This week the Historical Society of Pennsylvania announced the appointment of David R. Brigham as the institution’s new CEO.
Brigham joins HSP after serving as the CEO of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for ten years. While at PAFA, Brigham helped double the organization’s annual operating budget, increased its endowment by nearly $40 million, and raised $24.5 million towards the academy’s campus master plan. PAFA also transformed its exhibition program under Brigham’s leadership. Instead of bringing in exhibitions created by other museums, PAFA’s curators began developing original exhibitions, resulting in new scholarship and recognition for previously overlooked women artists and artists of color.
In a press release, Dr. Brigham noted his enthusiasm for joining HSP. “The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is Philadelphia’s library of American history, but it is also America’s library of American history. Through its unrivaled breadth and depth of 350 years of manuscripts and graphics, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania reveals the American story like no other institution. I am deeply honored, and look forward to working with the board and staff to continue the turnaround of this institution with a renewed focus on its core mission, its enormously important historical significance, and expanding access to these extraordinary resources,” Brigham said.
Brigham replaces Interim CEO Charles Cullen, who was appointed in August 2016. Pennsylvania Historical Society’s last permanent CEO Dr. Page Talbott stepped down that year in order to return to her exhibition and interpretive planning consulting business, Talbott Exhibits and Planning.
Dr. Brigham will begin his duties as CEO on November 30.