History is one of the many things people often appreciate as they get older. At the Brown County Museum, however, an influx of youth will soon be guiding visitors on a journey into the past.
Kyndall Howard has been hired as the new museum coordinator, effective Nov. 16, and Amy Compean is joining her as assistant museum coordinator. Howard, 31, is a member of the Early High School Class of 2008 while Compean, who will turn 23 on Nov. 16, graduated from Brownwood High in 2017. Both have been working at the museum since Oct. 11, and will assume their new roles later this month.
Speaking on what appealed to her most about the Brown County Museum of History, Howard said, “What I really love about this museum is we have a lot of interesting pieces that showcase our county throughout the years, from the beginning of its development. I find it very fascinating when you know a little bit about your own history. You can learn about your town history, your county history, and it’s that connection where understanding your past helps you understand your present and where you can go in the future. You see the different obstacles and courses our community has taken over the years and we’re hoping when you come through our doors you see that and the timeline of our own county. Hopefully people find connections and learn something about where they live that they didn’t know to begin with. It’s a good foundational history that can connect the community together.”
Howard attended Hardin-Simmons where she attained a bachelor’s degree, then acquired a master’s in Communications from Abilene Christian. She later attended Tarleton to pursue a master’s in History.
“I worked for Big Brothers Big Sisters (in Abilene) through AmeriCorp and their PR, Marketing and Volunteer Recruitment specifically, which was very fun,” Howard said. “I moved back and realized I really missed history and all the jobs I was looking at were for museums because I like the connection between how we communicate and that’s what museums do, they communicate history to the general public and I find that very fascinating. So I went to Tarleton for a master’s in History specifically and I started teaching in their Communications department as an adjunct professor, and that’s something I still do.
“I also started working at the W.K. Gordon Museum and Research Center that’s affiliated with Tarleton. I definitely fell in love with museum work, it is my calling and something I really enjoy and love to do. I was able to work at the Houston Museum of Natural Science this summer teaching some of their summer camps, which was really fun. Then I saw the opening here, it’s a bit closer to home which is wonderful. This is basically my home town, and I’m really excited to try to help share our story not only of the towns, but the county in general.”
Compean, a recent Tarleton graduate, has a passion for non-profit work and began her career as the activity coordinator at Portfolio Resident Services.
“I saw this opening and got really excited for it,” Compean said. “I was talking to my family about it and I didn’t think I had enough background to get hired as the director but I wanted to see what happened. I got a phone call about two weeks after that and they told me they were going with someone else, Kyndall, who is perfect for this and I’m really happy for her. But they told me they really liked me and opened a new position for me as the assistant. I was even more happy to be the assistant than to be the director to be honest.”
Among the duties Compean is looking forward to most is expanding the museum’s social media footprint.
“With my side of the PR and social media aspect, we’re trying to renovate our website and make it a little more up to date,” Compean said. “We’re also looking into get an Instagram, maybe Tik Tok or Twitter. What I’ve noticed is a lot of the people coming in are from out of town and a little older, so we’re trying to see who are audience is. Not a lot of people from Brownwood are coming in but hopefully social media will get people coming and excited about what we’re doing.”
While attracting visitors from outside the area is among the goals, sharing the county’s history with its residents is also one of the duo’s top priorities.
“We would really love to see our museum grow,” Howard said. “Sometimes people don’t really think about what your town has as far as museums go. When you’re visiting a city you think you need to go visit the museum in that city, and sometimes you forget about that in your own hometown because it’s always here. What we would like to see is growth of community, really get involved with all the businesses downtown and be part of the mix and be able to draw in new people. We’d like to see renovations at our museum. We do have a project we’re going to start fundraising for pretty soon for that specifically to try and help our museum grow and help the tourism in our town grow as well.”
The Brown County Museum of History underwent a face lift of sorts last year when it was closed due to COVID regulations, but more changes are planned for the future.
“We have different things for different people,” Compean said. “We have things for kids, for different cultures. I didn’t notice how diverse it is and I don’t think a lot of people know about it. It’s a lot different than before COVID, and people coming in now have seen how different it is, the changes, so for people who haven’t come before this is a great time to come in and look around and get involved. It’s growing and we want to get more people involved and excited about it. I think if they see how excited we are they’ll think this is something we should be involved in.”
Among the upcoming events the museum has planned, Howard said, “In a couple of weeks we’ll have a veterans memorial exhibit we’re putting on that will open on Veterans Day and we’re really excited about that. We’ll have Christmas in the Boot Shop which will be making leather ornaments and things like that. Some other events we’re already planning to be involved in have to do with the revamping of downtown and we’re excited to be part of that as well. I would encourage people to like us on Facebook, look for all the different events we’ll be having and hopefully come out and join us for them. It’ll be really fun.”
Asked what can be done to make history appeal to a younger audience, as it has for both the new museum coordinator and assistant coordinator, Howard said, “That’s a hard one to answer because everyone is unique and different, therefore there’s different reasons and connections they would find coming to the museum. The things I think are amazing and wonderful aren’t necessarily the same that other people my age, younger, or older might find to be as interesting. What I really would like to see would be more interactive activities and we have quite a few that people of all ages like, and we want to see that interaction. Any time you have hands-on things that sparks interest in people. That is something I would like us to explore, and social media might also help because we’ll be able to showcase different things on it. People also really love the jail, it’s a very unique structure we help promote and are part of, and I know a lot people are always interested in that.”
To keep up with the Brown County Museum of History and its upcoming activities, follow its Facebook page here or visit its website here .