About Our Curator

Rachel served as the Executive Director of the Hanover Historical Society in Southeastern Massachusetts before coming to the Hammond-Harwood House in the summer of 2014. During her time in Hanover Rachel implemented a new strategic plan, collections management policy, and reinterpretation plan for the Society’s main museum, The Stetson House Museum & Archives.

Since her arrival at the Hammond-Harwood House she has been researching the museum’s collection of John Shaw furniture, Charles Willson Peale paintings, and Palladian architecture in America. Rachel aims to create more mission based education programs at Hammond-Harwood that will immerse visitors in the decorative and fine arts of the early 19^th century.

Rachel holds a Master’s degree from the Harvard Museum Studies Program. During her time at Harvard, Rachel worked as a research assistant on the Harvard Yard Archaeology Project through the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, examining early dining culture at the University. Rachel’s capstone project at Harvard explored how museums can utilize local burying grounds as a tool to explore the art, topography, and social history of a region. Rachel holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts where she was chosen as the 2010 Governor John Endicott Memorial Scholar. Rachel’s senior thesis focused on the horticultural pursuits of Massachusetts’s first Governor John Endicott. This research has been utilized by others, including Massachusetts General Hospital North Shore, which has the oldest pear tree in the country on their grounds, planted by Governor Endicott in 1632.