Jillian Holmberg '14

Jillian Holmberg is a Geography/Anthropology alumna from 2014 with a focus in anthropology and archaeology. After USM she received her Master's degree in Museum Studies from Southern University of New Orleans and was the recipient of the Dr. Leetta Allen-Haynes Award presented for the 2017 graduating class. While getting her degree she worked 2 jobs, 2 internships, all the while maintaining a 4.0 GPA and working on her thesis. Her thesis project, "How Churches can use their Historical Collections to engage their local Communities and Congregations," began when a local church discovered their almost 200 year old records, objects, and rare books in their starting to flood basement. Jillian created from scratch a complete catalog and digital archive, all the while rehoused the collection to museum standards. Once completed she designed a local exhibition of the church's history for the public and is beginning work with other community members to establish the city's first historic society.

During the past 6 years she had the opportunity to work with over 4 museums and 6 organization's collections that range from natural history, archaeology, geology, archives, and contemporary art. Currently, Jill is starting her 13th consecutive year in library work at the Osterville Village Library on Cape Cod after spending time with the Heritage Museum and Gardens as Education Lead. She works within multiple departments for fundraising, programming, technology, and patrons services. Still fresh out of grad school, she hopes to find a position soon around Boston in a museum working within Collections Management or in the Education department.