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On a routine day in West Kentucky, only a few random visitors and occasional school groups drop in to Murray State University’s Wrather Museum. However, when a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution comes to town, attendance steps up because rural communities value having local access to cultural experiences usually reserved for big city museums.

In 2012, the Smithsonian’s Journey Stories exhibition came to the Wrather Museum. About 4,000 people viewed images and information that explored the ways travel and migration have impacted individuals and communities, past and present. Inspired by the exhibit, scores of school kids wrote and recorded journey poems that were broadcast on WKMS-FM, the NPR affiliate.