Libben invited to share knowledge of history, curation on international museum board

Kenny Libben, who has served as curator of the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum of the Mohican Historical Society since 2010, was named to the International Committee for Regional Museums (ICR), a division of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), an international organization of museums and museum professionals.

Libben said he has been involved in the ICOM and ICR since 2018.

“ICR and ICOM are not as well know in the United States as some other museum organizations,” Libben said, “but internationally, they are the by far the best known.

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“The organizations are committed to the research, conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world’s natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible,” Libben, a Perrysville native and 2006 graduate of Loudonville High School, said. “ICOM is a membership association and non-governmental organization that establishes professional and ethical standards for museum activities."

As a forum of experts, it makes recommendations on issues related to cultural heritage, promotes capacity building, and advances knowledge. It is the voice of museum professionals on an international stage and raised public cultural awareness through global networks and co-operative programs, Libben said.

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ICOM has a membership of 45,493 professionals based in 138 countries with 119 national committees and 32 international committees.

It operates five primary missions − establishing standards of excellence, leading a democratic forum, developing a professional network, leading a global think-tank and carrying out international missions.

Specifically, Libben’s appointment involves the ICR, which focuses on regional museums.

“As I explain it, there are three kinds of museums, national museums, big city museums and everything else, which I define as regional museums,” he said. “They can be anything from castles to small town museums, each of which focuses on local history and culture, and perhaps natural history.”

Getting a taste of Central Europe's regional museums

On a recent trip to Central Europe, Libben visited several regional museums involved in the ICR, including a castle in Slovakia and a tiny regional museum in Austria.

“The ICR was created for regional museums and is interested in the role of these museums in their communities with respect to culture, history, environment, social development, and language,” Libben said. “It is particularly concerned with the challenges, philosophy, methodology, and international cooperation of regional museums in a period of social and political change that has affected the fundamental identity of millions of people.

“Regional museums are on all continents,” he continued, “working from the Arctic to the tropics, some with large financial resources, most without. All strive to explain their own regional history and environment. In doing so, they are serving an increasingly important function in the world where so much conspires to make people feel small and rootless.

"Regional museums go the opposite way, asserting the richness of our variety and the value of human life and heart," he said. "The ICR was created in the 1960s for regional museums, the most numerous kind of museums there is. Our overall mission is to continue the international operation of regional museums in a time of social and political change that affects the fundamental identity of millions of people.”

Libben said he is the only museum representative from the Western Hemisphere on the ICF board. He serves with two representatives from Israel and one each from France, Norway, China, Taiwan and Japan.

Love for history began as a teen, became his career

Libben said his interest in history started as a high school student, and he decided to pursue a career in history while a student at the College of Wooster.

“While searching for colleges, I was pulled between Ohio State and Wooster,” he remembered. “I was unsettled about Wooster because my older sister was already going there, plus I was worried about being too close to home. However, Wooster came up with a financial package for me that ended up costing me less out of pocket than Ohio State.

“I never regretted my decision to go there, and I continue to have many contacts through the college’s history department, and I often teach classes there,” he said. “We also have many connections between the museum and the college, including a meaningful internship program.”

The year 2010, when Libben received his degree at Wooster, was in the middle of the Great Recession, and there were virtually no jobs in the field of history, so Libben decided to volunteer at the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum in Loudonville.

“After a few months, the board decided to offer me the job as curator, and I am still here,” he said.

The biggest accomplishments, he said, in his 12 years as curator were successfully helping run bicentennial celebrations in Perrysville in 2013 and in Loudonville in 2014.

Through his work as curator, he or the Mohican Historical Society have received several awards. In 2014 the American Alliance of Museums designated the museum as a Core Document Verified winner, and the American Association for State and Local Historical Standards has presented three golf awards and three silver awards for the museum.

In 2015, Libben was presented an Outstanding Individual Achievement award from the Ohio Local History Alliance.

History-based trips will be planned

In his tenure as curator, he has taken several history-based trips to Europe, and just a few weeks ago returned from a Historical Society-sponsored trip to Germany Austria and Slovakia.

“This was the first international trip the society actually conducted,” he said. “We had organized one in 2020, but it was cancelled due to COVID. We will arrange more trips in the future.”

Libben serves the Mohican Historical Society board, which includes officers Aimee Ross, president; Dave Spreng, vice president; Nick Atterholt, secretary; Brad Porter, treasurer; board members Ken Fowler, Steve Hughes, Gail Hall, Virginia Reynolds and Leslie Braden; and building manager Tom Young.

The Society has 130 members, and Libben welcomes anyone interested in local history to join.

“And we can always use volunteers,” he added.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Loudonville museum curator takes knowledge to international level