Word-Burning Stove

A small-business home for exhibition writers and editors since 2005. Our balanced team of thoughtful communicators uses words to connect visitors to public spaces. WBS jumps into the process anywhere, from content selection and organization to rewrites, edits, and proofs.

Bonnie Wallace

Bonnie has written for museums for more than twenty years. She has written with teams and solo for many clients, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, The Franklin Institute, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the California Academy of Sciences, and most recently the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial museum in in St. Louis.

Bonnie’s recent work:

  • At the Vanguard, NMAAHC, Washington, DC

  • Gateway Arch Museum, St. Louis

  • The Bias Inside Us, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES)

Lillian Cheeks

Lillian entered the world of museum writing when she joined the Word Burning Stove team in 2022. Since then, she has conducted archival research for the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, worked as a workshop designer/facilitator and script writer for the National Capital Planning Commission, and written content syntheses for Quatrefoil Associates.
Lillian is also a PhD student in the sociology department at UCLA where she studies social interaction and medical sociology.

Lillian’s recent work:

  • At the Vanguard, NMAAHC, Washington, DC

  • National Capital Planning Committee’s centennial exhibition, Washington, DC

  • The History of Lynching in Maryland, Reginald Lewis Museum, Baltimore