There’s a new face in town.
Cottonlandia Museum announced Cheryl A. Taylor as its new executive director at Sunday’s 2009 annual meeting.
A native of Hattiesburg and graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Taylor is returning home from Indiana.
“This summer, I was doing a trip through Mississippi to visit family,” Taylor said, “and while I was following the blues trail, I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to find a job in Mississippi?”
With just a few clicks of the mouse, Taylor came across an ad for the Cottonlandia position and knew it was the one.
“I thought it was perfect,” Taylor said. “But this is not something you just do off the cuff. I have done my homework.”
She took into consideration the different aspects of the job, the community and outreach possibilities for the museum before making a final decision.
“I am really excited to be here,” Taylor said. “For the size of this town, Cottonlandia is a wonderful museum that has so much potential. I think we are only limited by our ideas and imagination.”
With a background in grant writing and fundraising, Taylor was just what the board was looking for during the hiring process.
“We are very happy to have Cheryl and think she will be able to take the museum to the next level,” said Dave Freeman, business manager.
Freeman, who has been the interim executive director of the museum since April 2008, didn’t hand the reins over until Sunday but said Taylor was already hard at work that morning.
“She is a hard worker, capable and a friendly face,” Freeman said. “No one had the background in museum management that she had, and I could tell she was highly talented.”
Besides holding a bachelor’s degree in history from Southern Miss, Taylor also earned a master’s degree in history from the University of Nevada at Reno.
She has worked at the Manship House Museum in Jackson and for the Nevada Historical Society in Reno and was director of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum and Northern Indiana Center for History.
She has also held positions in the United Methodist Hour in Hattiesburg and the Indiana March of Dimes.
