General Lew Wallace Study and Museum honored at Crawfordsville City Council meeting

What a great night! The staff and board of the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum were honored by the City Council of Crawfordsville, Indiana for winning the National Medal for Museum Service this year. The Council drafted a special resolution acknowledging our hard work, and the Council and audience gave us a standing ovation!

It feels great to be appreciated, but it feels even better to be part of a staff that works so seamlessly together to achieve such long-ranging and exciting results for our community.


--Kara Edie, Visitor Services & Marketing Coordinator

Museum Director Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko, Museum Board President Dale Petrie, Council Member Dennis Cook, Museum Associate Director Amanda Wesselmann, Museum Marketing Coordinator Kara Edie, Council Member George Parker, Museum Grounds Manager Deb King, Council Member Roger Rockenbaugh, Council Member Heather Perkins, Council Member Patrick Taylor, Council Member Nellie Thompson, Crawfordsville Mayor Charles Coons, and Council Member Raymond Kirtley.

General Lew Wallace Study & Museum Nominated for National Medal

GENERAL LEW WALLACE STUDY & MUSEUM NOMINATED FOR NATIONAL MEDAL

Museum nominated for outstanding collaboration with and service to the Crawfordsville community

CRAWFORDSVILLE, IN, March 3, 2008— The General Lew Wallace Study and Museum in Crawfordsville has been nominated for the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest honor for libraries and museums that help to make their communities better places to live.

The Museum’s nomination was submitted by Heritage Preservation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving America’s collections (www.heritagepreservation.org). The Museum has worked with Heritage Preservation in their Conservation Assessment Program (CAP), and Museum Director Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko was selected to participate in the Connecting to Collections Summit, co-hosted by Heritage Preservation in 2007. She also serves on the CAP Advisory Committee representing America’s small museums.

“It is a thrill and honor to be nominated by Heritage Preservation, an organization I look to for museum resources and advice,” said Catlin-Legutko. “The Museum has been striving for excellence over the past five years and it’s wonderful to be recognized for our efforts. And, this is an incredible honor for Crawfordsville and Montgomery County.”

The National Medal for Museum and Library Service honors outstanding institutions that make significant and exceptional contributions to their communities. Selected institutions demonstrate extraordinary and innovative approaches to public service, exceeding the expected levels of community outreach and core programs generally associated with its services.

With the site’s rich history and the inherent lessons applicable for today, a primary goal of the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum has been to improve community engagement through preservation efforts, exhibits, and educational programming. Beginning in 2003, the organization started taking steps toward realizing this goal by thinking outwardly about its purpose and meaning. The results of these introspective steps have materialized in a variety of new programs and outreach initiatives that have captured the attention of the entire Montgomery County community, and beyond.

With such programs as the Lew Wallace Youth Academy, Artists in Residence and the “Learning with Lew” educational programming series, the Museum has evolved from a storehouse of Wallace’s belongings to a true, interactive community partner whose efforts are being recognized nationwide.

National Medals are awarded annually by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (www.imls.gov), the primary source of federal funding for museums and libraries, in conjunction with the White House. Previous award winners include Chicago’s John G. Shedd Aquarium and Brookfield Zoo, the Miami Museum of Science and the Frankfort Community Public Library. 2008 award recipients will be announced in November.