Patty Miller: Director of Basque Museum and Cultural Center

Patty Miller – Executive Director of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center

Patty Miller has been associated with the Basque Museum and Cultural Center for more than two decades. The Basque Museum and Cultural Center is a local non-profit organization that presents Basque history and culture to the Treasure valley through exhibits, public history projects, historic preservation, Basque language classes, and other events.  Patty’s position as the head of the Basque dancers led to her becoming a full-time employee (the only full-time employee at the time) at the museum before she was appointed the director in 1993. Since then the museum has grown substantially, and its prominence within the community has also increased. While Patty Miller was initially responsible for all the work associated with the museum (including janitorial), she now primarily manages other employees, writes grants, develops projects, and promotes community education. Patty did not come to the Basque Museum and Cultural Center with the typical academic background in applied/public history or museum studies. She does, however, have experience in business and in grant writing which has helped her be successful. Patty also credits the success of the Museum and Cultural Center with having a diverse board of directors—coming from many different career backgrounds—and to the support of the Basque country. The museum’s ties to the Basque country began in the 1990s when they provided internet service and computers to Basque clubs throughout the world. Since the 1990s the museum’s ties to the Basque community have increased. The Basque country now provides multiple grants to support numerous projects such as Basque language education and the Ellis Island exhibit.

            Patty has been involved in many projects during her tenure as the director of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center. The most recent was an exhibit at Ellis Island called “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Basques.” The idea for the project came from a Basque official who was in New York. The project was first proposed to Ellis Island by the Museum in 2008 and was denied. After revisions it was given the green light. The exhibit explores the language, customs, traditions and values of the Basque people as well as the allure that America held for them. The cost of the project was rather substantial—totaling $150,000—and had to be raised. For anyone interested in the exhibit it is now on display at the Basque Museum.

            Another of Patty’s favorite projects was “Inner Strength: Portraits of Basque Immigrant Women.” The purpose of this project was to collect oral histories from first generation Basque immigrant women, many of whom were over 100 years of age.

            A third project Patty was involved in was the restructuring of the streetscape around the Basque block. The purpose of this project was to create a more open and public space so that community could extend beyond the buildings. A major point of conflict during this project was the fate of several trees. The then president of the board of directors wanted to keep the trees, which required 20’ of unpaved space in order to keep the trees from dying. There was gridlock until it was decided that the trees would be replanted in a memorial site.

            Some of Patty’s future plans for the museum include expanding the collections (especially oral histories), the creation of an endowment, and addressing the museum’s space and storage issues.