Posted on

New director enjoying work at Floyd County Museum

New director enjoying work at Floyd County Museum
Mckenna Lloyd is the new director of the Floyd County Museum, having started the position a few months ago. Press photo by Travis Fischer
By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

With a few months on the job under her belt, Mckenna Lloyd said she is enjoying her role as the director of the Floyd County Museum.

“So far I really like it. Living in a small town had appeal to me,” said Lloyd, who said she appreciates getting away from the big city traffic of her hometown of San Diego.

Lloyd went to school at George Fox University in Newborg, Oregon, where she double-majored in history and English. Coincidently, Lloyd worked at the nearby Hoover-Minthorn House Museum, a childhood home of Iowa’s only native born president. After graduating, Lloyd applied for the director position at the Floyd County Museum, Hoover’s home state.

Moving from San Diego to Charles City was a big change of pace, but Lloyd said she’s enjoyed her transition into the smaller community life.

“Charles City is actually a very walkable community, so that’s really nice,” she said.

At the museum, Lloyd has enjoyed getting to know about the history of Floyd County, learning about major events like the tornado of 1968 and the county’s agricultural history of tractor manufacturing.

“It’s been really good. The museum is a surprisingly big museum,” Lloyd said.

Recently, the museum opened a new exhibit featuring a “behind the scenes” look at the Oliver tractor plant.

“One of the big highlights of that exhibit are the original spray paint cans that were used to paint the original tractors,” said Lloyd.

The museum even offers a service to provide manuals and documentation for antique tractors for owners to keep the classic machines running.

“We got an enormous archive from the factory because they closed and just kind of gave it to us,” said Lloyd.

In her day-to-day activities, Lloyd spends her time applying for grants, overseeing staff, running the social media pages, planning events, and archiving the museum’s inventory. Currently she’s preparing for a rummage sale, scheduled for today (Friday) and Saturday, where the museum will be selling duplicate items in its collection or things that do not pertain to the county.

The museum has also started presenting a series of guest speakers, every third Saturday of the month, to give presentations about the county’s history.

“I don’t get bored,” said Lloyd.

For future projects, Lloyd is looking forward to expanding the museum’s tractor-related services and digitizing its collection of film reels. She’s also planning to update some of the museum’s exhibits and reopening the temporarily closed area of the museum for new collections.

“I’m really looking forward to the process of revamping that space,” said Lloyd.

Whether it’s cataloging historical items or helping antique tractor owners find manuals, Lloyd enjoys the work of curating the county’s history.

“There’s a large variety of things I get to do, which is really fun.”

 

Social Share

LATEST NEWS