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Conversations on the Commons: One Year Later
July 9, 2021 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am
We’re Turning 1! A Commons first-year anniversary check-in
A conversation with Lesley Herzberg, Executive Director of the Berkshire County Historical Society at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead, and Kristin L. Peszka, Interpretation & Visitor Services Director at the Paul Revere House
July 9, 2021, 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. *new time!*
How is your Summer going? Conversations on the Commons was our response to the pandemic. Like everyone else, we worked on making hay out of our limitations.
Restrictions have been lifted–now what? Are you still requiring masks? Have you changed your timed ticketing process? Are you able to finally re-open!? Are you missing anything from the past year? What has changed?
Everything changed in March 2020 and now we’re at it again. Join us for a check-in with your colleagues, to share how you are doing, ask questions that you need help with, and work together as we all navigate our new normal (again!).
This conversation will be moderated by Gloria Greis, Executive Director of the Needham History Center & Museum. Registration is free.
This Conversation will be livestreamed. We will do our best to monitor your questions and comments during the livestream. A recording will be publicly available in the Conversations on the Commons Archive.
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- Gloria Polizzotti Greis been Executive Director of the Needham History Center & Museum since June 2002. She has worked in museums since 1985. She has also taught both Anthropology and Museums Studies at the college level, and had experience teaching in a museum setting with high school and elementary school classes. Dr Greis is a Needham resident. She holds a PhD in Anthropology, specializing in the archaeology of prehistoric Europe. She is the author of two books on archaeology; a book and three films on local history; several articles on history, archaeology and various other topics; and writes a weekly local history blog. She is Chair of the Needham Historical Commission, sits on several municipal committees and nonprofit boards, and is an elected Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
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- Lesley Herzberg is the Executive Director of the Berkshire County Historical Society at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She received her BA in Religious Studies and Anthropology from Kenyon College and her MA in Art History from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Prior to joining the staff at Arrowhead, Herzberg held posts at Hancock Shaker Village, the Bidwell House Museum, the Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio, the Biltmore Estate, the National Gallery of Art, and the Jewish Museum of London. Additionally, she has worked on the business side of the art world as assistant curator to the sculptor J. Seward Johnson, and as an appraiser of furniture and decorative arts at a Chicago auction house.
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- Kristin Peszka is Interpretation & Visitor Services Director at the Paul Revere House. The Paul Revere Memorial Association operates one of the country’s most-visited historic homes with around 300,000 visitors annually before COVID. Kristin oversees daily operations at the museum, hiring, training, and managing a staff of around 20 part-time museum interpreters. Over 20 years (beginning as a part-time interpreter herself) Kristin has developed and taught educational programs for students, adult groups, and the general public; created and led teacher’s workshops; and worked on teams which planned and realized landmark projects including 100th anniversary celebrations, a major expansion project, and safe operations through the COVID pandemic. Kristin holds a master’s degree in Museum Education. Previous museum experience includes positions at both historic house museums and children’s museums.
Questions? Be in touch with Caroline Littlewood: commons@masshistoryalliance.org
Conversations on the Commons
Where people from Massachusetts history organizations get to vent, empathize, laugh, complain, think, collaborate, brainstorm, plan, and in general be up to no good.