The Lindsborg Old Mill and Swedish Heritage Museum is excited to announce the hiring of its new Executive Director – Aubrey Wheeler, who started on August 1, 2024.
Wheeler said she was excited for the new role.
“It’s a change, but I’m looking forward to the challenge and opportunity here,” she said. “I’m also looking forward to having a community, as well as volunteers and staff, that’s so engaged.”
Located on 15 acres along the Smoky Hill River, the Old Mill Museum is home to two buildings on the National Register of Historic Places – the 1898 Smoky Valley Roller Mills (the only historic roller mills in the Midwest that can still operate) and the 1904 World’s Fair Swedish Pavilion. The museum also conserves another 10 historic buildings – as well as campgrounds, historic archives, and large artifact collection centered on the story of the Smoky Valley.
Wheeler said she has visited the Old Mill Museum before her hiring and that what really attracted her to apply as Executive Director was how Lindsborg celebrates its Swedish heritage and supports its local museum.
“The community, that was the biggest draw for me,” she said.“I’ve been here multiple times and that always stood out to me.”
Wheeler brings strong museum credentials to her new role, with an Associate of Arts from Hutchinson Community College; and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, Museum Studies Certification, and Master of Anthropology from Wichita State University.
Prior to the Lindsborg Museum, Wheeler was the Director and Curator of the City of Marion Historical Museum since 2020, working to put the museum on standard museum practices, cataloging the collection, designing exhibits, coordinating volunteers, fundraising, and managing marketing strategy.
As a volunteer, Wheeler has also served as President of the Marion County Historical Society since Spring 2023 and spent two weeks assisting the Etzanoa excavation in Arkansas City, Kansas, in 2019.
As Wheeler begins as Executive Director, the previous director – Lenora Lynam – is stepping back, but still staying on as the museum’s Mission Director.
Lynam has worked at the Old Mill Museum since 1980 and led the museum as director through an important time of transition for more than two years during its early days of going from county-owned to independent nonprofit. During her tenure, museum membership more than doubled, annual attendance recovered to now exceed pre-pandemic levels, grants received totaled more than $840,000, and annual fundraising blossomed. She also oversaw critical repairs and renovations to seven of the buildings on campus – including the Swedish Pavilion and Old Mill.
“This museum has a lot of my own heart in it,” Lynam said. “I want to do everything I can to help this be a smooth and seamless transition as I’m handing it off to a new generation.”
Wheeler said she plans to continue building on the foundation of leadership already established at the museum in recent years – establishing more financial stability, building more community outreach, bringing in rotating exhibits on a regular schedule, and increasing a multitude of programming opportunities.
The museum is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Learn more about the museum at www.oldmillmuseum.org.