Information from the Log House Museum

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s museum manager, Sarah Baylinson, is headed to central Oregon.
Baylinson, who has managed the organization’s museum near Alki Beach for the past two and a half years, has accepted the position of collections manager for the Crook County-funded Bowman Museum in Prineville, Ore.

She first began working at the Southwest Seattle Historical Society as a volunteer in July 2010, accepting the position of museum manager in September 2012, the same year she obtained a museology certificate from the University of Washington.

Her accomplishments at the museum include several history exhibitions, including “From Lantern to Lighthouse” in 2013 and “Telling Our Westside Stories: Work” and “Reaching the Sky: Totem Tales of West Seattle,” both in 2014. She also developed satellite exhibits at Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (“Bridging the Gap,” 2014) and at The Kenney (“West by Water,” based on a previous exhibit by Andrea Mercado, 2015).
Baylinson’s last day of work at the museum will be Sunday, March 8. Volunteers, donors and the general public are invited to a farewell reception for her from 3 to 4 p.m. Thursday, March 5, at the museum, 3003 61st Ave. S.W.

Those attending also will have the opportunity to meet the new interim museum manager for the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, Lissa Kramer.

Kramer, who lives in Morgan Junction, has worked in museums and public programs for 15 years, serving most recently at the Issaquah History Museums and the Burke Museum and working in state, federal and nonprofit cultural and heritage positions in Alaska.

Since 2014, Kramer has volunteered for the Southwest Seattle Historical Society in collections management and exhibit planning and on the Champagne Gala Brunch Committee.

She holds a master’s degree in museology and a certificate in nonprofit management from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in contemporary humanities from the University of Minnesota in Duluth.
The interim position is anticipated to last several months while a search for a permanent museum manager proceeds. A job announcement is expected to be posted on the websites of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society website and other heritage organizations in mid-March.

“We are sad to see Sarah Baylinson go, but we are grateful that she served so well and for so long in a part-time position, and we are thrilled that she has found full-time employment in the highly competitive Northwest museology field,” says Clay Eals, executive director of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.
“We also are quite fortunate that Lissa Kramer is available to take on the interim position while we conduct a search for a permanent successor. Lissa brings enthusiasm and many talents to our organization.”
For more information on this transition, please contact Clay Eals, executive director, at 206-484-8008