Vertie Lee receives Small Museum Association Award
Vertie Lee, the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs’ curator of education, is the recipient of the 2023 Small Museum Association Award which was presented to her during the Small Museum Association conference banquet on Feb. 21, 2023, at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware. The award celebrates an individual’s outstanding contributions to the advancement of funding for, professional growth within, and/or the accessibility of information to the small museum community on a regional or state level.
Lee has worked full-time for the division since 2004. In addition to her role as curator of education, she has served as acting site manager at the Buena Vista conference center, and as lead interpreter at the John Dickinson Plantation. On May 3, 2022, she was part of a team of division employees who were honored by Gov. John Carney with a Delaware Award for Excellence and Commitment in State Service for their efforts in developing the Plantation Stories Project which is currently presented to the public as a searchable online database containing the names of free and enslaved Black people associated with the Dickinson property.
The Small Museum Association is an all-volunteer organization serving small museums in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. The association’s mission is to develop and maintain a peer network among people who work for small museums, giving them opportunities to learn, share knowledge and support one another, so that they, in turn, can better serve their institutions, communities and profession.