Staff

Thomas Kuehhas, Executive Director

A museum director and professional who has worked at several museums in Long Island, New York, Tom Kuehhas is excited to join the staff of the Montgomery County Historical Society.  In addition to a Masters degree in American History, and a life-long scholarly interest in 18^th and 19^th century American history in particular, he has more than twenty-five years of museum experience in a variety of facilities and roles: as an interpreter at a recreated 19^th century village, curator at two different museums, and then guiding the Oyster Bay Historical Society as its director for 18 years.

Image: General Richard Montgomery. Donated by Gerry Woolridge.

Joanna Church, Director of Collections

Joanna works with the MCHS artifact collections and also researches, fabricates and installs most of the exhibits in the museums. A Montgomery County native, Joanna has a BA in anthropology from Grinnell College, and an MA in museum studies from the George Washington University. She has worked at MCHS since 1998 and is particularly fond of the textile and ceramic collections.

Image: Mary Shaw Bennett, ca. 1895. Donated by Laurence Halstead.
 

Jennie Cottrell, Office Manager

Born in Takoma Park, Jennie has lived in Montgomery County for almost all of her life. A theater major in college, she spent several years working in local theaters before enjoying a variety of other professions, including many years in the hotel industry. After a post-9/11 layoff from the professional training department of Marriott International, Jennie took advantage of the opportunity to stay home and focus on raising her son. She began working for MCHS in 2005. In addition to the usual assortment of office manager duties, her responsibilities include maintaining memberships, handling sales, orders and inventory for the gift shops and coordinating the summer camp program.

Image: Everette Stratmyer Gormley. Donated by Gladys S. Benson. "Dressed to appear in a play, Everette has star quality."

Patricia Andersen, Librarian

Pat joined MCHS in 1980, became a Library Volunteer in 1986 and 10 years later became Library Staff after leaving an advertising sales position at The Washington Post. She holds a B.S. degree from San Diego State University in Health Sciences Administration, where she was advanced to candidacy for an MBA in Finance. She moved to Maryland in 1977 to work for the US Army Medical Materials Agency at Fort Detrick. While in Frederick she began doing professional genealogical research for others, and has since abstracted and published nine volumes of Frederick County Land Records. She also took on the editing and publishing of Western Maryland Genealogy, for five years. She is available to assist our library researchers in their local history and genealogy quests, and is also a participant in our Speaker's Bureau.

Image: Mildred Zeitler, ca. 1913. Donated by Mildred Zeitler Burroughs.

April Bryan, Education Coordinator

Dedicated to history storytelling and helping to create meaningful museum experiences for people of all ages, backgrounds, and learning styles, April was delighted to become MCHS’s Education Coordinator in 2012. Before attending the George Washington University, where she is pursuing her M.A. in Museum Studies, the former Michigander earned her B.A. in Public History from Western Michigan University.  In addition to strong interests in the history of everyday life in America and historic house museum interpretation and advocacy, April enjoys discovering the history of Montgomery County, Maryland.

Image: Amelia Somervell Dawson, ca. 1890.  Courtesy the Dawson family.

Contact us: Click on the staff person's name for an automatic email, or contact the general mailbox.

If you do not have an email service linked to your browser, our email address protocol is: first initial last name AT montgomeryhistory.org.