On any given day, the museum is humming with volunteers and interns working on all aspects of running the Western Illinois Museum. In 2018, volunteers contributed over 1,625 hours of service in all aspects of running the museum including helping to manage the collection, ensure events ran smoothly, and writing grants.
Many of our volunteers and interns work one to three hours a week. For the students, they learn skills and for the retired volunteers, they generously share their skills. Whether it’s sharing their favorite music or food, to their own life experiences, our multi-generational team of volunteers and interns is a vibrant and engaged group that fosters curiosity and life-long learning. We’d like to introduce a few of our current volunteers.
Meet Noelle Chisholm
Nolle is the newest member of our growing team of volunteers. Noelle, a busy mother of two, is sharing her time with us to help nourish our history and culture. Born and raised in Macomb she is happy to be learning more about our history while volunteering. Recently, when working on archiving old photos she was excited to find out that Teddy Roosevelt, then a candidate for Vice-President, visited Macomb back in 1900. She recently commented that Lincoln is always in the spotlight in Illinois, so it was fun for her to see another great politician leave their mark on our town. Many Macombie Homies like Noelle are pleasantly surprised to find out the rich history of this town and region when volunteering with us.
Noelle also enjoys poetry, working on social media, and spending time with her family. We originally met her and her kids during the haunted museum tours back in October, which opened the door to her volunteering with us now. Her hobbies and interest in our history have already greatly benefitted the museum and we are happy to have her on board.
Meet Joshua McIlhenny
Josh is another Macomb native volunteering his time with us at the museum. Ever since taking a high school sociology class, humans and their stories have piqued his interest. This curiosity led him to Western Illinois Universary where he is currently working toward a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology.
In the meantime, Josh is interning at the museum and is happy to be getting hands-on experience with the artifacts from our collection. Always listening to music, Josh easily gravitated toward researching, cleaning, photographing, and archiving our old collection of radios. Whether in the garage or the family room, Josh commented that it’s easy to imagine people tuning into their favorite station for local news, sports, and music. Connections like these are what Josh appreciates most about working at the museum.
After graduating Josh hopes to become a museum curator but in the meantime, we’re lucky to have him!