SELECT HISTORIC HOUSE EXHIBITIONS
Curatorial and historical content team member on William Conner House, Conner Prairie Interactive History Park, Fishers, IN (2016: permanent)
Reinterpretation and reinstallation of 1823 multi-use house built and occupied by bi-cultural fur trader / Indian translator / land speculator William Conner and his family.
Reinterpretation/reinstallation of Montgomery Place's first floor (2010-15)
Living quarters for Ishmael, Sib, and Abby, an enslaved family, Van Cortlandt Manor (2009: permanent)
Reinterpretation/reinstallation of colonial slave site Philipsburg Manor (2004: permanent)
Interpretive/installation plan for a suite of Victorian Rooms, Piatt Castles, West Liberty, OH (2001)
Greenwich Historical Society, Greenwich, CT (1990)
Temporary reinstallation and reinterpretation of Bush-Holley house to represent the Holley/MacRae boarding house/summer art colony, c. 1900 to coincide with a companion exhibition at the Bruce Museum. The re-creation of Elmer MacRae's studio remained as part of the permanent exhibition.
OUTDOOR AND INDOOR INTERPRETIVE PANEL EXHIBITIONS
Kinderhook Reformed Church: Centuries of Service to God and Community, Kinderhook, NY (2012: permanent)
Co-curator, An American Arcadia, series of interpretive panels placed in the Montgomery Place landscape and accompanying brochure (2011: permanent)
Slavery and Resistance in the Hudson Valley, New York State Underground Railroad Heritage Trail Regional Center at Philipsburg Manor (2011: permanent)
The Spring Holiday Called Pinkster: An African Survival in Colonial New York, ArtsWestchester (2010)
DIGITAL EXHIBITIONS
An American Arcadia: Americans' Changing Relationship with Land and Nature at Montgomery Place (2012-2022)
Beauty & the Brick: Illustrated Books & 19th-Century Domestic Design (2002-19)
Cross Roads & Cross Rivers: Diversity in Colonial New York, online version (1999-2019)
Exhibition Slide Show
COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT SERVICES
EXHIBITIONS & COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT
KInderhook (NY) Reformed Church,
Series of History Panels
Kate Johnson,HistoryConsulting.com
Kate can advise on:
Accessioning and Cataloging Projects
Deaccessioning initiatives
Large-scale Moves and Reinstallation of art,
artifact and book collections
Design of Collections Storage Areas
Sample Projects:
Greenwich (CT) Historical Society (2015-16)
Consultant on Collections and Humanities Assessment involving the improvement of collections management and cross-departmental considerations about interpretation of collection items.
Greenwich (CT) Historical Society (2012)
Helped GHS Archivist develop a theme-based image digitization plan based on the institution's strategic plan, collection strengths, and upcoming exhibitions and programs.
Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, PA (1992)
HSWP was offered the complete contents of a Victorian house. Kate compared thousands of objects to HSWP’s collections scope and wrote a report recommending which artifacts should be accepted into the collection.
At Historic Hudson Valley:
Chaired curatorial and library/archives space design team for HHV’s headquarters building in Pocantico HIlls; worked with library consultants, interior designers, and move planners; served on the committee that planned the move
Oversaw removal, off-site storage, return, and installation of Philipsburg Manor’s artifact collection to allow for building restoration
Co-managed design/construction of HHV's climate-controlled storage facility
Orchestrated move of HHV’s research library
Oversaw the cataloging of Montgomery Place Historic Estate’s contents (10,000+ objects)
Talk to Kate about your exhibition plans and requirements. Her experience is broad and deep. She has curated and project-managed gallery, online, historic interior, and outdoor and indoor interpretive panel exhibitions. These exhibitions won support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Henry C. Luce Foundation, the Robert Lehman Foundation, Connecticut Humanities, and the New York State Council on the Arts, among other funders.
Aside from curating exhibitions, she can also assemble and manage a project team -- working with curators, registrars, designers, installers, educators, and communications staff to meet goals and deadlines. She can also create a menu of museum programming to accompany exhibitions. She can write and /or oversee the production of exhibition catalogs, brochures, and checklists. Kate can also write and implement installation (furnishing) plans for historic interiors.
Whatever your needs, Kate is happy to contribute as an advisor, team member, or project manager.
GALLERY EXHIBITIONS
(Nearly all of the following were accompanied by a catalog or a related publication)
Greenwich Faces the Great War
(Gallery exhibition with interactive iPad component, World War I themed historic house installation, and demonstration victory garden), Greenwich (CT) Historical Society (2014-15)
Celebrating Historic Hudson Valley at 60: Rockefeller Patronage in Sleepy Hollow Country, Winter Antiques Show Loan Exhibition, Park Avenue Armory, Manhattan (2012)
Remembrances of a Romantic Landscape: The Garden Ornament of Montgomery Place, Montgomery Place Greenhouse (2004)
The following mounted at the Philipsburg Manor Gallery:
Cross Roads & Cross Rivers: Diversity in Colonial New York
Irving Illustrated (literary painting and graphic design)
Gallant Gothic (gothic revival architecture, paintings, and objects)
Beloved Keepsakes (miniature paintings on ivory)
Art of the Landscape: Sunnyside, Montgomery Place and Romanticism
Of Sterling Character (silver and gold objects)
The Limner’s Trade (colonial- and federal-period paintings with related historic clothing and accessories)
Committed to Paper
Through the Looking Glass (wall mirrors and reflective devices)
From Trade to Treason: The Philipses and the 300th Anniversary of Philipsburg’s Manorial Charter
Preserving New York, Federal Hall National Historic Site and Philipsburg Manor Gallery
And:
Visions of Washington Irving (Historic Hudson Valley's paintings collection) Registrar and Catalog Contributor, Federal Hall National Historic Site/Hudson River Museum/New York State Museum