Dawn Munger

Curator of Collections

Dawn Munger has been Curator of Collections at the Riley County Historical Museum since 2018. She grew up in Chicago, and still returns there regularly to visit family. Dawn earned a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Loyola University Chicago, with a focus on archeology. She then moved to Lawrence, Kansas in 2007 to work as an archeologist for a cultural resources management company, working her way up to Assistant Project Manager and Lab Supervisor over her 11 years there. During her time in Lawrence, she also received her master’s degree in Museum Studies from the University of Kansas.

Dawn moved to Manhattan in August of 2018 to take on the position of Curator of Collections at the Riley County Historical Museum and considers herself lucky to be able to do a job she truly loves. One of the things she enjoys most is researching the items in the collection to better tell their history and the history of their previous owners.

Dawn is also the Museum Department representative for our County’s REACH Committee, an officer on the board of the Manhattan/Riley County Preservation Alliance, and recently joined the Scholarships Committee for the Kansas Museums Association. She also had the opportunity to take part in the 2020-2021 Flint Hills Leadership Program.

In her free time, Dawn enjoys a good sour beer or gin-based cocktail, reading, video games, exploring the outdoors, and lots of cat snuggles in front of the TV.