The Hancock Shaker Village Board of Trustees have picked Jennifer Trainer Thompson’s successor to lead the Pittsfield, Massachusetts museum. Nathaniel Silver, currently the Curator of the Collection and Division Head at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, has also worked at The Frick Collection in New York City and the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Next month, he’ll take over as Executive Director and CEO of the village site that once housed the communally-minded utopian Shaker sect. Silver spoke with WAMC.
SILVER: I've worked in the nonprofit area for over 10 years at several different museums. The interesting thing about two of those museums is that they were not just incredible collections, but they also included the buildings themselves as architectural monuments. And one of them also included the grounds. And I would say that that is a particularly unique aspect of Hancock Shaker Village, that the village is not just a collection of over 22,000 incredible works of Shaker material culture, but also the amazing, 20 18th century buildings on the property as well as the 750 acres in the working farm. So you know, I would say in that respect, I have some experience in working with nonprofit, with an arts organization, that is a whole work of art, a work of art in its entirety.
When you think about different ways that the village could grow looking forward, walk me through that, what are some ideas about potential avenues forward for the village out of where it is today?
So I would first of all want to take some time and better understand the needs of the staff and of the village. But I think there are a couple of really incredible cornerstones that gives the village really like a guiding North Star, and those are the Shaker values themselves. The Shakers believed deeply in equity, gender and racial equity, and I think that's something that that the public programs have been really helping to drive home. And they believe very deeply in sustainability, and that affects the whole campus at Hancock Shaker Village. And that's something that I think we can find new and really fascinating ways of communicating to our visitors.
You, of course, have spent almost the last decade working at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a famous Boston institution. Can you talk a little bit about what that experience was like, and how institutions like the Gardner or like the Shaker Village can play into communities?
Sure, I think that the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a fantastic institution. I've really enjoyed every minute of my almost eight years working there. It's a legacy institution, it's a quintessentially American institution, in that it was founded by an American woman ahead of her time as a legacy for the public for the community. And she says that, in fact, in her bequest. You know, I see a lot of parallels there with Hancock Shaker Village. The Village as a nonprofit was intended for the visitors, for our community. And we want to keep working with our community and helping them to understand why we are relevant today. And I think one of the interesting things about institutions like this, that is, you know, legacy institutions, is that they tell a story of our past, of the past of this country, at a moment in our increasingly complex present when people are looking increasingly to the past to help us to understand that present, and the diversity of experiences of the past, whether a museum founded by a woman or an entire movement like the Shaker movement that was also founded by a woman and led by women, and how that speaks today is just more relevant than it's ever been before.
Now, in the press release, you talk about Shaker values around equity and sustainability as possible examples of a past to draw on. Walk me through that, why did you choose those two examples?
Why did I choose those two examples? Well, we know for a fact that the Shaker movement was a female founded movement and there were many female leaders in the movement, which, frankly, in the late 18th century in the United States is unusual. And that was actually something that really appealed to me, because I'm coming to the Shaker Village from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which was founded a little bit later, founded in the early 20th century by a really pioneering woman, and one who was a leader of her time in many different areas. And so actually, the idea of this kind of, people outside of their time speaking to us in the present, was something that really connected for me these two institutions. I also chose the, I mentioned, equity also in terms of race. The Shakers, had, there were Black Shakers, there were white Shakers, they treated their membership, their brothers and sisters equally. I think that's an incredibly powerful example in that time, because of course, that was a little bit unusual at that time, and I think it's an incredibly powerful example to us today.
So yeah, walk us through the timeline here, when you actually taking over charge of the Village, when can we expect to see that happen?
So I will be starting on the 19th of September, which is only about a month away, and I’m very much looking forward to that. And in the meantime, I'm finishing out my time at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I've got some parenting leave, we have a newborn, and so we are currently involved in that, which obviously is a full time job as well. And then I'm really looking forward to taking the reins up on the 19th.
Now, is there anything about this I have not thought to ask you that you want to make sure folks understand about what the Silver tenure, so to speak, will be like at Hancock Shaker Village?
First of all, I would say that Hancock Shaker Village is an institution beloved by its community and we want to make sure it remains that. And I want to say that Hancock Shaker Village has been doing some really incredible things the last six or seven years. Very, very dynamic programs, you know, some incredible things with the farm and with the campus. And I really see that as an amazing foundation and an opportunity for growth.
And as far as, like, a managerial approach or any message to the staff you'd be working with, how would you describe your style with workers?
You know, I listen to what people have to say. I've run a division at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for several years that includes the collections department, the conservation department, the archives department, and the publications department. We’re a crucial part of the direction of the public programs with Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and I would see a very similar approach to what I've relied on there, which is really listening to what people have to say, to what people need, and then trying to best respond to those needs and to really help people do their jobs as well as they possibly can.
