Crisfield Heritage Foundation

For three years, the museum operated within the narrow scope of its mission statement. It successfully preserved the governor's memory through exhibits on his life and his contributions to the State of Maryland and to the nation. The museum also had meaningful exhibits on the governor's wife and Maryland's First Lady, Mrs. Avalynne Gibson Tawes. In... 1986, the Crisfield Museum closed its doors to the public. This museum was a small local historical museum located on West Main Street. Many of the artifacts displayed in this museum were transferred to the J. Millard Tawes Museum. Though the Tawes Museum gratefully accepted these precious artifacts, it had no thoroughly thought out plan on how to integrate these artifacts into its collections and exhibits. The institution went through a crisis trying to incorporate a greatly expanded mission into its on-going operations. A five year development plan was created which, if implemented, would have aided the museum in its transition to a general historical museum. Because of personnel problems that included the resignation of the original museum director, this plan was only partially implemented. From 1990 until 1995, the museum lacked the personnel and financial resources to move forward. It also lacked a clear vision or conception of its true mission. Was the institution to solely concentrate on the legacy of Governor Tawes or was it to expand into a general historical museum? Things changed in 1995. At this time, the foundation's Board of Directors decided to take drastic action to break the status quo. They hired a full time director and instructed the director to institute a short term plan for the revitalization of the institution. In the summer of 1995, a two year revitalization plan was presented to the Board for its approval. The plan called for a complete change in the orientation of the museum. As a result, the museum's mission was changed to include the fact that the institution had become a general history museum concentrating on the Crisfield area. The ...Read More