Jun. 12—CLINTON — A Clinton native has taken over the helm of the Clinton Sawmill Museum.

Eliza Mussmann has been hired as the museum's new director, a position that was vacated by the departure of former director Matt Parbs, who is now Grow Clinton's vice president of community & economic development.

Since her first day in the role June 2, Mussmann says, she and Assistant Director Kaitlyn Evers have been working on plans for the museum's future.

"The museum's already a really great place, but we've just got a couple of ideas for little ways that we can make things even more fun for the whole community," Mussmann says. "We want to expand our exhibits and do a little bit of rearranging and just kind of make some improvements to make it even more all-ages friendly. Keep the kinetic learning, but expand it, like the educational fun for everybody."

Just prior to being hired as museum director, Mussmann completed a master's degree in public history at the University of Northern Iowa, where she worked at the university's museum as a collection technician as well as in the UNI archives.

Her desire to become the director of a museum began, she says, as early as when she was in middle school.

"I've always loved museums, my whole life. They've always been a fun, friendly place for me," she says. "I got the opportunity, because of my parents [Chris and Leslie Mussmann of Clinton], growing up to go see a lot of different museums and a lot of different places.

"They made a point when we were kids to always bring us, even when you're on vacation, to make educational trips and that just really stuck with me."

Noted among her favorites are the Smithsonian and the Field Museum in Chicago.

"We'd go to the Putnam like every couple months," Mussmann recalls.

Lately, though, her focus has been on getting reacquainted with the Sawmill Museum, located at 2231 Grant St., and its dedication to Clinton's lumber history.

"There's a lot of really fascinating parts," she says. "I really like the human aspect of history."

Her biggest challenge comes after Parbs let the board know in February, as he was nearing a decade spent as the director of the museum established in 2011, that his time there was coming close to an end.

"I wanted to make my 10 years, but I was ready to try something new," he says. "So it felt like after I made my 10-year anniversary at the museum, I wanted a chance to take what I did at the Sawmill and move it to the whole town."

On April 10, he took the position as Grow Clinton's vice president of community & economic development.

"Matt Parbs, the former director," Mussmann says, "was here for so long that he's so ingrained in this museum that I really think that it's a blessing he's done an amazing job with it, so I'm starting with the museum that's in an amazing position, but there's also the challenge of I have to be able to bring in my own ideas into a museum that is so well-established and has been so well taken care of, it's a lot to step into."

Parbs looks forward to offering his guidance when needed.

"I will always have a soft spot for the museum," he says. "I think it's the special thing about the Sawmill and Grow Clinton, we have the same goal, which is to enrich the lives of our citizens."

For information on upcoming events, visit "The Sawmill Museum" Facebook page.