SAVE THE SPEAKER’S HOUSE HIRES FIRST EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Trappe, PA — Save the Speaker’s House, Inc. has just taken one more step towards professionalizing its operations by hiring its first executive director, Allison Weiss. In her new role as director, Ms. Weiss will be responsible for the advancement of Save the Speaker’s House’s goals of restoring the home of Frederick A. Muhlenberg and turning the property into a historic house museum and educational center. Muhlenberg was the first speaker of the US House of Representatives.

A Philadelphia native, Ms. Weiss began her career in the museum field at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies. She was the founding director of the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum in Sterling, Virginia, where she oversaw the development of this new museum on the history of agriculture in Northern Virginia. In addition to exhibit development, educational programming and community outreach, Ms. Weiss also authored a book on the history of farming in Loudoun County based entirely on oral histories she conducted with local farmers. Most recently Ms. Weiss was the manager of Main Street Mount Joy, a Main Street America community in Lancaster County.

Says Ms. Weiss, “Save the Speaker’s House excites me because the site has the potential to gain national attention, given its connection with Frederick A. Muhlenberg and American history. Everyone involved with saving this important building should be congratulated for having the foresight to do so. I’m looking forward to community involvement as we move the project forward.”

Short term goals include continuing archaeological investigations and making the house open for tours so the public can learn how the restoration process works. “Allowing the public to see how architectural historians are able to determine the original configuration of the house is one way that we will continuously use the property as an educational resource while the restoration progresses. Visitors will learn how historians can look at “ghost lines” and infer that a mantel was once located here, or a door used to be there,” says Lisa Minardi, vice president of the board of trustees and assistant curator of furniture at Winterthur Museum.

“Determining the appearance of the house during Muhlenberg’s time will be like doing detective work.”

The mission of Save the Speaker’s House, Inc. is to restore, preserve and interpret the home of Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, the first and third Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and to promote an understanding of leadership and American history and culture through research and educational programming.

For more information, please call (610) 489-2105 or visit www.speakershouse.org.