The Ozark Heritage Project is a new organization created with the goal of preserving our Ozark streams and the communities that grew up around them.
Co-Founders, Dr. Eric "Rick" Mansfield and 2012 Salem High School graduate Lindsey Purcell.
The non-governmental project’s goal is to preserve what was once the legacy of our forefathers so it can become the inheritance of our children.
To do so, Mansfield said, the project is focusing attention on:
- Capturing the traditions that made the Ozarks a fountain of ingenuity. This is being done by interviewing and recording the deep oral storytelling traditions on video and in printed form.
- Organizing stream cleaning and landscape preservations, dedicating much of the workweek to the actual physical labor involved.
- Providing both live presentations--often in character--and printed material to groups to educate them about the greatness of their past and the growing needs of the present, informing them of both opportunity and obligation.
With such an ambitious agenda, Mansfield said, the Ozarks Heritage Project is in need of financial support and has non-profit status. OHP received non-profit status in January.
Mansfield, a retired educator, currently serves on several community service boards as well as volunteer chaplain for hospices and families around the state.
“Too much time is spent on pointing out the shortcomings of this world and the people therein. It is an honor to work beside someone so focused on what is right. Lindsey is truly a nurturing person and the organization she now heads is dedicated to inspiring the people and preserving the culture that with our Lord’s guidance served these communities and this nation so well,” Mansfield said.
Mansfield started Stream Team # 4025 on Lower Current River and assists with several others. He writes a weekly column, Reflections from the Road, in several local newspapers, is a regular contributor to The River Hills Traveler and has published the book "D'Ya Want a Possum?" as well as several short stories. He has several other projects almost ready for print including a collection of short stories Purcell is helping illustrate.
Purcell is a first year nursing student at Truman University, former Miss Salem 2012, valedictorian of her senior class at Salem, co-founder and President of the Ozark Heritage Project and Vice-president of the Pilgrim's Rest Cemetery Board. At fourteen she was the youngest member of the People to People Program, young American visitors to Europe.
The OHP’s Trivia Night that was scheduled for Saturday was postponed because of competing events. It will be rescheduled later. An Old Fashioned Pie Supper is scheduled for Aug. 2 at the Salem City Hall.
They are in the process of contacting schools to make presentations this summer during classes.
Last week the group cleaned up Round Spring Cave area, Klipzig Mill and Rocky Falls all in Shannon County. This is in keeping with the project’s pledge to work at least one day a week at physically cleaning river and surrounding area.
Mansfield and Purcell performed a storytelling skit at Eminence Courthouse Saturday for the first annual Elk Days celebration. They told the story of “The Last Missouri Elk” as researched by Rick and Lindsey.
They will be presenting again June 8 as part of Eminence’s June Folk outreach.
Currently the team is working on The Riverman’s Legacy and Other Short Stories, a collection of local folklore—fact and fiction, set in local river areas. The collection is illustrated by Purcell and co-written by Purcell and Mansfield and dedicated to the memory of Buck Maggard. It should be published this summer. They also are working on The Commentary Boat, which records the transition of the Ozarks that occurred as the National Park Service moved in. The book is set in 1967. It is scheduled for winter publication.
Mansfield said they will be focusing on interviewing people and getting these interviews on video and running down and researching oral history as it pertains to a culture that seems to be rapidly vanishing.
For more information about the project, contact Mansfield at 663-2269 or email emansfield2004@yahoo.com.
