Jonathan Olly

I am a museum curator and public historian with over ten years of experience at history, art, and anthropology museums in research, writing, exhibition production, and collections management.

I am passionate about preserving and interpreting our cultural heritage. Whether historic buildings and landscapes, artifacts, local legends, or traditional foodways, my goal is to help preserve these historical touchstones and make them relevant and accessible to their communities.

In 2013 I completed a PhD dissertation that explored how various organizations, individuals, businesses, and the federal government helped to create coastal New England's sense of place in the twentieth century and today.

More broadly, I'm drawn to how we understand the past through the objects, media, people, and environments around us. There are stories everywhere, and they matter.