EAST BAY EXPRESS -- In May of this year, McCrary received a historic preservation award from the city of Richmond for her role in preserving the Victor Arnautoff mural Richmond Industrial City, which had been unknowingly stored in the basement of the Richmond Post Office since 1976. She also received a $17,000 grant from California Humanities to fund the Speak Ohlone Exhibit Interactive Project, a permanent exhibit that highlights the Chochenyo Ohlone dialect and the history of the Ohlone people, the first community to inhabit the East Bay.
For McCrary, these two accolades are an exciting opportunity to increase the profile of the museum. But more importantly, they show that McCrary has big plans for the museum. McCrary has been working there since 2012 when she started as an intern while getting her master’s degree in Museum Studies at San Francisco State University. About a year later, she was named executive director. Since then, McCrary has been working to revive the museum and uncover the hidden histories of the city.
Photo by Lisa Foote