Melissa Mann Appointed Site Administrator at Drake Well Museum

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 21, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) today announced the appointment of Melissa Mann as site administrator at Drake Well Museum in Titusville.

Mann's duties will include managing staff, fundraising, overseeing site maintenance, coordinating the tour programs, special events and community outreach.

"We're very pleased to have Melissa join our team as the site administrator at Drake Well. Melissa brings her knowledge of Pennsylvania oil history and her many contacts in the region to the position, both of which will be great assets as she takes on this new role," PHMC Executive Director James Vaughan said.

Mann will start on March 24 and she comes to PHMC with more than 10 years of experience in public history and heritage management. Most recently, she served as marketing and promotions manager for the Friends of Drake Well, Inc. 

Mann also worked as both Oil 150 deputy director and senior project manager for heritage development at the Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry & Tourism, administrator of Pennsylvania's Oil Region National Heritage Area. 

Mann began her career in New Mexico where she served as photo archivist at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. She curated a collection of more than 150,000 photographs, postcards, maps, films, oral histories and slides.

Mann holds a bachelor's degree in history and Spanish from Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio. She earned a master's degree in history and completed all coursework for a doctorate in history at the University of New Mexico.

Drake Well Museum interprets the story of the oil industry which began in 1859 when Edwin L. Drake drilled the first commercially successful oil well and launched the modern petroleum industry.

For more information on Drake Well Museum, visit www.drakewell.org.

Media contact: Howard Pollman, 717-705-8639

SOURCE Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission