BOARD OF TRUSTEES |
|
Historic Northampton
Board of Trustees Mary Beth Brooker
Shara Denson Amanda Herman Cassandra Holden Adam Holmes Sara Lennox Tom Navin Jim Neill Gina Nortonsmith Diane Porcella Elizabeth Stone |
Elizabeth Stone, President
Elizabeth Stone is a contemporary figurative artist who works at her home studio in Florence, Massachusetts. She began painting in the late 1990’s when she inherited her grandfather’s set of pastels. In May 2014, she curated the exhibit: Nightingale Uncaged: Jenny Lind in Northampton and was subsequently chosen to serve on the steering committee for Contemporary Art at Historic Northampton. She served as Vice-President from October 2018 through September 2019. She was elected President of the Board in September 2019. Amanda Herman, Vice-President Amanda Herman was elected to the board of trustees for a term beginning October 2016. She received a BS in Photography and Education from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and an MFA in Social Practice from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She is founder and producer of Live Art Magazine in Northampton, 2013-2016, director of programs at Laurel Park Arts in Northampton from 2013-2014 and curriculum designer, Fostering Art & A Home Within in San Francisco, 2013-2015. Sara Lennox, Clerk Sara Lennox received her B.A. from DePauw University and her doctorate in Comparative Literature from the University of Wisconsin. For thirty-eight years she taught in the German program at the University of Massachusetts, where she also directed the Social Thought and Political Economy Program, an interdisciplinary social justice program for undergraduates. Since her retirement in 2012 she’s increasingly been able to focus on what is turning out to be her true love, U.S. history. She is a committee member of the David Ruggles Center for Early Florence History and Underground Railroad Studies and a member of the shape note singing community. Originally from Indiana, Sara has lived in Northampton since 1974, and only a few years ago she was amazed to discover that a number of her ancestors were among Northampton’s earliest settlers. Sara functions as board liaison to Meadow City Historians and serves on the programming committee. Gina Nortonsmith, Treasurer Gina Nortonsmith is Project Archivist for the Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University School of Law. She has previously practiced law and served as an administrator in higher education. She has a J.D. and an MILS. Mary Beth Brooker Mary Beth Brooker joined the Board of Historic Northampton in 2023. An artist, performer, and playwright, Mary Beth received an MFA in theater from Smith College, and an MA in European history from University of California, Santa Cruz. She is also a board member of School of Contemporary Dance and Thought (SCDT). She is a former teacher of children’s art and theater, and U.S. and European history, and art history. Mary Beth has lived in Northampton since 2000 after having moved from the San Francisco Bay Area. She lives with her husband, James Lowenthal, astronomer and dark skies advocate, and their daughter Melle, who studies choreography and video at Bennington College. Mary Beth is especially interested in how the arts inform sensibilities of care, of environment, and of human and other species. She hopes that in the years ahead, visitors to Historic Northampton will find in the archives of our times a vibrant arts community that inspired and enriched daily life. Shara Denson Shara Denson is Human Resources Business Partner for Student Affairs & Campus Life, College of Education, College of Humanities & Fine Arts and Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Cassandra Holden Cassandra Holden is an artist, designer, and Creative Director of Laudable Productions. In addition to producing events, she consults with Way Finders, the largest non-profit affordable housing developer in Massachusetts, incorporating public art into their properties and creating residency opportunities for visual and performing artists. She has taught at the Care Center, an alternative educational program for pregnant and parenting teens, creating large scale collaborative sculpture with students. Adam Holmes Adam Holmes is program manager at the W.E.B. DuBois Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Tom Navin Tom Navin is Director of Development at Community Legal Aid, which provides free legal services to low income and elderly residents of central and western Massachusetts. He has been in the field of nonprofit fundraising for over 25 years, having served as Vice President of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement at World Learning/ School for International Training, in Brattleboro, VT; preceded by his 18-year tenure at his alma mater, University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he was Director of Annual Giving. Tom earned a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, and a Master’s Degree in Education from UMass Amherst. Tom lives in Northampton with his husband and their lab/hound mix. He and his husband have long been fascinated by the history of Northampton, and are collectors of early Northampton imprints, maps, photographs, ephemera, and early material history of Northampton. Diane Porcella Diane Porcella is the director of Northampton Neighbors and serves on the board of the Northampton Survival Center. Prior to working for Northampton Neighbors, she was an administrator of the Northampton Arts Council and the Young@Heart Chorus for more than a decade. |
STAFF
Laurie Sanders, Co-Executive Director
lsanders@historicnorthampton.org
Laurie Sanders became co-executive director of Historic Northampton on May 1, 2016. Sanders is a naturalist, writer, and the former host of Field Notes, a weekly natural history series that aired on NEPR for a decade. In 2014 she completed an ecological assessment of all of Northampton’s city-owned conservation areas, which include more than 30 properties and over 2,500 acres. In fall 2015, she presented a six-part lecture series, Rediscovering Northampton: Local History Viewed Through An Ecological Lens. She first came to Northampton in 1983 as a Smith College student and in 1988 she discovered the only known hybrid cross between jack-in-the-pulpit and green dragon, found only in Northampton. She brings a wealth of fundraising and programming experience to the position, writing grants for her own work and as co-chair of the private capital campaign for the Westhampton Public Library.
