New Museum Curator and Educator for Women’s Hall of Fame

SENECA FALLS, New York, February 3, 2015 – The National Women’s Hall of Fame (NWHF) has announced the hiring of Hobart & William Smith Colleges alum Merrill Amos as its Museum Curator and Educator. Amos will assume her responsibilities effective immediately. “We are delighted that Merrill Amos has joined the Hall,” said Jill Tietjen, CEO of the NWHF. ‘”With her experience in museum exhibit design and her passion for women’s history, Merrill will be a tremendously valuable asset as we expand our exhibit and curriculum offerings and move into the Center for Great Women in 2016.” Audrey Johnson, NWHF board member, says that “Merrill’s background and level of understanding of women’s oral histories made her the perfect candidate for the NWHF’s Oral History project that is being funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Her experience as a curator and exhibit coordinator was well suited to our needs to provide programs for students, researchers and museum visitors.” Amos will assist in developing the exhibition space in the Center for Great Women in addition to researching and collecting oral histories from living inductees, forming partnerships with local schools, developing innovative curricula to bring women’s history into the classroom, and creating a collections policy for the Hall to better preserve and catalog the museum’s artifacts. Amos, a women’s studies major at Hobart & William Smith Colleges (2011), graduated in 2014 with an M.A. in museum studies from the University of San Francisco. Her museum experience includes cataloging and photographing objects from Japanese internment camps, working at the International Museum of Women and the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, and co-curating an exhibition of Mexican folk art which was on display at USF’s Thatcher Gallery. In 2014, Amos co-curated a boutique museum space on the USF campus dedicated to the former San Francisco College for Women. Amos said “The National Women’s Hall of Fame has such important stories to tell and the perfect platform to tell them.” She is residing in Cazenovia, New York and views her return to central New York as a homecoming in many ways. About the National Women’s Hall of FameThe Hall is the nation’s oldest membership organization dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the achievements of great American women. It was created in 1969 in Seneca Falls, the birthplace of the American Women’s Rights Movement, by a group of local women and men who believed that contributions of American women deserved a permanent home in the small village where the fight for women’s rights began. The Hall, a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization, is located in the Seneca Falls Historic District in downtown Seneca Falls, New York. The Hall seeks to enhance the public’s understanding of American history and culture by showcasing and preserving the stories of pioneering American women whose achievements have enduring value, are of national importance, and have significance both in our country and the world. Rehabilitation of the Seneca Knitting Mill will transform the property into a state-of-the-art facility that will become a vibrant educational venue where visitors, scholars, tourists and the community can discover inspiration in the history of women’s struggles. For more information about the Hall, its Inductees, and how to support its work, visit greatwomen.org.