Douglas Harvey Museum Services

04/12/2025

City of Fairfax Historic Resources Project Completed

I recently teamed up with Museum Muse LLC to create a three-year strategic plan for the City of Fairfax Office of Historic Resources. Fairfax was founded in 1807 and the City operates three preserved historic treasures: the Ratcliffe-Alison-Pozer House, the Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center, and Historic Blenheim and the Civil War Interpretive Center.

The Ratcliffe-Alison-Pozer House is one of the first homes built in Fairfax dating to 1807 and fronts on Main Street, once the Little River Turnpike. It served numerous families and contained Earp’s Ordinary (tavern) at one time. The Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center is in an 1878 school. Also a Virginia certified visitor center, the museum contains stories and objects from the city and the region. Blenheim is a rare example of a Civil War graffiti house. Thousands of Union soldiers camped nearby and many wrote on the walls—names, units, and drawings. The expansive grounds also contain an interpretive center.

The strategic plan sets a course for the optimal future for these historic resources -- one that relies on actions by the City in tandem with non-profit and community partners. As a working manual, the plan focuses on the measurable steps needed to increase attendance and improve the visitor experience for the entire community.

Fairfax City has unusual advantages for tourism and historic preservation. The surrounding county of Fairfax has a population of 1.1 million people and its proximity to Washington, D.C., offers multiple opportunities. The transitory nature of Northern Virginia from immigration, military, and government assignments creates an ever-changing pool of potential visitors to educate about the heritage that surrounds them.

Museum Muse LLC is led by Becky Dove and Joe Judge. Becky was formerly the Director of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, which she helped relocate from Norfolk Naval Base to the Norfolk Waterfront and Nauticus. With her leadership, the battleship USS Wisconsin was added to their mission bringing over 400,000 visitors annually.

Joe Judge held positions as curator and acting director of the Douglas MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk and as curator for the Hampton Roads Naval Museum. After retirement, Becky Dove and Joe Judge formed Museum Muse LLC to use their years of experience and attainment to help other museums and historic sites. Both Becky and Joe were awarded the highest civilian recognitions by the United States Navy for their professional excellence.

Museum Muse provides guidance on exhibitions, board and staff relations, strategic planning, educational programs, physical plant evaluation, collections management, and a host of other relevant topics and has worked with museums from Alaska to Georgia.

I am honored to be chosen as an associate with Museum Muse and look forward to more successful projects with this team of accomplished museum professionals. You can read about my becoming an associate and about Museum Muse LLC at www.museummusellc.com.

04/17/2024

Campbell County Museum to Host: The Mighty James--America’s Founding River with Doug Harvey, former director, Lynchburg Museum System
Sunday, April 28, 2:30 PM, The Campbell County Museum at the Historic Courthouse, 774 Village Highway, Rustburg

In 2007, Congress proclaimed the James “America’s Founding River.” The river has been witness to a Spanish colony before Jamestown, Indian massacres, the first permanent English settlement in America, and the beginnings of our representative democratic government.
The first slaves brought to America arrived via the river and the Civil War battles and fall of Richmond in 1865 invoked the end of slavery. At different times, the James has been Central Virginia’s pathway to the world, water supply, dump, food source, power supply, sewer, and playground.
Using over 30 historic images, Doug Harvey’s program will explore the mighty James River and its impact on Central Virginia and the nation.

02/06/2021

Some museum news from 30 years ago:

David Purschwitz and Scott Harris shared this earlier but my sharing technical skills were not up to the task so I started fresh. I had no idea today was the 30th anniversary of opening the Manassas Museum. The photos bring back a flood of memories and I want to point out some people in the crowd.
The second image is the staff of that day: Scott Harris, Laura Peake (Yakulis), me, Maureen Guillot, David Purschwitz, and Shelly Lawson.
What a talented and fine group; we all remember well what it took to get the doors open. It was a wild ride.
Mrs. Walser Rohr, one of the founders of the museum and wife of Mayor Edgar Rohr and Mrs. Marion Payne, Chair of the Manassas Historical Committee and wife of Vice Mayor James Payne cut the ribbon. Chris Nelson portrayed the Union officer and David Purschwitz the Confederate.
Other faces in the crowd that I recognize are Bill McGuinn, Steve Chapin, Art Keen, Ellen Turberville, Carlton Abbott (architect), Bob Brown (not the mayor), Chuck Thompson, et al.
The Manassas Museum is starting a much-needed expansion--great news.

