Helen Chandler to Receive Middlesex Museum Award

The Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society, Inc. is pleased to announce that its 2020 Preservation Award will be given to Helen Chandler of Urbanna. Since 2016, the Preservation Award has been given annually to recognize individuals or entities who have made a significant contribution to the public understanding of Middlesex County history. The Award encompasses contributions made through teaching, writing, research, historic preservation, conservation, and service. This years’ award will be presented to Chandler as a part of the Museum’s October 25 virtual lecture on “The Great Awakening.”

Helen Chandler became a volunteer at the Middlesex Museum in 2008. Holding the position of Registrar, she spent countless hours identifying, documenting, and storing the Museum’s holdings. Over time, she inventoried, renumbered, described, stored, and documented more than 1,200 accessions, including items that date back to the 1700s. Helen instituted a new numbering system to correlate with the widely used PastPerfect collections software. As a result of her efforts, the Middlesex County Museum can now electronically tract its holdings. A native of the San Francisco Bay area, Helen Chandler has lived in Middlesex County for a number of years. She has been active as a school and community volunteer, and retired from Johnson Controls.

Prior recipients of the Middlesex County Museum Preservation Award include Dr. Richard and Pat Marshall (2016), Jessie Debusk (2017), Larry Chowning (2019), and the Reverend Fred Holmes and the Reverend Robert Brown as members of The Black Church Cultural Affairs Committee (2019).

The presentation of the award to Helen Chandler will take place during the Museum’s October 25 (4:00 PM) lecture on “The Great Awakening” to be given by the Reverend Dr. Robert W, Prichard. 

To request the link and dial-in number for this program, please email the Middlesex Museum at middlesexmuseum@va.metrocast.net or call 804-758-3663.