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MATHESEON MUSEUM >> KAITLYN HOF-MAHONEY
NEW LEADERSHIP
Legacy of Leadership The Matheson History Museum Welcomes New Executive Director S T O R Y B Y J O A N N A G R E Y TA L B O T
M
useums are one of the g ua r d i a n s o f o u r culture. They play a vital role in helping to preserve a people’s, a region’s, a country’s sense of self – customs, traditions, languages, and more. Museums accomplish this by caring for historical objects, documents, and buildings, collecting stories and oral histories, and sharing all of this with the greater community. Kaitlyn Hof-Mahoney, the new executive director of the Matheson History Museum, stands on the shoulders of the founding Board of Directors who opened the museum to the public in 1994. The museum’s roots go back even further, though, to the Alachua County Historical Society, which was
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OUR TOWN MAGAZINE
JAN/FEB 2022
founded in 1964. At a time when “urban renewal” was the buzzword and the tearing down of historic buildings was the favorite method, a group of Alachua County businesspeople, community leaders, and concerned citizens came together to figure out a way to preserve the county’s history. The society eventually merged with the Matheson Historical Center in the 1980s and the museum opened on March 12, 1994. Kaitlyn Hof-Mahoney, who previously served as a volunteer, curator of collections, and acting administrator, was hired by the museum’s Board of Directors in October 2021 but has been with the museum since 2015. A graduate of Auburn University and the University of Florida, Hof-Mahoney began volunteering in the fall of 2015 and was hired as the full-time curator of collections in January 2018. P H O T O G R A P H Y: C E C I L I A L E M U S