The following is from Henry Hornblower at NEHGS:
Boston, Massachusetts, January 11, 2016 ― Curt DiCamillo, the internationally recognized authority on English country houses and the decorative arts, has been appointed the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s (NEHGS) first Curator of Special Collections, a new position commencing February 29, 2016.
A longtime member of NEHGS, Mr. DiCamillo has led highly successful heritage tours for the organization to England and Scotland, has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad, and has taught classes on British culture and art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and elsewhere. Previously, he was for many years Executive Director of The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA, based in Boston, where he successfully raised over $7 million and initiated many innovative programs. In addition, he worked at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for 13 years. The New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, is the leading nonprofit genealogical society in America, serving more than 150,000 constituents and millions of online users through its award-winning website, www.AmericanAncestors.org.
“For more than 170 years, we have collected family-related objects along with genealogical source materials,” said Brenton Simons, President and CEO of NEHGS. “Curt DiCamillo is the perfect person to lead our efforts in collecting, stewarding, and widely communicating ― both online and in-person ― the importance of these special holdings to our members, scholars, art historians, and the public.” As Curator of Special Collections at NEHGS, Mr. DiCamillo will provide strategic direction and expert guidance for organizing and exhibiting the organization’s extensive collection of family history-related artifacts and fine arts, part of a larger collection of more than 28 million items held by the organization. The position has been created now in anticipation of the organization’s expansion into a second, adjoining building on Newbury Street in the Back Bay in the coming years. Mr. DiCamillo will also continue to lead a series of heritage tours for NEHGS both in the United States and abroad. “The field of family history is exploding, in large part through the leadership efforts of NEHGS,” said Mr. DiCamillo. “I am so pleased to be a part of telling the compelling story of our ancestors by interpreting objects, art, furnishings, and other artifacts collected by or given to this society, the founding genealogical organization in America. Our historic objects span centuries, cultures, and ethnicities, and are a wonderful tool to better understand the lives and times of our ancestors.”
Mr. DiCamillo’s award-winning website, “The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses,” seeks to document every English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish country house ever built, standing or demolished, together with a history of the families who lived in the houses, the architects who designed them, and the history of the collections or gardens. He is a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, and a member of the Advisory Board of Samuel T. Freeman & Co. of Philadelphia. In recognition of his work in the field of English country houses, Mr. DiCamillo has been presented to the late Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, and the Prince of Wales. His paternal ancestors hail from Italy; his maternal ancestors came from Warwickshire to Maryland in the 18th century. Mr. DiCamillo, a native of the Philadelphia area, grew up in Central Florida with his sister, the award-winning children’s book author Kate DiCamillo.
About American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society
The founding genealogical society in America, New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) was established in 1845. Today it has a national collecting scope and serves more than 150,000 constituents through an award-winning website, www.AmericanAncestors.org. Since 1845, NEHGS has been the country’s leading comprehensive resource for genealogists and family historians of every skill level. Today NEHGS provides constituents with worldwide access to some of the most important and valuable research tools anywhere.American Ancestors is the public brand and user experience of NEHGS representing the expertise and resources available for family historians of all levels when researching their origins across the country and around the world. NEHGS’s resources, expertise, and service are unmatched in the field and their leading staff of on-site and online genealogists includes experts in early American, Irish, English, Scottish, Italian, Atlantic and French Canadian, African American, Native American, Chinese, and Jewish research. Expert assistance is available to members and nonmembers in a variety of ways. The NEHGS library and archive, located at 99 – 101 Newbury Street in downtown Boston, is home to more than 28 million items, including artifacts, documents, records, journals, letters, books, manuscripts, and other items dating back hundreds of years.
