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Alexander Black House
204 Draper Rd. SW
Blacksburg, VA 24060
Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm

St. Luke & Odd Fellows Hall
203 Gilbert Street
Open by Appointment

Phone: 540-443-1600
Email: info@blacksburghistory.org

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU!

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Returning Staff Highlight! Frankie Keene - Museum

Returning Staff Highlight!
Frankie Keene - Museum Volunteer / Work Study Student

@keenly_krafted is currently a graduate student in the Masters of Architecture program at Virginia Tech. He attended VT for his undergraduate degrees in Property Management and Residential Environments & Design. His involvement through the work-study program brings him to the museum to do handiwork from quick fixes to planned projects. The Black House has become a passion of his, and he wants to help preserve this beautiful piece of history.

Frankie started work with us as a VT Work Study student, doing everything from building exhibit features and storage units to painting entire rooms and helping with holiday decorating. He decided to continue his work on a volunteer basis during the summer, showing his dedication to implementing creative ideas and helping the museum in a variety of areas. We very much look forward to continue working with him throughout the rest of his school year.

Stop on by the Alexander Black House and check out

Stop on by the Alexander Black House and check out our new Artifact of the Week! This week we have the Arboretum Garden Club scrapbook on display. We hope to see you all soon!

New Staff Highlight! Enya Armstrong - Museum Volun

New Staff Highlight!
Enya Armstrong - Museum Volunteer

@enyabenba grew up in D.C. and moved to Blacksburg when they were around 10. They are currently a sophomore studying Studio Art and Art History at Virginia Tech. While living in D.C., they and their mom frequented the Smithsonian museums almost every weekend, so they have always been interested in learning about almost anything, though they are partial to art. Working in a local museum is a nice way for them to help preserve knowledge and help educate people about the past culture of the area. In their free time, they love hiking, painting, and playing bass.

Like Jacqueline, Enya takes their role as collections data entry volunteer very seriously, approaching it with determination and efficiency. Our Artifact of the Week series has returned with new life and vigor, in no small part due to Enya’s voiceovers. Being a “theatre kid,” they immediately jumped at the opportunity for this new role, and we are very thankful. We hope that Enya finds room in their Fall schedule to continue working with us.

New Staff Highlight! Jacqueline Mann - Museum Volu

New Staff Highlight!
Jacqueline Mann - Museum Volunteer

Usually you can find Jacqueline Mann at home glued to her computer coding, playing video games, or watching five-hour long random video essays on YouTube. Otherwise, she is a senior at Virginia Tech, majoring in classical studies and minoring in creative writing, so when she was able to secure an internship at a museum, she was over the moon. Jacqueline says, “Growing up in the suburbs often times your world can feel devoid of history, everything paved over in a thin layer of concrete and white paint. Every day I learn something new about a place I love and challenge myself in ways I would have never expected. Just last week I was cataloging something as simple as a charm bracelet, but each charm told a story and held a piece of this person’s past. Her various sports charms bragged about her schools championships, her starfish charm told me she loved the ocean, and the creepy baby charm spoke on her sense of humor. It’s these simple yet deeply personal pieces of history I love the most.”

Jacqueline’s title of “volunteer” is a misnomer considering how much she has helped the museum in a very short time. We gave her the monumental task of organizing, scanning, cataloging, and archiving items in our collections, and she is exceedingly skilled at doing so. She does not think of this work as purely data entry but has taken to it with great interest, expressing her care for our community’s rich history. And lucky for us, Jacqueline has agreed to continue working in a part-time capacity when Jolie returns to school.

It will not look as two-dimensional when all the p

It will not look as two-dimensional when all the pieces are together, but this is a small snapshot preview of our "Blacksburg History Way" timeline designed by Jolie Rice, our part-time summer employee. We are getting excited that this is almost finished! Thank you @jolie_rice ❤️

New Staff Highlight! Jolie Rice - Museum Assistan

New Staff Highlight!
Jolie Rice - Museum Assistant

@jolie_rice was born and raised in Blacksburg, where she developed a strong appreciation for art, nature, and the creative community around her. From an early age, she enjoyed crafting, hiking, and visiting museums, experiences that sparked her love for visual storytelling and design. She frequently visits the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and other Richmond-area institutions, and her interest in international art and culture grew even more while studying graphic design in Italy.

She is currently working toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at VCUarts and is expected to graduate in 2026. She is involved in the timeline installation project at the Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation, helping to visualize the town’s layered history through design. She enjoys combining creativity with curiosity, and hopes to continue using design to tell stories, support community work, and connect people to meaningful causes. Whether she is traveling to new places, exploring local galleries, or working on a new project, she finds inspiration in everyday experiences.

When Jolie was searching for summer internship or volunteer possibilities, we offered her any hours she wanted, hoping also that her graphic design experience would help us with several projects. In her first few days, she worked on our new timeline design with such diligence and greeted visitors with such energy and kindness that we offered her our then-vacant part-time position. Though she will only be with us during the summer, she has quickly become an essential asset, especially in designing our “Blacksburg History Way” timeline, which will span our entire upstairs hallway. With assistance from the Executive Director and Signarama, she is also researching the best installation methods and materials that we can use to create a striking, focused, and informative exhibit. Installation is slated for early August, hopefully before Jolie returns to VCU.

New Staff Highlight! Allison Roach - Museum Exhibi

New Staff Highlight!
Allison Roach - Museum Exhibits and Events Assistant

@allisonnroach grew up in Concord, North Carolina and developed a deep passion for local history and archaeology as a child. She received her BA in Art History and Anthropology and primarily studied ancient epigraphy and sculpture. Her favorite part about working at BM&CF is researching for new exhibits, as well as studying local material culture. When she needs to get away from her desk, she loves chatting with visitors about their experiences in the town. She always learns a little something from each guest who stops by. In her free time, she loves to paint, knit and get involved in the local community.

Allison started in late June as a full-time employee, working directly with the Executive Director on planning exhibits and events. Currently, she is conducting research for our upcoming Fall exhibit, “Death and Mourning Rituals in the Victorian Age,” and almost every day comes up with a new idea about how to present this information in an engaging exhibit format. She has helped us brainstorm a variety of ways to install our upstairs timeline, and in restarting our Archive of the Week series, has found and researched items in our collection to post every week until the end of this year. Allison has also been instrumental in organizing our collections. She and our volunteers spend a great deal of time together on this task, which includes not only archiving and data entry, but physical work in moving items to their proper containers, re-tagging, and making room for extra storage space. We are beyond thrilled that she moved back to Blacksburg from Los Angeles and joined our team.

Blacksburg en Blanc is just around the corner! Dre

Blacksburg en Blanc is just around the corner! Dress in your summer whites, pack your picnic, and bring it to the museum for an elegant outdoor dining experience, including a silent auction and music. Tickets available at our website’s Calendar of Events.

Check out our Artifact of the Week! This week our

Check out our Artifact of the Week! This week our artifact is a Roanoke Times Newspaper from the bicentennial. Thanks @allisonnroach for pulling this together!

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