Hello! My name is Olivia Downs, and I am Blaine County Museum's new collection assistant. While I have been at the museum since July 2022 working on various projects, I am excited to now have a permanent place here at the museum! I was practically raised here in Chinook and graduated from CHS in 2015. Shortly after, I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and obtained a bachelor's degree in Sociology and Anthropology. When asked what I wanted to do as a career, I always hoped I'd end up in a museum setting. Now, not only do I get to work in a museum, but a museum that is full of my hometown's history!

Through my new position, I get the privilege to work with the collections and uncover the stories they tell. My main goal with this position is to develop a comprehensive and searchable database. With this database, we can easily look up information on the items, such as their donors, and historical context. It is our hope that the database will help those in the community better research any questions they may have about Blaine County or their family history. The museum is much more than a place to look at history, we also serve as a valuable research center. This year alone, I have been able to help several families uncover their rich history in the area and several of those families also had photos of family members donated to the museum. Being able to connect people with their history and show them photos of loved ones has been a highlight of my job.

I am excited to announce that I have also been working on some programs for the museum as well. The first project I have been working on (with the help of the other great staff) is our holiday scavenger hunt! During the day of the parade of lights, we are inviting the local youth to come find Santa's elves who decided to hide in our exhibits. This event was created to showcase the museum as an environment for children as well. I have fond memories of going to museums growing up, and I hope that the area children will also form great memories of going to museums. As for my other projects, they are still in the works. Please, join our Facebook page to stay up to date on all the exciting things going on at the Blaine County Museum! As always, feel free to stop in to just to say hi, look at the exhibits, or to do some research. See you then!