10/21/2020

I am grateful that even during Covid that I have been able to work on two important projects. The Lynchburg Parks and Recreation Department will open a trail extension on 10/22 at 10 am that will use the former railroad bridge over Langhorne Road to connect to the Linkhorne Schools parking area.

This crossing of Ivy Creek was used by the first railroad to reach Lynchburg in the 1850s--the Virginia and Tennessee. During the Battle of Lynchburg in 1864 this area saw a fight between Union cavalry and Confederate defenders. These three historical markers installed along the new trail section relate this little-known Lynchburg history.

Stafford County, Virginia continues to work towards expanding all aspects of the Stafford Museum and Cultural Center. Last year we worked together on making governance more efficient and doing preliminary work on future facilities and programs. Recently the Board and Museum Foundation met jointly to create new mission and value statements for the organization. Moving on through Covid !

10/20/2020

We are pleased to be a sponsor for the Virginia Association of Museums Workshop Series: Building a More Inclusive and Equitable Board.

Please use the link below to learn more about this important and needed series!

https://www.vamuseums.org/leadership-institutes # #

“To make real and lasting change, work needs to be done at the top where the tone and priorities for each museum are established...Museum trustees and leaders can and must do more.” – Laura Lott, president & CEO, American Alliance for Museums

04/10/2020

The City of Lynchburg Parks and Recreation Department is extending its award-winning trail network, turning the former railroad trestle over Langhorne Road into a pedestrian bridge.

This area where Ivy and Blackwater Creeks merge has historic stories to tell--the creation of Lynchburg's first railroad in the 1850s and Civil War combat in 1864 during the Battle of Lynchburg.

Douglas Harvey Museum Services is pleased to be creating three historic markers that will highlight these stories and future plans for the trail system!

01/03/2020

We are honored to work with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities in the presentation of our inaugural Advanced Leadership Instititute.

01/03/2020

Challenges in museums are omnipresent -- funding, staff recruitment, aging and inadequate facilities, politics within the governing body, visitation, and many others.

One issue that museums grappled with during my 36 years in Virginia museums is with us still. How do we attract a more diverse audience, staff, and board?

As a point of reference, each of the five Virginia museums that I worked in did demographic surveys. African American visitation averaged 3% to 4% consistently across them all, even in communities where that population was more than 30% of the residents. People from other ethnic groups are moving to Virginia in large numbers but museum going is not on their radar. Museums cannot survive if they are not relevant to potential audiences.

The Virginia Association of Museums is offering a year-long institute that will look at ways to bring in new board members that better reflect the communities museums serve. If this can be done effectively, the knowledge base and strategies on how to increase minority visitors and staff can only be enhanced.

Douglas Harvey Museum Services is proud to be a sponsor of this series:

Advanced Leadership Institute: Building a More Diverse & Inclusive Board

We are honored to work with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities in the presentation of our inaugural Advanced Leadership Instititute.

10/03/2019

Proud to welcome you to our new website! Now live on the Web at www.dkhmuseum.com

07/07/2019

Thank you Stafford County Museum Foundation for the kind words: "Doug Harvey came highly recommended as the best expert to help us build the structure and foundation for a strong local history museum in Stafford County. We couldn’t have been in better hands. Doug’s experience is clearly visible in both his depth of knowledge and flexibility of delivery style to match any and all situations. From politicians to fundraisers, passionate keepers of the flame to policy wonks, Doug was able to offer clarity of purpose, focused inquiry and thoughtful solutions to our project. We heartily recommend Doug Harvey’s services and look forward to continued work together building from the ground up." Stafford County Museum Foundation, Inc. July 5, 2019