Lake County Discovery Museum volunteer honored for efforts

Karen Beasley, volunteer for the Lake County Forest Preserve District’s Lake County Discovery Museum, recently was named Volunteer of the Year by the Illinois Association of Museums.

This award is given to one individual within IAM’s membership each year for a significant contribution.

Since 1999, Beasley has volunteered more than 1,400 hours at the museum in its collections division. Katherine Hamilton-Smith, director of cultural resources for the Lake County Forest Preserve District, described Beasley as “remarkably cheerful, thoughtful, resourceful, helpful and creative.”

IAM’s awards committee was “inspired by Ms. Beasley’s dedication to your museum ... her work with all aspects of your collections is impressive.”

With a background in art and desire to learn about museums and preservation, Beasley works with senior collections staff in archives and objects collections.

“Because Karen works in collections, her contributions, even within our own agency, are not as well known or understood as others who work in the more visible front end of the museum — at the front desk or at events,” Hamilton-Smith said in her nomination letter.

“Karen has helped with uncountable collections-related projects — sewing seams, mounting works of art on paper for exhibitions, dressing forms, processing archival materials, lifting, carrying and ever-so-carefully hauling delicate objects from here to there.

“Karen is the trusted colleague of everyone on the collections staff, to help with all the unsung minutiae of the collections world. ‘Maybe Karen can help with that’ is a frequently-heard comment whenever a collections-based project is considered,” Hamilton-Smith added.

Beasley has cleaned and repaired objects prior to exhibition; installed objects into exhibition cases; completed collections inventories; photo documented collections; processed new donations; assisted with the museum’s biennial Postcard Art Competition/Exhibition; and for nine years coordinated the calendar of events for the Lake-McHenry Historical Alliance chaired by LCDM staff.

In the last year, Karen was integral in helping staff complete a major project in the Armament Collection, which had unique concerns involving security and sensitivity. The project took a year and was one of the dirtiest and most physically challenging the museum staff has undertaken.

Last year, Beasley moved from Buffalo Grove to Wilmette, increasing her commute to the museum from 12 minutes to an hour each way. Museum staff feared they would lose the connection, but Beasley continues to volunteer weekly.

“But once she got settled and the move had been well and truly accomplished, she was back with us — helping in every way possible,” Hamilton-Smith wrote in the nomination.