Indiana University School of Journalism

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Photo by Audrie Garrison

Journalism student Kendall Trout reads a column by Ernie Pyle in the visitor center of the Ernie Pyle State Historic Site in Dana, Ind. A group if students toured the museum Friday.

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No one knows what will happen to Will Pyle’s rocking chair or the military-style huts that hold dozens of artifacts commemorating the life of one of the IU School of Journalism’s most famous students.

As the Ernie Pyle State Historic Site in Dana, Ind., faces an uncertain future, about 30 journalism students traveled there Friday to learn about the famed war correspondent. The state closed the museum about a year ago, citing declining attendance and revenue, but a nonprofit that’s now in control of the site opened it for a private visit for the students.

Phil Hess, vice president of the Friends of Ernie Pyle, said the group is undergoing a fundraising campaign and hopes to open the museum to the public in May. In the past, the site has benefitted from several large donations, including one from the Scripps Howard Foundation and the estate of Paige Cavanaugh, Pyle’s longtime friend.

Hess said he and other members of the Friends group appealed the closure for five and a half months.

“We thought that the loss was too big, and it was a betrayal of trust to the people who gave the donations,” he said.

Longtime tour guide Joanie Rumple, a member of the Friends of Ernie Pyle, said the site used to attract many more people than it has recently, requiring five staff members to maintain the facilities.

“Our attendance was, oh my, thousands in a year’s time,” she said of the museum, which opened in 1976. “We used to fight for lunch break.”

The Ernie Pyle State Historical Site includes Pyle’s boyhood home, which was moved into Dana from the outskirts of town. Adjacent to it are a visitor center, constructed from two authentic World War II Quonset huts, a video theater, research library, exhibits and a gift shop.

Photo by Audrie Garrison

From left, lecturer Jeni Donlon and graduate student Faisul Yaseen check out a World War II era Willys Jeep. The fate of the museum is up in the air.

The state removed artifacts to Indianapolis when it shut down the museum, but the facility still has much of Pyle’s personal gear and World War II era items, such as a Willys Jeep.

This was the fourth group of IU School of Journalism students that associate professor Owen Johnson has take Dana, a tiny village on Ind. 36 near the Illinois state line. Among them were students in J460 In the Footsteps of Ernie Pyle: From London to Paris, which travels to Europe at spring break to follow Pyle’s path during World War II; Ernie Pyle Scholars; and Media Scholars.

Ironically, Johnson said that it was the museum’s closure that allowed him to bring the travel class to Dana. Before it closed, it only operated seasonally, starting its year after the spring semester was over.

Journalism students can see some of Pyle’s memorabilia in the lounge at Ernie Pyle Hall and can see photos of him among the collections displayed on the walls. The nearby IU Lilly Library houses Pyle’s original columns, letters and correspondence, which librarians will make available to researchers.

But the museum at Dana conveys a message all its own. School of Journalism junior MaryJane Slaby, an Ernie Pyle Scholar, said she thought the trip to Dana would be a great experience for the students in the travel course. She said she enjoyed reading the selection of columns hung on the walls of the visitor center.

“I hope they are able to keep it open,” Slaby said. “I see how it’s not a huge attraction, but I think it’s important, especially since they have all that stuff there and it sounds like the volunteers are really passionate.”

If the museum were to close permanently, Johnson said, it would be a loss for the School of Journalism community.

“Ernie Pyle is the most famous student who has studied here, and we would lose part of our heritage, part of our understanding of where we come from,” he said.

Hess said the group is aware of the challenges of raising enough money to reopen the site. The group believes it needs an endowment to hire a full-time director, and he said the small population of Dana makes it hard to find a pool of volunteers.

Photo by Audrie Garrison

Sophomore and Ernie Pyle Scholar Erin Boland surveys World War II relics. Students also met with Friends of Ernie Pyle group, which is trying to keep the museum open in Dana.

But they’ve expanded from a group of five local members to 13 volunteers of varying backgrounds, including journalism professionals from around the state. The Hoosier State Press Association is also helping with the effort, functioning as a consulting group, said Max Jones, the editor of the (Terre Haute) Tribune-Star and a member of the Friends of Ernie Pyle.

“The criticism is that the World War II generation is dying off and that Ernie Pyle has lost his relevance,” Hess said, pointing to a copy of one of Pyle’s WWII columns, “A Long, Tired Ribbon.” “The things that he wrote about during World War II were certainly things that I saw during my time in the infantry.

“History’s pretty fragile. It can sure be lost.”

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