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A fourth-grade field trip to the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles first sparked my interest in museum work. While my schoolmates ran around playing with the interactive exhibits, I remember being mesmerized watching museum staff cleaning dinosaur bones.
Later, when I was studying to become a high school history teacher, I volunteered at a local historic site museum in my hometown and realized I loved the work. I was hired part-time by the museum in 1996 and rose through the ranks to assistant collections manager. My professional mentor recommended me for the manager of public programs position at Villa Finale when the museum was still in the planning stages. I was hired and moved from my native Los Angeles in April 2008, two weeks before my very first Fiesta. In 2016 I became the manager of collections and interpretation.
Villa Finale: Museum and Gardens was the last home of civic leader and historic preservationist Walter Nold Mathis. He filled the house with his eclectic collection of fine and decorative art that he left to the National Trust for Historic Preservation so that it could be enjoyed by the people of San Antonio and tourists alike. Just like its private collection, the house built in 1876 is important because it is a great example of what can be achieved when one preserves a historic home.
Mathis’ preservation of the home was also a catalyst for the revitalization of the King William neighborhood. After restoring Villa Finale, Mathis restored up to 14 properties in King William alone, selling them to like-minded people.
On Mondays, Villa Finale is closed to the public, so I do a lot of specialized cleaning in the house. The museum has over 12,500 individual items out on exhibit, so it’s quite a task. The rest of the week I’m either working on graphics for upcoming events, writing for our blog, researching information on our collections or the history of the site, working on programs and small exhibits, filling in during tour hours, and so much more.
Among our most exciting events are the murder mysteries, seances and ghost hunts we host in the house. Our annual Valentine’s Day parlor concert featuring the vocal talents of crooner Ken Slavin sells out every year. But our most popular event is our annual Friends Retreat during the King William Fair, where our members hang out in our shaded grounds and enjoy complimentary food and beverages without the hassles of the crowds on the streets.
We collaborate with the King William Association, the City of San Antonio’s Office of Historic Preservation, the Conservation Society of San Antonio, the Professional Tour Guide Association of San Antonio and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which owns the site. I’ve also worked with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and other museums in the city on loans from our collection. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting artists and speakers at the site such as mayors Ron Nirenberg and Phil Hardberger, poets Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson and Naomi Shihab Nye, San Antonio Report founder Robert Rivard, scholar Tomás Ybarra-Frausto and sculptor Danville Chadbourne.
I feel most proud about my job when people attend a program or event — or even just visit the museum for the first time — and they leave happy and fulfilled. I always love talking about the fascinating history of the house. For example, in the 1890s, a past owner and his family lost the house to foreclosure but they refused to leave the property, causing $500 in damage to the house (that is in 1890s money). Also, Billy Keilman and his wife, Minnie, a well-known madam in town, owned the property from 1924 to 1925. He bootlegged liquor from the basement while his wife ran a brothel upstairs. I could go on and on about the Keilmans alone!
I have a few projects I am incredibly proud of, such as the successful rewiring of the entire house and repainting the downstairs without damaging or losing a single object. But I feel the greatest pride in knowing I helped open the museum from scratch. I created the public tour program, wrote the history for the site and training materials, and created some of our most popular programs and events. Not everyone gets to open a museum from the start, and I feel I’ve left my mark.
I’m so honored and thrilled to be working in such a wonderful city like San Antonio while giving back to the community in a unique way. My wish is to continue to create engaging experiences at Villa Finale to foster the love of art and promote the history that makes San Antonio so great. Driving into work every morning in this beautiful historic neighborhood with the river right in our backyard is something I never take for granted.
