Every day Glenn Perkins walks into the Greensboro History Museum, he is surrounded by the stories of the Gate City. 

The old, black-and-white photos that hang on the museum’s walls, the countless relics from days gone by, and the placards that sit alongside them tell of Greensboro’s shared history, steeped in traditions of revolution, textiles, and civil rights (among other things).

To Perkins, the museum’s curator of community history, it’s more than a museum; it’s a place to be regaled stories from the past and present, while also looking toward the future.

“The museum is where you can really connect with people,” Perkins said. “I’m really involved with the idea of a city museum being a community space where you have the history of a place, but you also have the people who are living and continuing to make meaning in that place.”

CONNECTING THE PAST AND PRESENT

Perkins initially wanted to be an architect, but wound up as an English major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After spending time post-graduation trying to figure out what to do with his life, Perkins realized an interest in the history of cities and places, which led him to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he earned his master’s degree in historic preservation.

Perkins got a crash course in museum studies at Historic Hope, an early 19th-century, Federal-style home in Bertie County in northeastern North Carolina. As part of a three-person staff, he learned practical skills like collection management, public programming, and historic buildings care. The experience prepared him for a four-year stint with Preservation NC and some freelance work before landing with the City in 2017.

Much like his work in Bertie County, today Perkins wears many hats, including exhibits research, programming, and some of the communications and marketing.

“But my favorite part of my job is about cultivating community connections and community collaborations, which means working with other City departments, community organizations, neighborhoods, our local colleges and universities,” Perkins said. “It really brings the focus to what matters about what we do at the museum and who we represent, because we’re here for the City of Greensboro; to care for its history and reflect its present. It’s different communities and different voices that make Greensboro so interesting.”

FROM BRATISLAVA, WITH LOVE

Perkins recently returned from time in Bratislava, Slovakia, as part of a Fulbright Scholar Program, a U.S. government international exchange program that offers working professionals opportunities to learn from others in their field in different countries.

There in the nation’s capital, Perkins worked with the Múzeum mesta Bratislavy (Bratislava City Museum). Founded in 1868, the museum is Slovakia’s oldest museum in continuous operation and documents the city’s history, which dates to 907 AD. Perkins was familiar with the museum after meeting its director at different conferences.

“I was really intrigued by how she was working to transform a pretty traditional museum into one where they are both exploring difficult parts of their history and opening up to different kinds of community engagement,” Perkins said. “That sounded very familiar, and I knew that she had a really smart and open staff who would be willing to spend a lot of time with me.”

During his four-month stint, Perkins learned how museum staff operated within their city’s government and collaborated with different community groups, from recent immigrants to senior centers. He closed his time by leading a daylong workshop for museum staff from all over Central Europe about the meaning of community and working with communities.

Perkins complimented his museum experience by visiting different parts of the city and country, which added to his appreciation of his work.

“One of the really lovely aspects of that part of the world is amazing hiking trail systems,” Perkins said. “From a short bus trip from the city, you can get lost in the woods.”

“They’re coffee crazy there, too. There are so many amazing coffee places. The best thing was you’d be walking along one of the trails, and you’d come across a little coffee stand, and you had no clue how it got there.”

Perkins’ time abroad gave him a new perspective of his role in Greensboro.

“Our museum is part of a network of city museums finding meaningful ways to respond to their cities and care for their communities,” Perkins said. “It helps me see the value in focusing on local history in a different way because I’ve seen globally how important this is for museums of our type. As the weeks and months go on, I’m looking forward to developing some different approaches and programs that I learned about on my Fulbright experience.”

To learn more about the museum’s programming – both past and present – visit https://greensborohistory.org.

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Photo of Glenn Perkins courtesy of MMB / Dominika Bolgáčová