Regina Gayle Phillips became involved in The Lincolnville Museum & Cultural Center as a volunteer when her husband, Floyd Phillips, accepted the position as its President in 2015. Now, a decade later, Gayle serves as the Executive Director of the museum, where she has taken on many projects to further meet the center’s goals: to preserve, present, and perpetuate Black history and heritage in Saint Augustine.

Phillips emphasizes the importance of a multifaceted historical community, in which every member has a role to play. She recognizes that the most effective contribution The Lincolnville Museum can make to the local African American community is that of accurate storytelling and record keeping.

Exhibits found at the Lincolnville Museum paint a picture of the centuries of history of African Americans in Saint Augustine. Covering subjects spanning from Fort Mose to The Civil Rights Movement, visitors take a journey through time, uncovering many wrongfully untold stories of key actors in American history.

You can interact with digital exhibits, such as the “Women Who Made a Difference” kiosk, then turn the corner to see the original bartop and stools from the sit-in at Woolworth’s. These exhibits tell a moving story, revealing the harsh realities and incredible power to overcome that have defined African American history. “What many may not realize is that a museum has functions beyond its exhibits,” Phillips points out.

Researchers come to the Lincolnville Museum seeking information from their archives to further expand the understanding of local African American life for both personal and academic purposes. It is the goal of the Phillips family for the museum to be a hub where people can come with their questions and either find the answers in the archive there, or be directed to one of the other historical associations in town that may house the information sought.

Building the archives is an ongoing project as many Saint Augustine locals may possess documents or artifacts that are of greater significance than meets the eye. Things like newspaper articles, marriage, birth, and death certificates, photographs of daily life — all of these materials help museum curators and researchers pinpoint facts and paint a fuller picture of the community’s storied past. The Lincolnville Museum welcomes any donations from locals whose families may have these types of items in their homes.

While, with a skeleton staff, every project is daunting, Regina Gayle says she’s taking the museum improvements “one bite at a time.”

They have just installed a state-of-the-art sound stage and performance hall, capable of seating around 100 people, on the second floor of the Lincolnville Museum. This gorgeous new renovation allows the museum to continue its tradition of serving as an open space for community collaboration. The Lincolnville Museum & Cultural Center has a long history of hosting local music and arts festivals geared toward community growth. The latest work on the building enhances their ability to foster local art and culture in a central location.

The work that the Phillips family has put in is extraordinary, but would not have been possible without an army of dedicated volunteers. Every project that takes place at the museum is “all hands on deck,” with the staff and budget being minimal. However, it is a place like the Lincolnville Museum that reminds people of the power of community involvement; and visitors become volunteers quickly after feeling the impact of the stories housed there.