Kentucky history buff: From volunteer to executive director

GLASGOW, Ky. (AP) - History buff Sherry Wesley retired from her job as a social worker on a Friday in June 2006.

The following Monday she walked through the doors of the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center at 200 W. Water St. in Glasgow to volunteer her time to help in any way she can.

She had no prior experience with museum work. She just knew volunteering there was something she wanted to do after she retired.

In 2014, when the executive director’s position at the museum became available when Gayle Berry retired, Wesley applied for the position and was hired.

“I love the museum,” she said, adding that she thought becoming the executive director was the next step.

What she likes best about the museum is meeting people through her work there and said she enjoys learning more local history from the museum’s visitors.

“And with each military event I gain a deeper appreciation for the local individuals who have served,” she said.

She also said she enjoys meeting community members and people who are passing through on vacation who stop by to learn about their family history or to bring artifacts to the museum.

Wesley has been witness to some rather unique items people have donated to the museum. She recalled a recent donation that she thought was rather unusual.

“It may have come in while Gayle was executive director. It’s the feather death crown,” she said.

A feather death crown can be found in feather pillows and according to folklore it’s an omen of death.

That particular donation is now part of the museum’s funeral exhibit on the second floor.

“I had never seen one before or heard of it before,” she said.

When the museum was first developed, donations of all kinds were accepted.

“I have been in the basement and every place else in this building and I know how limited storage space is in this building. We are fortunate to have, which visitors tell us all the time, how much we have, how well it’s presented,” she said. “Now we can say ‘no’ to some things. If we already have it or have one very similar, we can say ‘no’ to that. What I usually tell people is to send us a picture of it, and then I defer to Kay (Harbison, who creates the museum exhibits). Kay is someone who knows everything we have in this building and she knows what she’s going to use in the exhibits.”

Wesley has had people to bring in items that she had no idea what they were. Just recently someone brought in a tool of some sort.

“I put it on Facebook, because I didn’t know (what it was). And Kay didn’t know what it was,” she said, adding that even the carpenter working on the exhibits didn’t know what it was.

But through a Facebook post she was able to identify the tool.

If she had to pick one thing that was the most interesting, Wesley said she couldn’t.

“I honestly don’t know because to me they are all interesting,” she said.

During her time at the museum, Wesley has overseen the completion of the exhibits on the second floor of the museum and the start of the exhibit expansion on the museum’s third floor, as well as the development of the Kid’s Corner interactive exhibit in the museum’s lobby.

She has also been involved with fundraising for the museum.

The museum launched a capital fundraising campaign in 2019 with hopes that it would generate $50,000. The money is needed to help cover the cost to build exhibits on the museum’s third floor and to update the museum’s technology.

“We haven’t reached the goal. We are right around $33,000, which is I think is good,” she said.

The expansion of exhibits to the museum’s third floor is coming along and the construction is almost complete.

“There’s still various things going on,” she said. “It’s painting. It’s moving artifacts in and it’s creating the actual exhibits, but the structure is there.”

When she became the executive director, Wesley said her goal was just to get to the third floor.

“Things have moved much faster than what I expected,” she said.

Wesley also manages a staff of volunteers and answers to a volunteer board of directors, the Barren County Historical Foundation Inc.

“These people are talented, active and interested in this special place,” she said. “With a crew like that - a lot can be accomplished.”

June Jackson is one of the volunteers who helps out at the museum.

“Sherry is one of the most organized managers with whom I have worked. She is calm and positive in the midst of any amount of chaos, which spreads to all of her volunteers. I love working with her,” Jackson said.

Wesley says there is always a need for more volunteers to do a variety of tasks at the museum.

Ernie Myers, treasurer of the Barren County Historical Foundation Inc., said Wesley is very dedicated to the museum.

“Given the funds and the assets with which she is provided, she does a super job with keeping things going and that’s having to coordinate all of the volunteer work,” he said. “That’s coordinating the expansion that we are experiencing not only on the third floor of the museum, but just all over the museum. She is pretty much just a one person powerhouse and does a wonderful job for the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center and the Museum of the Barrens.”