As the new curator of the Nanticoke Indian Museum near Millsboro, Therese Avedillo is “delighted to have the opportunity to preserve the history of the Nanticokes” and plans to take a holistic approach as she teaches visitors about the rich history of the tribe.
“I plan to apply my archaeological knowledge. I am very pleased to join the Nanticoke museum, and I’m interested in learning about the first people of our first state, working with the elders and serving,” said Avedillo, who lives in Millsboro with her husband, Mike.
She took over as museum curator on Monday, Feb. 24, to the delight of Nanticoke Chief Avery Johnson, who called her “a special individual.”
“She is very interested in our history,” he said. “She has a great personality. She fits in with us very well. We brought her in, and she spent a day with us and we spent the day with her, and it was just great. We never had anybody capable of doing what we need, or even knowing which direction to go.
“That museum — that’s a special place we have, and it needs to come into 2025. This will allow us to reach our goal of bringing in a professional curator, a full-time curator, which we never had in the history of that museum,” Johnson said.
Avedillo, who grew up in South Africa, said she often visited museums while she was growing up.
“That is where my interest in history and culture grew. I took up a background in television production in New York. I went to school at Syracuse University, then I went back to my interest in museum studies at the University of Leicester in England. I earned a master’s degree in museum studies,” she said.
She volunteered in London, including at the Postal Museum and Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archeology,…
