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New Leadership For NHCHS
Lamothe wants to bring ‘contemporary' focus to historical society
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Business New Haven
4/17/2000
By:
Priscilla Searles
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Peter Thomas Lamothe is the new executive director of the New Haven Colony Historical Society.
Coming to New Haven from the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum in Boston, where he served as interim curator of education, the youthful Lamothe is the latest out-of-stater to head up a New Haven non-profit. Edward Franquement, executive director of the New Haven Preservation Trust, arrived in the Elm City nine months ago and the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce and the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven are both in the market for new leadership.
As Lamothe himself points out: “One of the pluses is that I don't know New Haven or the society, so I have no preconceived ideas or opinions.” But Lamothe seems to go where he wants to go. “One of my objectives is to make this institution - its objects, its programming, its image - very contemporary,” he says.
“We need to secure the collection and develop an ambitious program schedule,” says Lamothe. “A long-range plan is needed - where does this institution want to go? No one wants to put money into an institution that's not going anywhere. I have to start with effective survey and assessment of current initiatives, get a firm grasp of what's going on and how this institution is perceived. We need to reach a broad and diverse audience. Our programs have to generate an institutional rebirth.”
Not wasting any time, Lamothe began to introduce himself to people active in the New Haven arts community one hour after arriving at the NHCHS. If people were concerned about the fact that the Gardiner and the NHCHS are different animals, Lamothe wastes no time in explaining why he made the move.
“I was lucky enough to be working in an art museum while I was working on my master's, but history is my field,” he explains. “It's always been my objective and I wanted to get back into that field. History has always been what I liked, what I excelled in, what I enjoy and something I can be happy doing every day.”
Lamothe, who earned a B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Massachusetts, began his career at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation in Charlottesville, Va., where he served as development and public affairs assistant. He joined the Gardiner in 1995 where he held a number of positions in the field of education.
Positive about the job he faces, Lamothe says, “I consider the [historical] society on the verge of remarkable growth in many areas and I'm looking forward to being the person charged with that responsibility.”
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