Ben Terwilliger, 2011
Executive Director, Eudora (Kansas) Area Historical Society

In 2011, while I was still a student in the Museum Studies Program at KU, I was hired to work with the Eudora Area Historical Society (EAHS). I became the first, and to date the only, professionally paid museum employee to work with the EAHS. Prior to my tenure with the EAHS, the museum was in desperate need of professional management. I faced extreme challenges from the start of my tenure. In April 2011, I was informed that the building that housed the EAHS would be demolished within one month. Therefore, I was asked to find a temporary home, and a new permanent home, for the Society. We found a temporary home at an abandoned school in May 2011 and relocated the entire museum to that location. I also began efforts to find a permanent home for the EAHS. In 2011, a very generous woman offered to donate her family's building (720 Main Street) in downtown Eudora to the EAHS. The only problem with the generous offer was that the building was severely dilapidated. Nevertheless, we accepted the offer and began efforts to rehabilitate the building.
