Exciting changes to the Rosenbach’s leadership team

The Rosenbach is pleased to announce some exciting changes to its leadership team, signaling a greater focus on audience growth and outreach, accessibility to Philadelphia communities, and the care and accessibility of one of the world’s most significant collections of rare books, manuscripts, and historical objects related to literature and history.  

Alexander L. Ames has been promoted to the Director of a new Outreach & Engagement Department that will encompass public programs such as Austen Mondays, on-site programs like Behind the Bookcase hands-on tours, and exhibitions. Ames holds degrees in information media, public history, and American material culture, and received a Ph.D. in the history of American civilization and museum studies from the University of Delaware.  Ames interned at the Rosenbach in 2014, and he joined the full-time staff in September 2018 as Collections Engagement Manager before serving as Associate Curator starting in January 2022. He was lead curator of The Art of Ownership: Bookplates and Book Collectors from 1480 to the Present in 2016 and American Voyager: Herman Melville at 200 in 2019. He project-directed the digital exhibition I Am An American! The Authorship and Activism of Alice Dunbar Nelson in 2020. He is also the developer and host of the Rosenbach Podcast.
Emilie Parker, Hirsig Family Director of Education, will develop new programs for school-aged children and families, revitalizing and expanding on programming that paused during the pandemic. Parker, who will retain her position’s title, endowed by the late Nancy and Al Hirsig, is a museum educator with twenty-five years of experience in the field. She holds a B.A. in Art History and Classical Civilization from Colby College and an M.A. in Museum Studies from the University of Newcastle in the UK. She began her career at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA, and then moved to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where she served as the Coordinator of Teacher Programs for eight years. For the past fourteen years, Parker has been the Director of Education at the Rosenbach. Parker created the Museum Adventures program at the Rosenbach, which was a monthly drop-in program for pre-schoolers that used the historic house as a jumping off point for age-appropriate art activities. Stay tuned for an announcement about its return in the coming months along with programs for students and teachers from kindergarten through college. 

Jobi Zink, who has been the Registrar at the Rosenbach since 2014, has been promoted to Registrar and Associate Director of Collections. The Rosenbach is undertaking several multi-year projects that will update and make digitally accessible catalog records for thousands of items, including rare books and manuscripts; modernize and standardize systems for collections management and care; and repair and upgrade our historic buildings. In the past year, the Rosenbach has been awarded multi-year grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation to undertake these projects. Zink will work on these major projects while continuing to manage numerous loans of collections items to and from peer museums and libraries. Prior to coming to Philadelphia, Zink served as the Registrar & Senior Collections Manager at the Jewish Museum of Maryland for 15 years. She is a member of ARCS, the Association of Registrars & Collections Specialists; CS-AAM the Collections Stewardship professional group of the American Alliance of Museums; the Delaware Valley Registrar’s Group; and a peer reviewer for the IMLS. 

 

 

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