New Director of Education

A new Director of Education, Robert Schmick, has been named to assist in The Curran Homestead's programming. After completing both a Ph.D. in Education at NYU and a Professional Certificate in Museum Studies and Administration at Tufts recently, Robert comes to The Curran Homestead with much enthusiasm for contributing to fulfilling its potential as both a place for community gatherings and learning at all levels. In addition to being a teacher, he will rely on the experiences of his family's dairy farm in upstate New York as preparation for assistingin the further development of this local living history farm and museum. Sharing such experiences and know-how with younger generations, who are becoming increasingly distanced from hands-on approaches to many of today's challenges, is central to the goals of the museum. "It was on the family farm that much of the training required for this position took root," says Robert. "This museum's unique mission is to both recreate and sustain the rewards of self-sufficiency, thrift, and ingenuity that have not only characterized rural life in Maine but elsewhere in both the past and present. "With the harsh realities of rising living costs and economic instability, The Curran Homestead envisions a greater educational role and relevancy to contemporary life, for it may be that the example of turn-of-the-century (circa 1900) know-how and self-sufficiency is the most effective remedy to today's ills.