The Director of the McLean County Museum of History is retiring. Greg Koos has spent 38 years at the museum and the historical society. Koos says he has lasted that long because he has been in a place where he sees people learn.
He says he continues to believe in the museum's mission of local history offering perspective to the wider world.
The 66-year old Koos says local history also teaches people that national history is not something that happens to us, but that we actually make happen.
Koos says after he steps down at the end of March he is challenging himself to write a new history of McLean County in two volumes connecting events in central Illinois to the context of the wider world.
For instance, Koos says the settlement of McLean County came about because of the war of 1812 and the Kickapoo Indian tribe that controlled the area choosing the losing side of the British in that conflict.
The Museum Board has chosen Development Director Beth Whisman to take over as Executive Director. Koos will complete a three year capital campaign that is expected to raise three million dollars.
