Our dedicated team is here to serve you.
Get to know us a bit better by reading our biographies below.
Executive Director
Shannon Gavin Johnson
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. ~Winston Churchill
Shannon Gavin Johnson, of Fayette, Alabama, holds a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Alabama. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Samford University in Birmingham. While completing her master’s degree, she began working at the Troup County Archives as an intern. She was selected to complete a highly competitive internship with the National Archives and Records Administration in Seattle, where she spent four months working at the National Archives Pacific Alaska Regional facility. Upon completion of her internship and degree, Shannon began working full-time as the archivist at the Troup County Archives. From August 2015 to December 2016, she served as Assistant Director of the facility and spearheaded a much-needed overhaul of the technology systems required to maintain and catalog nearly 190 years of government and private manuscript collections stored in three different locations around LaGrange.
Shannon was promoted to Executive Director in January 2017. Since her promotion, she has introduced new programs and materials to take the area’s history to the area’s people. Shannon has increased much-needed funding to the Archives and has established a strong professional staff of archivists and historians. Shannon oversaw a significant renovation to the Archives’ Fort Georgia records storage facility, tripling the storage space.
Shannon was named to LaGrange Daily News‘ 2019 class of 20 under 40. In June of 2022, Shannon was named the official County Historian. Shannon is a member of the Society of American Archivists, the Society of Georgia Archivists, serves as the Second Vice-Regent of the LaGrange Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, Rotary International, and serves on the board of LaGrange International Friendship Exchange. As the Director of TCHS, she also serves on the City of LaGrange’s Downtown Historic Preservation Commission and is the chair of the Troup County Historic Preservation Commission. She resides in LaGrange with her husband, Forrest, and their children, Hardy and Gunner.
Curator
Victoria Larcheveaux
The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are. ~Maya Angelou
Victoria is originally from Columbus, Georgia and recently relocated to the Lagrange area. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History with a minor in Biblical Studies from Point University in 2020. While there, she conducted extensive research and presented her thesis titled “Public Libraries and the African-American Pursuit to Read,” about the desegregation of public libraries in southern states during the era of Jim Crow. History and the Civil Rights Era have long been of particular interest to her and she is always excited to learn more and give a new perspective on all things related. In her free time, you can find her testing out new recipes and spending time with friends.
Government Records Archivist
Emma McQuiston
Most archivists don’t like surprises. That’s why we work in the past. ~Brad Meltzer
Emma McQuiston is from Phenix City, Alabama. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama and a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science with a concentration in archival studies from The University of Alabama. She has a real passion for preserving history, especially in areas that deal with the Civil Rights Era and social justice. Her love for the archives comes from the idea that you never know what you will find in a collection. When not processing a collection, Emma enjoys traveling with her family and time with her dog, Kiwi.
Manuscripts Archivist
Randall Allen
History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there. ~George Santayana
Randy is the longest serving member of TCA staff. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from LaGrange College and has over thirty years of archival and records management experience. He is the editor and author of several books on local history including Campaigning with “Old Stonewall”: Confederate Captain Ujanirtus Allen’s Letters to His Wife and Estate Records of Troup County, Georgia, 1827-1850. Randy is an avid traveler, having been to all fifty states and all but one continent. When home from work and trips, he farms and gardens and enjoys life with his dog, Ruben.
Research Archivist
Lewis O. Powell, IV
Preservation is in the business of saving communities and the values they embody. ~Richard Moe
Lewis is a mostly lifelong resident of Troup County. A graduate of LaGrange High School, he attended Columbus State University where he majored in Theatre and minored in Voice. During his time there he also served as the student assistant in the university’s archives. After graduating, he was asked to work with Columbus historian F. Clason Kyle on his book, In Order of Appearance. After being laid off from corporate America at the height of the recession in 2009, Lewis returned to LaGrange and took up blogging to combat the stresses of unemployment. With experience as a historical researcher, he delved into the world of Southern ghost stories, which he continues to cover in his blog, Southern Spirit Guide. Work on that blog led to the publication of his book, Southern Spirit Guide’s Haunted Alabama in 2015. Through his blog, Lewis was interviewed on the radio and in a number of publications, including the LaGrange Living Magazine and the University of Tennessee’s The Beacon; as well as sharing his ghost stories as a storyteller throughout the region. He created a downtown LaGrange ghost tour, the Strange LaGrange Tour, for the TCHS in 2019 and was hired as a staff member in 2020. Lewis’ interests include not only local ghostlore; he also enjoys studying Native America, the Arts (especially in regards to live performances), slavery, architecture, and LGBTQ+/Queer history.
Archival Assistant
Jessica Burke
Don’t adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on
the story. ~Bilbo Baggins
Jessica Burke, a LaGrange native, helps provide records management services to the City of LaGrange, the City of Hogansville, Troup County, and the Troup County School System. Her art, marketing, and film editing experience make her a creative spirit on our staff. She can be found directing and editing videos for the Historical Society, Archives, and Legacy Museum as well as creating the designs on our sidewalk sign. An avid lover of books, she also looks over the bookstore in Legacy Museum. She is a single mother to Kameryn, a budding musician and Health Care Sciences student.
Imaging Technician
Joseph A. Biagi
History makes things interesting.
Joseph is a native of LaGrange and works to digitize records within the holdings of the Archives. He scans court documents, deeds, and school records, fifty or more per day, and sometimes as many as two hundred a day. Joseph gained experience in library work from LaGrange Memorial Library, LaGrange College’s Frank and Laura Lewis Library, and West Georgia Technical College library where he earned a diploma in Business Office Technologies. Joseph can be found studying fact books in his spare time and his colleagues rely on him for information on the street structure of LaGrange and Troup County.
Receptionist
Kristen Loveless
In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in
between, there are doors. ~William Blake
Kristen grew up in LaGrange and graduated from LaGrange High School. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Secondary English Education from Kennesaw State University. Kristen loves “learning about history because it can teach us so much about ourselves through others’ experiences.” In her spare time, she enjoys reading and spending time with her family.
Receptionist
Kyle Herron
Carpe Diem ~ Roman Poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus
