The Robbins Hunter Museum Welcomes Joleen Minton as Executive Director

Granville, Ohio - The Robbins Hunter Museum announces the appointment of Joleen Minton to the Executive Director position at the Robbins Hunter Museum, effective April 22, 2024. Minton brings over 30 years of experience in community service, education and development, and human resource management to the Robbins Hunter Museum.

Minton has previously served on the museum’s Board of Trustees and worked directly on several successful Robbins Hunter Museum events, including the Victoria Woodhull Women of Achievement Awards, the dedication of the Tina and Dale Knobel Folly, Tom Wortham's acclaimed Tom Sawyer Lecture Series, and multiple programs highlighting the Jill Griesse Historic Garden. 

Minton is honored to take on this important role. “I am excited to continue the tradition of showcasing the museum as a valuable community resource while respecting its historic glory. The Robbins Hunter Museum team will continue to be excellent stewards of the Avery-Downer House, ensuring its structure and spirit will always inspire and encourage people of all ages and walks of life, for generations to come.”

Minton was born in Lancaster, Ohio, and resided in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bloomington, Indiana, before settling in Licking County in her Granville, Ohio, home. 

Minton describes herself as, “dedicated to servant leadership, continuous learning, community stewardship, and valuing inclusivity across all communities.” Minton's values have been repeatedly demonstrated through her work in the Licking County community. As co-founder and Board Member of the Feed the Dream Community Food Drive, she and the FTD committee facilitated the collection and funding of well over 650 tons of food while organizing over 25 local community volunteer groups.

Minton earned a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Master of Arts in Communications and Education from Miami University. She has consulted for companies in various industries, as well as several private and public sector entities. She has successfully worked with numerous organizations pioneering programs and campaigns focused on Human Resources, Education and Training, and Healthcare.

The Executive Director role at the Robbins Hunter Museum has remained vacant since the departure of Sarah Straley Hottle in February 2022.

Fall 2021 Newsletter

Spring 2021 Newsletter

Click below to read our full Spring 2021 Newsletter!

AmeriCorps Spotlight

The staff and Board are delighted to announce the support of Chloe Dickson, an AmeriCorps Member, who is serving approximately five hours per week at the museum-- organizing and maintaining the organizations’ Google Drive, which safely stores files and allows for easy on-line collaboration and remote work.

Chloe grew up in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., and attended Messiah University, located outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After graduating in May 2020 with a degree in history (concentration in public history), she moved to Columbus in September as an AmeriCorps service member, assigned to the Ohio History Service Corps, where she will continue to serve until August 2021. Chloe's primary service work is with Ohio History Connection and Ohio Village in research and accessibility projects, as well as partnering with local historical museums and societies on projects that build capacity.

Executive Director's Note

Happy New Year! I know we are counting on this new year to be better than the last, and that is certainly my hope as the Board, staff, volunteers and members continue to meet and plan the museum’s upcoming 2021 calendar.

Because none of our crystal balls work anymore (did they ever?!), it looks like the best way to plan anything is to create a mix of virtual events with the intent to turn them into a hybrid of in-person and on-line as soon as it is safe to do so.

In partnership with the Granville Recreation District, the Robbins Hunter Museum hosted the 13th Annual Gingerbread House Competition virtually. Thank you to all who participated in the 2020 Gingerbread House Competition! Photo features Phillip Demarest, who won Adult First Place.

Much of our work this past nine months has been as CARES Act grant writers, with the most recent grant award of over $20,000 coming in from the Licking County Foundation. We are so grateful to the foundations and community organizations that worked to distribute these federal funds and thank everyone who played a part in keeping the Robbins Hunter Museum at the top of their lists! Of course, we will continue to pay close attention to the New Coronavirus Stimulus & Relief Package and have our grant writing A-game close at hand to apply again where eligible.

As we closed out 2020, we were fortunate to not only have the help of volunteers Tracey Fleitz, Pam Clements and the Order of the Silver Stars to deck the halls in a simple way--as we held our annual Gingerbread House display and Santa meet ups virtually; we also had the assistance of Audrey Ames, a Granville Middle School student, who helped us with our annual fund drive mailing and joked non-stop as we sent out over 500 letters to our steadfast members and donors.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to our annual fund! We brought in over $7,000!...which, full disclosure, is $5,000 shy of our ambitious goal of $12,000, so if the busy-ness of the holidays and/or pandemic and/or politics, had you distracted, please know we certainly still welcome your annual fund donation. Click here! to be taken to our donation web page.

Again, I really can’t say, thank you enough for your continued support of our beautiful historic house museum! I look forward to re-imagining what it means to be a community and educational resource as we move forward into this coming year.

Sarah Straley Hottle

January Fun! Updates, upcoming events, and more!

Upcoming Programming

Virtual Book Club

Join us for a bi-weekly virtual book club! We will be reading The Scarlet Sisters by Myra MacPherson. The first meeting will be Wednesday, January 27 via Zoom.

Please RSVP to info@robbinshunter.org. A Zoom link will be provided to everyone who RSVPs. Copies of The Scarlet Sisters are available on Amazon.

See you virtually on Wednesday, January 27!

Victoria Woodhull Phoenix Rising: Women in the Next 100 Years 

This will be the final roundtable in the series, so mark your calendars for March 11, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. Keep an eye out for more information in the coming weeks!