CINCINNATI – Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) manages a collection of history objects and fine art dating back more than 200 years, to Cincinnati’s earliest days and even predating the city itself. This week, CMC announced the hiring of Katherine Gould to care for and maintain those collections as its new Curator of History Objects & Fine Art.
Gould’s primary role as curator will be to manage, preserve and facilitate access to CMC’s history collections and to collaborate with internal and external partners around interpretation and research. She will also be responsible for assessing new items to be added to the collections. In the process, she will help create inclusive, future-focused strategies for collecting and preserving material culture that will bring forward marginalized narratives, diversify the collections and broaden perspectives on Cincinnati history.
“Katherine’s thoughtful approach to collecting, research and storytelling with objects brings even more depth to our strong history team,” said Whitney Owens, chief learning officer at Cincinnati Museum Center. “Her commitment to making the study of history relevant, inclusive and forward-looking is going to shape our collecting initiatives, programming and exhibition in wonderful ways.”
Gould brings 25 years of public history and curatorial experience to CMC. She has spent the past 23 years at the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, including five years as Curator of Cultural History, where she expanded the breadth of their collections and implemented their LGBTQ+ collecting initiative. Gould has curated or co-curated several exhibitions, including 100 Years Later: Indiana in the First World War, Indiana in 200 Objects: A Bicentennial Exhibition, Art Meets News, Eternal James Dean, Art for the Nation and Violin Making. Gould holds a BA in history from Grand Valley State University and completed graduate coursework in public history at Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis.
“I’m excited to join such a storied organization as Cincinnati Museum Center and look forward to becoming part of the Cincinnati community,” said Gould. “I can’t wait to get started with the collections and add to the history and wonderful work that’s already been done.”
CMC began actively collecting objects in the 1980s and the History Objects & Fine Art collection has since grown to more than 45,000 objects and works of art.
For more information, visit www.cincymuseum.org
