(The O. Winston Link Museum issued the following news release on October 30.)
ROANOKE, Va. — The O. Winston Link Museum has named Jay Saunders museum manager and Kim Pulice program coordinator.
As manager, Saunders will direct all museum operations, including a gift shop, where visitors may purchase posters of Link’s famous photographs and collectors’ editions. Saunders brings to the position ten years of technical and administrative experience gained while working in his family’s dental lab business. He also has served as volunteer director of public relations for the MCV-VCU chapter of Habitat for Humanity and the Ronald McDonald House of Pennsylvania.
Saunders holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy with concentrations in the philosophy of art and science from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., where he received the Lindback award for Outstanding Achievement in the Fine Arts. He earned an associate of sciences degree from J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College and the Medical College of Virginia, where he also studied business.
As program coordinator, Pulice will manage the museum’s archives, tours and programs, and work closely with the museum’s organizing curator, Thomas Garver. Pulice was curator of collections and exhibitions for the Town of Wytheville (Va.) Department of Museums for four years and before that worked for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.
She holds a master’s degree in art history with a specialization in museum studies from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a bachelor’s degree in photography from Virginia Intermont College.
“We’re pleased to have Jay Saunders and Kim Pulice on staff,” said David Helmer, chairman of the Link Museum’s board. “We believe their energy and experience will advance the museum’s mission to preserve and display a unique historical and cultural resource.”
The O. Winston Link Museum, which is set to open here in the historic Norfolk & Western passenger station in January, will house the largest collection of Link photographs in the world. Link, an influential 20th century photographer, is best known for his black and white photographs along the Norfolk & Western Railway documenting the final chapter of the steam locomotive. The museum is a project of the History Museum and Historical Society of Western Virginia in partnership with Center in the Square, which owns the passenger station. For more information about the O. Winston Link Museum, see www.linkmuseum.org or call (540)982-LINK.