George Garner
Civil Rights Heritage Center
Expert Bio
George Garner is assistant director and curator at the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. He has dedicated his career to exploring how museums and other memory spaces can lead people to make meaning from traumatic histories and use that history to work actively toward change. Garner is excited by efforts to move beyond traditional museum models and recognize how museums can become a thriving and integral part of 21st-century communities.
Garner earned his M.A. in museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program, where he gained experience in museum administration, exhibitions and collections care at institutions including the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael’s, Maryland.
Since 2012, he has served in various curatorial and administrative roles at the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center.
Areas of Expertise
South Bend history, museum studies, museums, local history, museum exhibitions, exhibitions.