Carnegie museum board announces new members

The Carnegie Historical Museum has announced the appointment of three new members to its board of directors. The Fairfield City Council in a February meeting made the appointments of Lawrence Eyre, Mary J. Keller and Karen Price to join the existing directors.

Eyre brings 30-plus years of teaching high school history courses, which will benefit the board. He has been the research director for the Fairfield History Film Series from 2017 to the present. He is a native Iowan, born in Davenport, and has been a resident of Fairfield since 1981.

'I love learning, teaching history and exploring Iowa's heritage” said Eyre.

Keller has 35 years of computer and bookkeeping experience and will be working with data entry in the 'Past Perfect” system storing and cataloguing the collection of the museum. She is a graduate of Pekin High School and has lived her adult life in the Fairfield Community.

Price has been a teacher for 37 years and is very interested in developing curriculum materials for the museum, designing interactive self-tours, reaching out to classrooms for field trips, and publicizing the museum in the community.

The museum board stated in a news release that its members are looking forward to welcoming these new members and seeing their talents further enhance the board. Board members include: Mark Shafer, director; Stan Plum, curator; Therese Cummiskey, secretary; Joe Hunt, treasurer; David Neff, president; Shelley Urban and Sheri Blough Neff. Ex-Officio members include Gloria Countryman, president of the Carnegie Museum Foundation, and Kay McPherson Ferguson, representing Parsons College.

The mission of the Carnegie Historical Museum is to collect and interpret the history and culture of Fairfield, Jefferson County and the surrounding area. The museum is located at 112 S. Court St. in Fairfield, IA 52556. The website can be found at www.jeffersoncountyheritage.org.