Heritage

Written by our Americorps Heritage Vista, Alicia Erjavec.

This past weekend I attended an annual conference & meeting hosted by the West Virginia Association of Museums (WVAM) in Fayetteville, West Virginia. The purpose of the conference was to serve, educate, advocate for, and enhance communications within the museum community, which was played into the theme of this year: “Building Bridges: Facilitating Conversations in our Communities.”  On Thursday April 7^th, I arrived at Adventures on the Gorge— the event location this year— and was joined other conference attendees on a personal tour of various historical landmarks within the area. Starting with Camp Washington Carver in Clifftop, it was the first 4-H camp in the country for African-American youth with the Chestnut Lodge being the largest log structure of its kind in the world. Moving onto Ansted, the Contentment Museum was a historic home and expended to its present configuration after its acquisition by Colonel George W. Imboden; and Tyree Tavern was the oldest structure in Fayette County that served as an important location for both the Union and Confederate armies. The historic town of Thurmond along Route 25 was once bustling, transporting coal from the region and serving 75,000 passengers per year. Lastly the tour ending in the iconic New River George National Park before we all stopped for drinks and socializing at the Freefolk Brewery.

Friday, the first morning of the conference, the sessions I went to mainly pertained to historical preservation, various diverse communities and how to reach out to them, along with the lessons to be learned in regards to such outreach efforts. “Preservation Basics: Ten Agents of Deterioration” by Dyani Feige provided an introductory to preservation basics and how to prevent ten different forms of deterioration to your museum artifacts. “Preservation Tools from the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation” by Tiffani Emig explained to us how her organization offers free and low-cost programs— C2C’s website and the Collections Assessment Preservation program (CAPP) — to help museums take care of the objects they collect. “Using Clio for Visitor Outreach and Digital Outreach” by Kathleen Thompson gave further information how to use the website Clio, allowing organizations & museums to document local history and develop programs to engage visitors, volunteers, and members across the whole of the United States. “LGBTQIA+ History and Community in West Virginia” by Sarah Shepherd, Jack Jarvis, and Chris Mielke addressed inequity and erasure of a very prominent yet marginalized community, giving practical tips & strategies on how to find and creatively highlight these histories. Lastly, “Building Bridges in Minority Communities: Lessons Learned” by Sarah Insalaco discussed effective strategies for building bridges across diverse communities through research projects, social media, and other methods of outreach.

Saturday, the final day of the conference, was where I learned more outreach to various communities and how to make museums/historical landmarks exciting places for people to go to. “The West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection: Community” by Lori Hostuttler gave us an overview on how she collected information on the people and organizations that worked to advance the lives of women in the state. “Seeking the Supporting Cast” by Nathan Jones details the methodologies used to search for historical records during the COVID-19 pandemic, also giving a look at the secondary yet overlooked characters who are important to the early history of West Virginia. “Decoding Engagement: Using Escape Rooms in Museums” by Nora Venezky gave tips and tricks on how to incorporate escape room puzzles into many aspects of museum work, from education programs to events. All in all, the weekend conference was a pleasant experience and I believe I learned a lot that could help with my current VISTA work and any other endeavors I pursue in the future.