Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Chief Logan Museum Has New Director.
CHIEF LOGAN STATE PARK - Museum in the Park began the new year of 2008 with a new site manager, Elizabeth Williams. Williams' duties at the museum include the responsibility of daily operations, management and supervision. She helps to plan exhibits and events for the museum and manages all in-house and Outreach educational projects.Williams grew up in an area that is well known for historic preservation of buildings and artifacts."I grew up along the Coast of South Carolina, what other people call the other Charleston," Williams said. "When I was growing up, this Charleston was the 'other' Charleston for me."When she began high school, Williams said her family moved to Atlanta where she finished school. She has also spent time in London, England, Florida and Savannah, Ga., where she finished graduate school, majoring in Historic Preservation. Williams said she kind of backed into historic preservation as a career choice instead of planning on it.
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"I had a family member who left me enough money to do something with," Williams said. "I always wanted to go back to school to study something a little bit different � I started out to be a teacher. �with this little nest egg, I decided it was something to do something I enjoyed doing. When I got into graduate school, I took a part-time job as a tour guide in Savannah."Williams said, when growing up, she attended school in the old city in Charleston, S.C., and felt comfortable around older buildings."It was kind of a natural decision for me to learn how to take care of them," Williams said.Following the end of marriage, Williams said she took her property settlement and took her "one" trip of a lifetime."I went to London, England, and kind of played the long-term tourist," Williams said. "I did everything I wanted to do. It was my one trip there and I wanted to see everything. I rented myself a little flat in the Bayswater area of London and traveled all over the country. I didn't get to Ireland, but I did go to Wales and Scotland."Williams also spent a year working for the St. Augustine Historical Society in Florida."I spent a year or about 13 months as a program manager for the St. Augustine Historical Society. The historical society there is the oldest continuously operating historical society in Florida," Williams said. "On their property they have what is known as the oldest residence in Florida. Spanish Catholic church records actually show this building being used as a residence sometime around 1720. It is only 400 square feet, but it very popular for tours."Williams said she quit her job in Florida and returned to her mother to help take care of family issues. Once she was ready to return back to work, she specifically looked for jobs in historic preservation, especially with state run programs."A lot of state governments are paying more and more attention to historic preservation," Williams said. "I filled out online applications for probably about a dozen different state governments. The one that felt like best fit was West Virginia because it was an opportunity to work in an historic building, or will be a historic building although it is not quite old enough yet, and to work cultural programming."Williams said she is working on developing an outreach program in the area, and has already visited several schools."One of the things we are working on here is developing an Outreach program where we can take some of the museum exhibits and some of the programs we do here and take them into the schools," Williams said. "Or take the exhibits to places that people otherwise can't get to the museum, like nursing homes, for example. And to get the museum more involved in the civic organizations. Ed Belcher, the governor's representative, took me around one day and I visited seven different schools in Lincoln County. That was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. To get outside of the museum as manager and get into the community."Williams said that the West Virginia Division of Cultural and History considers Museum in the Park a regional museum, not just a Logan County museum."They are looking to expand the programming we do, as well as the geographical territory that we are involved in," Williams said. "We draw a lot of people from Boone, Mingo and Lincoln, and some from McDowell and Wyoming Counties. And a lot of people coming up from Pikeville, Ky. Some of our most popular exhibits and photographic exhibits have been from artists outside of Logan County."Williams welcomes anyone to call or visit the museum for information on any of the programs offered at the museum. Museum in the Park is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 1-6 p.m. and the telephone number is 792-7229.
Courtesy: Martha Sparks of The Logan Banner
= 1207371600) && (nAdsysTime = 1208322000) && (nAdsysTime = 1209445200) && (nAdsysTime = 1209445200) && (nAdsysTime
"I had a family member who left me enough money to do something with," Williams said. "I always wanted to go back to school to study something a little bit different � I started out to be a teacher. �with this little nest egg, I decided it was something to do something I enjoyed doing. When I got into graduate school, I took a part-time job as a tour guide in Savannah."Williams said, when growing up, she attended school in the old city in Charleston, S.C., and felt comfortable around older buildings."It was kind of a natural decision for me to learn how to take care of them," Williams said.Following the end of marriage, Williams said she took her property settlement and took her "one" trip of a lifetime."I went to London, England, and kind of played the long-term tourist," Williams said. "I did everything I wanted to do. It was my one trip there and I wanted to see everything. I rented myself a little flat in the Bayswater area of London and traveled all over the country. I didn't get to Ireland, but I did go to Wales and Scotland."Williams also spent a year working for the St. Augustine Historical Society in Florida."I spent a year or about 13 months as a program manager for the St. Augustine Historical Society. The historical society there is the oldest continuously operating historical society in Florida," Williams said. "On their property they have what is known as the oldest residence in Florida. Spanish Catholic church records actually show this building being used as a residence sometime around 1720. It is only 400 square feet, but it very popular for tours."Williams said she quit her job in Florida and returned to her mother to help take care of family issues. Once she was ready to return back to work, she specifically looked for jobs in historic preservation, especially with state run programs."A lot of state governments are paying more and more attention to historic preservation," Williams said. "I filled out online applications for probably about a dozen different state governments. The one that felt like best fit was West Virginia because it was an opportunity to work in an historic building, or will be a historic building although it is not quite old enough yet, and to work cultural programming."Williams said she is working on developing an outreach program in the area, and has already visited several schools."One of the things we are working on here is developing an Outreach program where we can take some of the museum exhibits and some of the programs we do here and take them into the schools," Williams said. "Or take the exhibits to places that people otherwise can't get to the museum, like nursing homes, for example. And to get the museum more involved in the civic organizations. Ed Belcher, the governor's representative, took me around one day and I visited seven different schools in Lincoln County. That was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. To get outside of the museum as manager and get into the community."Williams said that the West Virginia Division of Cultural and History considers Museum in the Park a regional museum, not just a Logan County museum."They are looking to expand the programming we do, as well as the geographical territory that we are involved in," Williams said. "We draw a lot of people from Boone, Mingo and Lincoln, and some from McDowell and Wyoming Counties. And a lot of people coming up from Pikeville, Ky. Some of our most popular exhibits and photographic exhibits have been from artists outside of Logan County."Williams welcomes anyone to call or visit the museum for information on any of the programs offered at the museum. Museum in the Park is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 1-6 p.m. and the telephone number is 792-7229.
Courtesy: Martha Sparks of The Logan Banner
# posted by Joe Kinzer @ 2:13 PM 
