KILGORE, Texas — Kilgore College’s board of trustees apologized Monday night after the college’s musical archives were thrown in the dumpster last month.
Community members expressed frustration after thousands of historic music scores and archives were found in the dumpster in May.
"Jim Taylor and the Kilgore Children’s Chorus. Now, I know that’s not on a database someplace," Kilgore College adjunct music professor Danny Vinson said.
Vinson was one of many community members to voice their displeasure over the college’s discarding of thousands of music department items back in May.
"I was appalled to find out that the music library here at my beloved alma mater was trashed and thrown in the dumpster," Kilgore College alumni Chris Murray said.
The story caught traction online last month, with many people in the community expressing concern for the pieces of lost physical media that couldn’t be replaced.
"The music library represented a costly investment made by the college that still had monetary value, as you have heard," Kilgore resident Annette Morgan said.
Other folks within the community felt that it was a larger part of Kilgore College’s attempts in recent years to minimize the music and fine arts departments at the college. Aside from what the music represented in terms of Kilgore’s history, other community members said the music itself could’ve provided the college value in more ways than one.
"These discarded materials could have easily become someone else’s treasure. Many area musicians value and collect vinyl records and CDs, they would’ve happily purchased the items," Morgan said.
In the end, the board apologized for discarding of the music.
“The dumpster was a poor choice," the college said.
They also mentioned that they’ll take better care of the way they document historical items in the future to make sure they avoid a situation like this one.
Board members are working to recoup some of the items they’ve lost. They reached out to dumpster divers who found the items and are waiting to see what they can return to the school.