Women’s History Month: Helen Ferslev

Helen was a devoted educator, talented artist, and a local history advocate in Green Bay. Helen is particularly important to the Neville because without her we may not be where we are today. In honor of all she’s done for our community and the museum we want to share just a few of her accomplishments.

Helen is one of several special women that lived here in Brown County that valued the arts and the preservation of history. Helen’s dedication to preservation of history is most evident in her hard work to make our current museum building a reality. Helen served as President of the Neville Public Museum Corporation. Before 1983 the museum sat in a smaller and less conducive building on Jefferson St. Helen fought for a new facility that was eventually supported by the county, the city, and private donors, a true community project. Here is Helen breaking ground with the County Executive, the Mayor, and the Museum Director.

Neville Foundation president, Helen Ferslev, Mayor Samuel Halloin, Brown County Executive Donald Holloway, and Museum Director, James Quinn, break ground in 1981 for a new museum.

We have several artifacts in our collection that reflect Helen’s continued dedication to education, local history, and the arts. The collection includes a diary, scrapbooks, and letters from her time in London in 1948 and 1949 when she participated in the Teacher Exchange Program. We also care for awards given to her for her many accomplishments in education and here at the museum. Helen’s focus on education and interest in history led her to co-author the text book “It Happened Here” in 1949. We have a copy of it in our research library. Later in life she continued her education by taking different art courses. Works of art she created are also held in our collection.

The museum is thankful for people like Helen that continually support our mission and fight to preserve local history and engage the arts.

Lisa Kain

Curator

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 23, 2021 at 9:36 AM

    We are immensely thankful & grateful for women like her!

    ReplyDelete

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