During the past three years, we have been working hard to enrich, expand and diversify our education programs and exhibits, as well as improve our overall visitor experience and deepen our connections with Members.
We are also re-investing in the management of our collections, which form the foundation of our 113-year-old institution. The Museum hired Collections Specialist Kathleen Aston exactly one year ago to build on the organization’s goal of making our wonderful collections more accessible to the public, including digitizing our catalog and conducting the first full inventory in nearly two decades.
Our museum was established on the collection of lightkeeper Laura Hecox in the early 1900s and substantially grew with the addition of the Humphrey Pilkington’s collection in the late 1920s. Since then, thousands of other acquisitions and donations have helped grow our collections to more than 16,000 items, most of which are rarely seen by the public.
Starting in March, the Museum will expand its monthly newsletter spotlight on collections to include a monthly blog by Kathleen called “Collections Close-Up” and a new pop-up exhibit in the Museum galleries that will feature a collections item not often displayed. You’ll also be seeing more about our collections on social media and our website.
Our collections are priceless to us, and we are excited to share them with you, piece by piece. Each object has its own story and we look forward to telling each of them to you. We also are grateful for your support of the Museum, which contributes to management of this critical community resource.
See you soon at the Museum.
Heather Moffat McCoy
Executive Director