After an 11-month search, the Queens Historical Society has named a new executive director.
She is Marisa Berman, 25, who worked for the last two years in the Nassau County Museum system. Berman replaces Mitchell Grubler, who served as the historical society’s executive director for six years.QHS President Jim Driscoll said last November that Grubler was let go but that it was “a parting of the ways. There were no improprieties.”
Berman lives in Oceanside, L.I., and is a graduate of Marist College. She earned her master’s degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology in museum studies-costumes and textiles.
Working for the Nassau museum system, she oversaw staff at the Sands Point Preserve, Cradle of Aviation Museum and Old Bethpage Village Restoration.
Berman is currently concentrating on “catching up,” since the former QHS administrator left. “I’m very excited to have this job,” she said. “I hope to offer a fresh outlook.”
Her focus will be on increasing programming, funding and classroom visits. “I want to bring the historical society to the forefront of the community.”
She noted that most people know the society exists, but don’t know what it does. Current programming includes exhibits, tours, lectures and maintenance of a historic cemetery in Woodside.
Berman also hopes to do more with the society’s large costume and textile collection, since that is her area of expertise.
She also wants to do events on things going on in Queens right now and is excited about the upcoming 350th anniversary of the Flushing Remonstrance, which is the first American document calling for religious freedom.
“It’s amazing that there is so much history right in this area of Flushing,” she said. That includes the society’s headquarters in the historic Kingsland homestead, the nearby Bowne House and the Quaker Meeting House.
Berman also plans to take positions on preservation issues in Queens. “It’s a positive thing and our goal is to preserve history,” she said.
The historical society is located inside Weeping Beech Park at 143-35 37th Ave. in Flushing.
