Q&A with new Yellow Trail Museum director Lizzie Flora

The curation of Hope’s history at the Yellow Trail Museum is experiencing a timely evolution and expansion under the leadership of the museum’s new manager, Lizzie Flora, at the helm. The 24-year-old recently spoke about her background, love of history and education, the challenges she’s encountered in her new role, and what she enjoys about working in the town of Hope.

If you would, Lizzie, please share a bit about your background.
I am from Whiteland, Indiana. I grew up there and still live there. I graduated from Whiteland Community High School and then went to college at the University of Evansville where I graduated in 2017 with a degree in archaeology and art history. I quickly realized I didn’t want to do the physical work of archaeology. I was really interested in museums and educating the public about history. I have such a passion for history and I want people to share that. I knew that museums would be the best way for me to do that.

How did you hear about the open managerial position at Yellow Trail?
I heard about it through a co-worker. Right after graduation I got a job in the education department at the Indiana State Museum. I wasn’t quite comfortable with the direction the museum was going and was able to go pretty much anywhere. My co-worker mentioned there was a position that was going to be started at Yellow Trail and asked if I would be interested in at least interviewing and talking about it.

What was your position at the state museum?
I was part of what is called gallery programming staff. So I helped with special events and programs. I worked on the family New Years Eve event, which is the only nighttime children-friendly New Years Eve event in Indianapolis.

What was your first impression of Hope and has it changed?
I came here and everyone was very friendly and so helpful and kind. They were willing to strike up a conversation wherever. I will be waiting in line and someone I don’t know will strike up a conversation, which is odd for me because I didn’t grow up in a small town. That has been the biggest thing, how friendly and willing the town is to work together.

Is your position at Yellow Trail what you thought it would be?
Yes. I love it here. The community has been so open and willing to help me. I can’t say enough wonderful things about the board and all the volunteers here. They’re very helpful with getting me up to par with my Hope history.

What do you enjoy most about your work at the museum?
Right now it is learning the rich history of hope. I will go down rabbit holes of research sometimes. That has been really fun and discovering different things in the museum’s collection. A lot of times I will walk around and see something I hadn’t seen before. To figure that out has been a lot of fun.

Where does your passion for history come from?
Honestly, I would say my parents, Lois and Bill, they were always big on history. We would always go to a museum when we were on vacation. My mom would always take us to the state museum when we were growing up and my parents are big history buffs. It was something I inherited.

How much of an impact has Barb Johnson had on your transition?
I love Barb. She’s been a wonderful asset helping me to learn more about the community and people who live here. I still call her about events since she has done them for years and knows what works and what doesn’t. I can’t say enough about how helpful she has been during my transition.

What are some of the challenges you’ve encountered in your new role?
I really haven’t run into large challenges. I think just the large amount of objects in the collection and not always knowing what we have.

How many pieces would you say are in the museum?
I would say thousands b/c we have stuff in our back room that isn’t even on display.

When you have spare time what do you like to do? Any hobbies?
I love to read. I am a huge sci-fi and fantasy fan. I will watch and reread Lord of the Rings. I love Star Wars and Dr. Who.

What are your hopes for the Yellow Trail Museum and what you hope to accomplish?
So, one of the things I hope to accomplish is to continue cataloging and putting all of our collection into a database so it is easy to access and we have a better understanding of where things are. I also hope to build more programming here. I think we have some awesome programs, but I would really like to start doing some smaller one- or two-hour long programs. I really want the Yellow Trail to be the best version of itself it can be and build on the tradition of the 40 years of dedicated volunteer work that came before I was hired on.