Diorama's destruction dismays Gilbert students

A museum director in Texas has crushed the dreams of Highland High School students in Gilbert who worked thousands of hours to document Civil War history.

A 10-foot by 5-foot diorama, three-and-a-half years in the making, was supposed to be in the care of the Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas.

VIDEO: Civil War diorama, three-and-a-half years in the making

After the arrival of the diorama on Aug. 24, the new museum curator, Jeff Hunt, destroyed the diorama that replicated the Battle at Palmetto Ranch. Glen Frakes, the Highland High teacher responsible for orchestrating the project, said the diorama was destroyed because Hunt considered it to be historically inaccurate.

Frakes said the previous director of the museum contacted him in 2004 to start constructing the diorama. After working on other dioramas for the museum, Frakes said the previous director knew this one would be of the same quality.

He said the expectations for this project were that the museum would pay for materials and the students, along with his guidance, would make the model.

He said the students spent more than 6,000 hours and $23,000 on the project.

The only pay the students received for their hard work was the honor of having the diorama on display and protected by the museum, Frakes said.

But after only seven weeks on display, the diorama was destroyed without notification, Frakes said.

Alyssa Baxter, a sophomore who was part of the project, said the diorama had sentimental value for her and many other students. She said she also learned a lot while assembling the model.

“It’s not only the materials, it’s the memories,” Baxter said.

Hunt was not available for comment Friday. Wallace J. Savoy, a retired officer and member of the museum association, said Hunt considered himself an expert on the battle because he did his master’s thesis on it and wrote a book on it.

The book about Palmetto Ranch had few pictures, none of which were of the actual battle, Frakes said. But he said the students worked diligently and meticulously to create the diorama.

“To the best of our ability, we were trying to put it together with the help of his book,” Frakes said.

He said Hunt should have tried to fix any inaccuracies in the diorama or dismantle it appropriately and send it back to Gilbert.

Savoy said he was one of the original people to find the destroyed diorama. He said it was covered by a blue tarp.

“It looked like someone took an arm across it,” Savoy said.

Frakes, who saw pictures of the destroyed display, said the pieces looked like they were taken off in anger.

Arms and legs of soldiers that were painted and assembled by hand were ripped off, Frakes said.

If the opportunity arose for the students to get the diorama back, Baxter said they would love to try to reassemble the pieces.

Savoy said the association that paid for the diorama has recommended that Hunt not be able to make changes to future dioramas without discussing it with board members first.