Museum Manager
Stanly County Museum

services & accomplishments

As manager, Julie was responsible for maintaining and promoting the museum’s historical collections. These collections were housed both in the museum and in offsite storage. There were environmental challenges in both locations. Offsite storage was not temperature controlled and the building in which the main museum was house suffered from occasional flooding. (The museum has since been relocated to a more environmentally stable building.)

Two historic houses are situated behind the museum which were open for tours by appointment. They and the historic artifacts housed within these structures were also Julie’s responsibility. Many of the artifacts had not been photographed or entered into the PastPerfect database. Julie worked with several volunteers to collect information, photograph items, and update the PastPerfect records.

Julie managed eight museum and library volunteers and three interns.

museum registration

Julie updated and maintained the PastPerfect database and virtual exhibition software. She audited, accessioned, and deaccessioned artifacts & photos and rectified problems. She managed loans to and from the museum. And also, she ran reports from PastPerfect to cross check inventory and update artifact labels / database numbers for consistency.

exhibition curation

Julie curated three physical and online exhibits. She performed original research in archives, academic databases, books, and scholarly articles. She wrote exhibit scripts, labels, and wall text. Julie also conducted and filmed oral history interviews. She solicited community donations and participation.

research consulting

Julie performed specialized historical research for researchers and assisted patrons in person, via email and phone.

digitization

Julie and several interns and volunteers re-digitized over 5,000 photographs that were improperly scanned at low resolution. She documented steps for digitization and trained volunteers and interns to correctly scan photographs and enter descriptions and metadata into the PastPerfect database. Additionally, she photographed incoming artifacts and objects that had not been photographed.

website & social media

Julie developed and maintained separate websites for the museum and library, documented processes, and trained staff to make updates. She updated the community via blogging, Facebook, and YouTube.

community outreach

Julie cultivated relationships with Stanly County’s African American communities who had not been equitably represented in museum collections. She collaborated with members of these communities to give voice to their experiences. She also delivered presentations on local history, museum collections, and exhibits to the general public.