Elizabeth Sharpe, Co-Executive Director
emsharpe@historicnorthampton.org
Elizabeth Sharpe became co-executive director of Historic Northampton on May 1, 2016. Sharpe is an historian, writer, educator and museum consultant. She is the author of In the Shadow of the Dam: The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874. She has family roots in this area which sparked her research on Connecticut Valley history, architecture, history of technology and material culture for her PhD in History from the University of Delaware. She is the former director of education at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Since she moved back to the Connecticut Valley, she has consulted for museums, written the history of the Mill River Flood, taught history and public history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and at Greenfield Community College in person and online. Most recently she has taught Social Responsibility in Museums at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has been board president of the Amherst Historical Society and the Swift River Historical Society.
Marie Panik, Museum Manager
Email Marie Panik
Marie Panik joined the staff of Historic Northampton in June 1993. She compiled the booklet A Guide to Jonathan Edwards’ Northampton for visitors to Northampton seeking Jonathan Edwards-related sites. She curated the exhibit, The Florence Brush Factory, an exhibit chronicling the history of the Florence Manufacturing Company, later known as the Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Company. Together with Bruce Laurie and Stan Sherer, she curated the exhibit, Chaotic Freedom and the Scars of Slavery. She is a committee member of the David Ruggles Center for History and Education. She holds a degree in history from Smith College.
Kelsy Sinelnikov, Collections Manager
Email Kelsy Sinelnikov
Kelsy Sinelnikov is part-time collections manager at Historic Northampton. Prior to coming to Historic Northampton, she was curator of the Museums of Oglebay Institute in Wheeling, West Virginia. She holds an MA in Public History from Duquesne University in Pennsylvania where she worked in many capacities at a variety of museums including the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, The Carnegie Science Center, and The Senator John Heinz History Center Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village.
lsanders@historicnorthampton.org
Laurie Sanders became co-executive director of Historic Northampton on May 1, 2016. Sanders is a naturalist, writer, and the former host of Field Notes, a weekly natural history series that aired on NEPR for a decade. In 2014 she completed an ecological assessment of all of Northampton’s city-owned conservation areas, which include more than 30 properties and over 2,500 acres. In fall 2015, she presented a six-part lecture series, Rediscovering Northampton: Local History Viewed Through An Ecological Lens. She first came to Northampton in 1983 as a Smith College student and in 1988 she discovered the only known hybrid cross between jack-in-the-pulpit and green dragon, found only in Northampton. She brings a wealth of fundraising and programming experience to the position, writing grants for her own work and as co-chair of the private capital campaign for the Westhampton Public Library.
Elizabeth Sharpe, Co-Executive Director
emsharpe@historicnorthampton.org
Elizabeth Sharpe became co-executive director of Historic Northampton on May 1, 2016. Sharpe is an historian, writer, educator and museum consultant. She is the author of In the Shadow of the Dam: The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874. She has family roots in this area which sparked her research on Connecticut Valley history, architecture, history of technology and material culture for her PhD in History from the University of Delaware. She is the former director of education at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Since she moved back to the Connecticut Valley, she has consulted for museums, written the history of the Mill River Flood, taught history and public history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and at Greenfield Community College in person and online. Most recently she has taught Social Responsibility in Museums at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has been board president of the Amherst Historical Society and the Swift River Historical Society.
Marie Panik, Museum Manager
Email Marie Panik
Marie Panik joined the staff of Historic Northampton in June 1993. She compiled the booklet A Guide to Jonathan Edwards’ Northampton for visitors to Northampton seeking Jonathan Edwards-related sites. She curated the exhibit, The Florence Brush Factory, an exhibit chronicling the history of the Florence Manufacturing Company, later known as the Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Company. Together with Bruce Laurie and Stan Sherer, she curated the exhibit, Chaotic Freedom and the Scars of Slavery. She is a committee member of the David Ruggles Center for History and Education. She holds a degree in history from Smith College.
Kelsy Sinelnikov, Collections Manager
Email Kelsy Sinelnikov
Kelsy Sinelnikov is part-time collections manager at Historic Northampton. Prior to coming to Historic Northampton, she was curator of the Museums of Oglebay Institute in Wheeling, West Virginia. She holds an MA in Public History from Duquesne University in Pennsylvania where she worked in many capacities at a variety of museums including the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, The Carnegie Science Center, and The Senator John Heinz History Center Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village.
Margy Jessup joined the staff of Historic Northampton in June 2021. She had previously worked as an archivist in Smith College Special Collections for over 25 years, primarily focusing on digital preservation and access, archival description, and reference services. She's also worked at the Jones Library in Amherst and the UMass Amherst Library. Margy holds a Masters in Library Science with a concentration in Archival Administration from Simmons College, and a B.A. in History from UMass Amherst.