, -93.24123