Guest Post: “This Museum is from the Community to the Community”
After more than 30 years as a historical society without a permanent physical location, the Highline Heritage Museum is opening its very own doors this summer! We’re proud to support the project through several grants, and excited to offer this sneak peek from the museum’s Executive Director Nancy Salguero McKay:
We are the Highline Heritage Museum! We capture the stories of the Highline region, and bridge the years from the earliest of times, to the newest immigrant stories. History and heritage are a personal matter to everyone. We believe that exploring everyone’s heritage allows us to experience a personal journey that enriches us as a community.
The Highline Heritage Museum is opening its doors in June 2019, but this organization was founded in 1994 as the Burien Heritage Society and later as the Highline Historical Society. We are a new museum, but we have been preserving stories, collecting artifacts, installing exhibits and providing programs for a very long time under the leadership of Cyndi Upthegrove.
As we are transitioning leadership, we are starting a new chapter by opening our doors. We are very motivated to provide a vibrant community museum and authentic social gathering place. It truly takes a village to raise a museum, from inspiring and fiercely dedicated volunteers, to donors, to board members, funding support from various sources and amazing partnerships co-curating all the exhibits. Despite the challenges, our eagerness to build a stronger and more connected community is our daily inspiration. This museum is from the community to the community!
Our passion is for our visitors to have access to a broad spectrum of information sources and cultural perspectives. We envision ourselves sitting at a round table where no one is the leader and stories are heard respectfully, regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, disabilities or ethnicity. We want our stories to spark discussions and to share differences and similarities. We are creating a place where visitors can connect with the stories and with each other.