MARK TWAIN HOUSE & MUSEUM CHIEF CURATOR PATTI PHILIPPON WILL DEPART TO HEAD THE AMERICAN CLOCK & WATCH MUSEUM

 

The Mark Twain House & Museum has announced that Patti Philippon, Beatrice Fox Auerbach Chief Curator of the museum, will resign her position to become the Executive Director of the American Clock & Watch Museum in Bristol, Connecticut.

Cindy Lovell, Executive Director of the Mark Twain House & Museum, said, “Patti has been a wonderful chief curator at the Mark Twain House and takes with her a vast amount of knowledge as well as our best wishes. The American Clock & Watch Museum is very fortunate to have someone of Patti’s caliber take the helm, and I’m sure we’ll be finding opportunities to collaborate in the future.”

Patti Philippon said, “It has been my privilege to have worked at the Mark Twain House for the past 13 years. It is a wonderful museum with a dedicated and talented staff. I am looking forward to joining the team at the American Clock & Watch Museum, and working to showcase this exceptional museum.”

Ms. Philippon has worked in a professional capacity at The Mark Twain House & Museum since 2001.  During her tenure with the Mark Twain House, Ms. Philippon has held the roles of Collections Manager, Interim Executive Director and currently (since 2007) as its Beatrice Fox Auerbach Chief Curator.

As a part of her responsibilities at the Mark Twain House, Ms. Philippon was responsible for the care, development, presentation and interpretation of the museum’s 16,000 piece collection of 19th and early 20th century art, decorative arts, rare books, photographs, and archives. She oversaw the curatorial department, including staffing (paid and volunteer) and budget management.  In addition she was responsible for research and installation of furnishing and decorative art changes in the museum as well as the preservation and maintenance of the two historic buildings on the property.

The curatorial department at the museum will be staffed on an interim basis by Mallory Howard, Curatorial Assistant, and Steve Courtney, former Publicist at the museum and currently a curatorial consultant.

Howard Cohen, President of the American Clock & Watch Museum Board of Directors said, “We are absolutely thrilled to have secured a museum professional of Patti’s caliber for our new Executive Director.  The wealth of experience that Patti can bring to our museum with its historic ties to the City of Bristol and the overall horological community will be crucial as we chart our course for the future.”

The American Clock & Watch Museum, located in Bristol, Connecticut, opened its doors to the general public on April 10, 1954 with the mission of collecting, preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting the history and science of clocks, watches and other timekeepers of horological interest.  The Museum operates a research library with historic and contemporary literature devoted to the history, development and manufacture of timekeepers. It also studies and interprets the history of American horology through educational programs to both general audiences and clock enthusiasts, and cooperates with other public and private agencies to make programs available to the widest possible audience.  Their website is www.clockandwatchmuseum.org.

The Mark Twain House & Museum has restored the author’s Hartford, Connecticut, home, where the author and his family lived from 1874 to 1891.

Programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum are made possible in part by support from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, and the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign.