Philip Zea.
DEERFIELD, MASS. - Philip Zea, vice president for museums and
collections at the Society for the Preservation of New England
Antiquities (SPNEA) in Boston, has been named executive director
of Historic Deerfield. One of this country's leading authorities
on the decorative arts and culture of rural America, Zea succeeds
Donald R. Friary who retired on December 31, 2002 after 27 years
as the museum's executive director and secretary.
In announcing Zea's appointment, Lynda McCurdy Hotra and Roger B.
Parsons, co-chairs of the Trustee search committee, said, "The
search committee worked diligently and thoughtfully for several
months, reviewing an impressive list of candidates. We are
confident that Phil will be a superb executive director and we
are absolutely delighted to welcome him back to Historic
Deerfield."
A cum laude graduate of Wesleyan University with an MA from the
University of Delaware's Winterthur program in early American
culture, Zea has been associated with Historic Deerfield for much
of his professional career.
The year 2003 marks the anniversary of his arrival in the western
Massachusetts village as a Historic Deerfield summer fellow when
Zea and seven other college undergraduates studied early American
history and the decorative arts with the program's tutor, Friary.
In 1981, Zea joined the staff of Historic Deerfield, eventually
succeeding the museum's founding curator and first professional
staff member, Joseph Peter Spang, upon his retirement in 1986.
Zea, who participated in the 1995 Museum Management Institute,
Getty Leadership Institute, in Berkeley, Calif., served as deputy
director and chief curator of Historic Deerfield until 1999 when
he was named curator of furniture of the Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation, a position he held until joining the SPNEA in 2001.
A consultant to museums and historical societies on the topics of
early furniture, clocks and historical interpretation, Zea worked
with Historic Deerfield trustees and staff to make the museum's
Flynt Center of Early New England Life a reality.
He was curator of the center's opening exhibition, "Useful
Improvements, Innumerable Temptations: Pursuing Refinement in
Rural New England, 1750-1850" in 1998 and is the author of the
accompanying catalog.
Zea is a member of the board of trustees of the Decorative Arts
Trust and the editorial advisory boards of both the Chipstone
Foundation's American Furniture and SPNEA's Old-Time
New England. His research has appeared in numerous
publications and professional journals.
He was guest curator of furniture for the landmark exhibition
"The Great River: Art & Society of the Connecticut Valley,
1635-1820." Zea is also co-author of Clock Making in New
England, 1725-1825: An Interpretation of the Old Sturbridge
Village Collection (1992) with Robert C. Cheney and The
Dunlap Cabinetmakers: A Tradition in Craftsmanship (1994)
with Donald Dunlap.
Commenting on his appointment as executive director of Historic
Deerfield, Zea said, "Historic Deerfield is one of the leading
history museums in the country, thanks to superb collections,
early architecture, an outstanding research library, a dedicated
staff and an established constituency that loves Deerfield for
both its content and beauty. Having already served as a staff
member in Deerfield for 18 years, I know the museum's tradition
and potential in both education and entertainment. Deerfield's
commitment to excellence and a welcoming spirit are well
established and a great foundation for finding new ways to teach
history to the American public."
