In Randy McCrory’s historical 1910 home, an entire room is dedicated to Northwest Arkansas history. Bookshelves filled with binders full of newspaper clippings and photos line one wall, with more historical documents filling four filing cabinets along another. 

Ten thousand pieces of Benton County ephemera occupy every shelf and drawer within the room. He even has a piece of the stairwell from a former Benton County Courthouse that functioned from 1874 to 1928.

It all started with a few postcards, but has since expanded into an online museum, VintageBentonville.com, along with two Facebook pages, Vintage Bentonville and Historic Benton County. The Facebook pages, which have thousands of engaged members, are dedicated to keeping Northwest Arkansas history alive.

“It’s more than just the Facebook page — it’s a page that brings back memories. … I get a lot of, ‘I haven’t thought about that in years,’” McCrory said. “It’s very interactive.”

How It All Began

McCrory’s lifelong passion for history stemmed from his childhood, but his “addiction,” as he calls it, really took off after his first postcard purchase from eBay in 2000. He worked a second job to support his habit, and really began digging into Northwest Arkansas history with each purchase of historic treasures. 

“My wife, at one point in time, she looked at me and she goes, you know, if you quit buying things on eBay, you could stop washing windows,” he said.

As he dived headfirst into discovering as much as he could, he began doing historical presentations at the Bentonville library. Eventually, a group of local residents approached him to offer their support, and Vintage Bentonville was formed as a nonprofit organization.

“I did the presentation, and much to the surprise of the library, we had 125 people show up, which was kind of the beginning of it,” McCrory said.

The group considered opening a brick-and-mortar museum, but chose to instead create an online museum, and in 2018, VintageBentonville.com was born.

A Museum of the Future

VintageBentonville.com has 16 categories — such as businesses, railroads, events and people — with over 500 topics to choose from within the categories. Last year, the website had over 36,000 page views. There is also a category that branches out from Bentonville history, covering other areas of Benton County.

“I feel like what we’re doing is what museums may tend to look like in the future,” he said, noting that it allows the nonprofit to spend more time on history, and less time on maintaining a physical space.

“Ninety-five percent of what a museum has is not on display,” McCrory said. “We can almost display everything we have. There’s a lot of material out there for people to view.”

Vintage Bentonville is also dedicated to preserving Bentonville today for future generations, taking current photographs of the area. Over 6,000 images have been taken for the project.

People often send McCrory photos to add to the site or Facebook pages, and he still does presentations on history throughout the county. And, of course, he still searches for historical treasures on eBay.

“I’m always looking for something else,” he said. “I’m on eBay probably 10 times a day.”