Staff
Jarrod is originally from Hartford, Wisconsin, and credits his love for museums to his mother taking him to the Milwaukee Public Museum as a child. Jarrod earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996 double-majoring in History and Anthropology and interning at the Wisconsin State Historical Museum. During the summer of 1996, Jarrod had the great fortune of attending a field school co-taught by the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center and UW-La Crosse. This experience gave Jarrod a brief but exciting introduction to the history and pre-history of the Driftless Region of Wisconsin.
Having gained a desire to share his love of history with others through his internship with the Wisconsin State Historical Museum, Jarrod decided to pursue a career in history museums. In 2000, he earned a Master’s degree from the Cooperstown Graduate Program in History Museum Studies, located in Cooperstown, New York. Jarrod’s instruction at CGP surrounded historical research, exhibit development, and historic collections care. He also was able to work at several history museums around New York and Vermont.
Upon receiving his MA in Museum Studies in 2000, Jarrod accepted the position of Curator for the Pejepscot Historical Society in Brunswick, Maine. In 2002, he had the opportunity to return to his home state of Wisconsin and apply his museum skills and professional training to the Monroe County Local History Room & Museum, in Sparta. Jarrod has served as Director of MCLHR since 2002.
Hannah grew in Holmen, Wisconsin and got the “history bug” at a young age helping her grandmother with genealogy, church history, and local history projects. She graduated summa cum laude from Wartburg College in 2008 with a triple major in History, American History Education, and World History Education.
Hannah got her start in the museum world volunteering as the Archivist with the Holmen Area Historical Society. She also worked as the Museum Educator for the Onalaska Area Historical Society before joining the Monroe County Local History Room & Museum (MCLHR) staff in June 2015. She is also a professional genealogist.
As Museum Services Associate at MCLHR, Hannah enjoys getting to wear the many hats of collections work, exhibit development, school and public programing, assisting with local and family history research projects, marketing, moderating the MCLHR Facebook page, and everything in between.
One of her favorite things about working at MCLHR is getting to see visitors’ reactions to and connections made with items on display—especially with the History Room’s annual holiday displays. It might be something from the pioneer era or a photo or pop culture artifact from recent history that sparks a memory and story shared across generations.
Lydia is originally from Roscoe, South Dakota but has lived in La Crescent, Minnesota since 2020. Having been homeschooled up until high school, she had an independent form of education and had a constant companion of books and stories and that grew into a passion for history—an ever flowing story with countless facets to discover. In her free time, she enjoys learning about specific events or public figures of history and learns as much as she can of a particular time, such as: the Salem Witch Trials, P.T. Barnum, and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Lydia attended Wisconsin Lutheran College, completed the Honor’s Program, and in 2022 earned her Bachelor’s degree in History. Lydia always loves being able to connect with others in her passion of history and will talk a mile a minute if given the opportunity. Lydia worked as a Preschool Teacher before coming to work at the Monroe County Local History Room & Museum. She finds joy from still being able to see young minds make connections at the Museum and being able to help foster a love of local history.
Board of Trustees
Jim Kuhn, Chair
Portland Twp.
Carolyn Habelman, Vice Chair
New Lyme Twp.
Cheryl Weber, Treasurer
Tomah City
Annette Erickson
Sparta Twp.
Rick Kast
Melvina Village
Eric Pederson
Leon Twp.
Left to right: Carolyn Habelman, MCLHR Director Jarrod Roll, Jim Kuhn, Rick Kast, Eric Pederson, Annette Erickson, and Cheryl Weber