Welcome to the Birmingham-Jefferson History Museum.
The Birmingham-Jefferson History Museum is a general history museum planned to open in Spring 2010 at the historic Young & Vann building in downtown Birmingham.
Birmingham and Jefferson County are home to dozens of fine museums, societies, landmarks, halls and districts enshrining the area's heritage and role in national events. But nowhere in Alabama's most populous county is there a museum charged with telling the general, local history of all its people.
In 2004, the Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society started the venture with $4,000 seed money. Four years later, local businessman Thomas E. Jernigan, Jr., advanced the project with a $750,000, 10-year bequest in memory of his father.
Through continued support from donations and grants from the Kaul Foundation and Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the museum in July hired its first full-time executive director, Jerry Desmond, to complete the plan.
Desmond, a native of Maine, migrated south in the 1990s to indulge his interest in Civil War history. He brings to the museum more than 20 years experience in historical research, planning and exhibit design, including seven years as senior associate with museum consulting firm, LaPaglia and Associates, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. With LaPaglia, he worked on exhibits at more than two dozen museums concentrated in the Southeast, including Alabama's “Bear” Bryant museum in Tuscaloosa, and the WWII German POW museum in Aliceville. He has also directed museums in Chattanooga and most recently, in Rome, Ga.
He holds a Masters Degree in Education and a Masters Degree in History from the University of Maine with certificates in advanced study from Northeastern University and Amherst University in Massachusetts. He is married to Cherry Johnson, also a museum professional, and has a daughter, Caroline, age 12.
"I am very pleased to be here in Birmingham,” Desmond said. “The opportunity to direct the development of a new museum and build new exhibits is what attracted me to the position. For a short history, Birmingham and Jefferson County certainly has some interesting stories and unusual characters. I am sure we can build a community museum that visitors to the region and local citizens will find educational and entertaining."
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Desmond, a native of Maine, migrated south in the 1990s to indulge his interest in Civil War history. He brings to the museum more than 20 years experience in historical research, planning and exhibit design, including seven years as senior associate with museum consulting firm, LaPaglia and Associates, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. With LaPaglia, he worked on exhibits at more than two dozen museums concentrated in the Southeast, including Alabama's “Bear” Bryant museum in Tuscaloosa, and the WWII German POW museum in Aliceville. He has also directed museums in Chattanooga and most recently, in Rome, Ga.