The City Museum Hires New Public Relations Coordinator; Museum Set to Open May 15

2/24/2003

From: Pamela Woolford of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., 202-785-2068 ext. 113, pwoolford@hswdc.org, or Ciaran Clayton, 202-887-0500 ext. 26, cclayton@witeckcombs.com

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -- The Historical Society of Washington, D.C., is pleased to announce that Pamela Woolford has joined the staff as public relations and marketing coordinator for the City Museum of Washington, D.C. Woolford brings a background in developing media and community relations for museums and historic preservation organizations.

"The City Museum is poised to serve Washingtonians as a gathering place of hometown pride while also serving visitors as a place of orientation to the city's network of historic sites. Pamela Woolford comes at a time when maximizing community contact is not only essential, but blossoming with possibilities," said Barbara Franco, president and CEO of the City Museum and Historical Society.

"The City Museum will be a showcase for neighborhood history so community connections are key. We selected from a pool of strong candidates, but Pamela's community relations experience made her the right choice," said Ed Swailes, co-chair of the City Museum Public Relations and Marketing Committee.

Woolford has worked as an interpreter at the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, Maryland. She received a certificate of outstanding achievement in the field of journalism from the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Columbia Chapter, for her work as co-founder of Jambalaya Magazine. She was also festival director for Maryland Jambalaya-Fest.

As regional public affairs and development coordinator for the Trust for Public Land in Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C., she coordinated partnerships and strategies to engage the community and garner media attention for the group's citizen-based urban work. A freelance writer, she has written for the Baltimore Sun's Howard County Bureau, including a weekly column as the paper's East Columbia Community Correspondent.

"Her understanding about the important role of community in cultural programming and museums is a tremendous asset to the new museum because of our commitment to making the City Museum a resource for the residents who live here as well as the visitors," Franco said.

The exhibitions at the City Museum, scheduled to open in May, will include two galleries devoted to neighborhood and community history.

The two initial community exhibits will feature the Chinese community and the neighborhood adjacent to Mount Vernon Square. The Museum will also feature an overview exhibit with a 24'x 24' floor map and interactive displays, a multimedia show, and two changing exhibition galleries. It will house an archeology lab and gallery as well, a research library, and an education center with space for meetings and programs.

The City Museum will be managed by the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1894, the Historical Society is an educational institution working to promote knowledge of the past for better understanding of the future. The Society seeks to make the city's history accessible and understandable to a diverse public and to foster a sense of identity, place, and pride for Washingtonians.

The City Museum is a public-private partnership made possible with support from Mayor Anthony Williams, City Council Chair Linda Cropp, Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Congressional members of the federal appropriations committees. Major contributors include the Washington Convention Center Authority, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the Oliver Carr family, Mary O'Brien Gibson, the Austin Kiplinger family, the Albert Small family, Chevy Chase Bank, the Clark Construction Group, the Fannie Mae Foundation, and the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation.

For more information about the City Museum, contact the Historical Society at (202) 785-2068 or visit the Museum website at http://www.citymuseumdc.org.