Rowan County Veterans Museum staff have founded the Eastern Kentucky Humanities Commission, an organization dedicated to preserving regional history. It was created in July of this year and has already collaborated with nearly half of all museums in the region.
Commission officials said one of the primary incentives for joining the commission is networking opportunities with other eastern Kentucky historians and history preservationists.
David Clinger is the Historian of the Rowan County Veterans Museum and co-founder of the Eastern Kentucky Humanities Commission. He said there are several ways these organizations can help each other.
“Every museum brings specialization to the table. So instead of a museum being at all its own, trying to write grants, trying to do research all in-house now for the very first time, you have the collective and combined experiences of 60 organizations throughout 40 different counties that they can actually rely on and go to for advice and for help,” said Clinger.
The commission also helps museums advertise their collections digitally and find funding opportunities. All services offered by the group are free.
Dustin Doyle is an intern for the Rowan County Veterans Museum and co-founder of the Eastern Kentucky Humanities Commission. He said the organization’s goal is to protect Kentucky's heritage.
“Really a main goal of ours in forming this organization is to ensure the longevity of the history that we have, because as we all know, that it only takes one generation for a lot of information and a lot of history to pass away,” said Doyle.
Organizers said moving forward, the commission plans to keep its focus on Eastern Kentucky and looks to collaborate with tourism officials to establish a trail that would outline a route to visit many of the region’s museums over one weekend.
The organization also plans to arrange a networking event for museum officials from across the region in Morehead in the Spring of 2025.