FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Connecticut League of Museums (CLM) is proud to announce a new category for its 2024 Awards of Merit, which recognize excellence in museum work by individuals and organizations in Connecticut.

The Jamie Eves Award recognizes an outstanding museum practitioner who has demonstrated excellence in research and teaching, elevated history and culture at the local level, and advocated for and expanded the capacity of smaller institutions to serve their communities. Our inaugural recipient, for whom the award is named, has a long and distinguished career in history, public history, research, teaching, museum work, and service to the historical and museum professions.

Dr. Jamie H. Eves is both a consummate historian and a passionate educator. He received his B.A. and M.A. in History from the University of Maine and his Ph.D. in History from the University of Connecticut. His research has focused on the environmental and industrial history of New England in the 18th and 19th centuries, and his writing has appeared in scholarly journals and popular outlets. He spent a decade as the Director of the Windham Textile and History Museum (The Mill Museum) in Willimantic, where he also has served as Town Historian. He has taught at the college level for a quarter century, including at UConn and Eastern Connecticut State University.

“Dr. Eves exemplifies what is possible when rigorous scholarship is married to engaged public outreach and energetic advocacy,” said Amrys Williams, Executive Director of CLM. Under his leadership, the Mill Museum became an important community anchor for the town of Windham, as well as a leader along museums in the eastern half of the state. Dr. Eves has also advanced the interests of the museum and history community through his involvement with the Connecticut League, the Association for the Study of Connecticut History, and other organizations. He has been an outspoken voice for the small-budget, often all-volunteer organizations that constitute the plurality of our state’s museums and historical societies, the fabric of our cultural ecosystem at the local level.

“Connecticut as a whole needs a sense of its own history, so that we know who we are, what we have in common with each other, and what makes us unique,” Dr. Eves has written. “History belongs to the people, and everybody has a right to know their history. That history has to be accessible, readable, local, and affordable.”

“Though he hails from Maine originally, Jamie has embraced his adopted state of Connecticut as home in countless ways,” said Nick Foster, CLM Board President and chair of the awards committee. “We are honored to present this inaugural award to Jamie H. Eves.”

The inaugural Jamie Eves Award will be presented at a ceremony on Tuesday, October 22 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks. The Awards of Merit Ceremony and Reception is a ticketed event that is open to the public. Registration and more information are available at https://clho.org/event-5888967.

—

About the Connecticut League of Museums

The Connecticut League of Museums (www.ctleague.org) unifies and strengthens our state’s museums and cultural resources to expand their capacity and community impact. Since 1950, the League has supported its member museums, historical societies, libraries, and other cultural heritage institutions across the state through professional development, networking and community, workshops and training, and an annual conference and awards program. The League also runs Connecticut Collections (www.ctcollections.org), an open-source collections management system and online portal that makes Connecticut’s museum and archival collections accessible to researchers worldwide.

About the Windham Textile and History Museum

The Windham Textile and History Museum (the Mill Museum), located in the historic former headquarters of the American Thread Company of Willimantic, Connecticut, houses a museum, a library, and an archive. Through its exhibits, programs, and collections, the Museum preserves and interprets the history of textiles, the textile arts, and the textile industry, with special emphasis on the experiences of craftspeople, industrial workers, manufacturers, inventors, designers, and consumers. The Museum also promotes a greater understanding of the major trends and changes in technology, the economy, immigration, society, the environment, and culture that shaped the history of textiles, the textile arts, and the textile industry in Connecticut, New England, and the United States from the colonial period to the present.

About the New England Air Museum

The New England Air Museum (www.neam.org) is the largest aviation museum in New England with three large hangars, outdoor exhibits, and more than 100 aircraft ranging from early airships and flying machines to supersonic jets and helicopters. Located adjacent to Bradley International Airport, the New England Air Museum is committed to presenting the story of aviation, the human genius that made it possible, and the profound effects that it has had on the way in which we live.

###