Carville Museum Curator Eilizabeth Schexnyder

With over 30-years experience in libraries, archives, and museums, Elizabeth Schexnyder spoke at the JHS General Membership Meeting on Thursday, January 28, 2021, at the East Bank Regional Library at 6:30 p.m. Her topic was the National Hansen’s Disease Museum in Carville, LA. 

Elizabeth, a native of Lafayette Parish, arrived in Carville in 1997 while completing her graduate degree in library sci-ence at LSU. At that time, the Carville hospital was in the process of downsizing and moving from its original rural lo-cation on the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge. She assessed the hospital’s photograph collection for preservation and future exhibition. In 1999, Elizabeth completed her graduate degree at Louisiana State University, graduating summa cum laude in Library and Information Science. She studied on a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Scholarship. 

In 2002, Elizabeth returned to become the first curator at the museum in Carville. Since then, she has designed and managed a major renovation and developed exhibits and programming to support the mission of the museum—to pre-serve and share the history of the national leprosarium. She guides a steady stream of researchers and student groups through the archives and exhibits. 

Present exhibits include touchscreen technology, audio driving tours through the Carville Historic District, and virtual online tours.