Reprinted from Nola.com story
As curator of the Slidell Museum, it’s his job, and his enthusiasm for the city's stories has created new energy at the local museum.
Slidell was founded in the 1880s during construction of a railroad from New Orleans to Meridian, Mississippi, but this fact isn’t emphasized to visitors. Instead of dry lectures, Scott’s style of educating is more like storytelling, so guests learn about the outlaw nature of some railroad workers.
“I can tell you who the mayor was, and what the marshals and councils were doing at that time,” he explained, “but that material is easy. I want to know about and share all the little stories that have breathed life into this community. I want to hear about Uncle Bob fighting a bobcat. I have stories about the town drunk.”
Located in Slidell’s Olde Towne district, the museum itself is historic, sitting where the community’s town hall was built in 1888. Today’s building was constructed in 1907 and originally housed the jail and marshal’s office. An upstairs section, currently the Slidell Mardi Gras Museum, is the former mayor’s office and courtroom, and a 1927 ground floor addition was originally the city’s fire barn.
In 1976, the Slidell Museum opened as a project of the U.S. Bicentennial. It was managed by civic organizations for years but now falls under the city’s Cultural and Public Affairs Department.
Scott, who arrived to Slidell from Florida to care for family after Hurricane Katrina, was hired by the city in 2018 to research and write historic markers, and his love for Slidell grew out of that work. “There are just so many great stories,” he says with a grin. By 2019, he was invited to step into the role of museum curator and since has earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public history from the University of New Orleans, writing his thesis on rediscovering small-town histories (using Slidell as his case study.)
Scott is a one-man show who wears multiple hats: curator, director, docent, archivist, registrar, education coordinator, social media marketing, public speaker, receptionist, and custodian. He’ll soon add volunteer coordinator to that list, as he prepares to launch a new program in January to help with displays and research. (One role he needn’t worry with is fundraiser, since the museum is fully supported by the city.)
Since his arrival, Scott has dedicated much of his time to the creation of a database with “thousands of files” listing historical family, business, and school names of the city, a Herculean task sorely needed since many records were lost in Katrina's floodwaters.
Kendra Maness, who conducted research at the museum throughout 14 years of publishing Slidell Magazine, describes the importance of Scott’s work: “When Katrina hit, Slidell lost much of its history because it wasn’t digitized. It was all paper and hard copy photos. Greg’s hours spent digitizing records ensures we’ll never lose our history again.”
Scott’s marketing efforts have been impactful, too. His work on the museum’s Facebook page, which he began focusing on two years ago, has grown viewership exponentially. “The first few months we had 25 to 50 views a month. This November, we had 83,000 views to our Facebook page, making it the second-biggest month of the year, after June, which saw 150,000 views.”
He also created an interactive online map called “Slidell’s Historic Sites” featuring 55 locations and their stories, and it's amassing as many as 10,000 views a day.
Alex Carollo, Slidell's director of cultural affairs, acknowledged the results of Scott’s efforts.
“When Greg took over, he took it further by taking it online. Suddenly, people didn’t have to walk inside the four walls to access information. People from around the world who’ve never stepped foot here, or who may have lived here years ago, they can connect and contribute, too. And Facebook has brought a lot of people into the museum.”
The humble museum, packed with artifacts and display cases, attracts more tourists than local visitors. “In the last 2 months, I had a big group from Canada, but I’ve also had visitors from England, Australia, Nigeria and Japan,” Scott said with pride. He said they find their way to the museum through online research, buses sent from the St. Tammany Tourist and Convention Commission and area tour guides.
Scott’s efforts have impressed former state representative and longtime Slidell resident Mary DuBuisson. “Since Greg’s arrival, donations have increased substantially, gifts to the museum have increased, field trips from local schools have increased, as well as from tour companies, which means that more people are frequenting our restaurants and shops. There have been multiple articles promoting the museum, including from our lieutenant governor. Greg helps garner exposure for our city.”
The curator has heard talk of incorporating another building into the museum campus, as well as hiring an archivist to help inventory the collection, but when asked about his wish list for the future of the institution, Scott said he just hopes to see his role expand to a full-time position. “Working in the Slidell Museum and learning about the history and culture of Slidell has given me a real sense of community. I love my job and the work. And I truly love serving the people of Slidell by finding, preserving, and especially sharing this information with the public.”
