New Director at the Chester County Historical Society

Visit the this Saturday and meet the new director, Robert “Rob” Lukens who will give a short talk to mark the end of a major exhibit.

Lukens was the guest curator of a fascinating exhibit that uses objects, old photographs, paintings and extensive captions to frame the history of the county’s 19th century arctic Explorers.   Titled “Chilling Reality: Chester County’s Arctic Explorers,”  the popular exhibit opened last fall and will close Saturday.

Lukens began his new post on October 3rd, replacing Kimberly A. Hall as president of the historical society.  He brings to the job years of museum experience and former work at the historical society.

Described on the society’s press release as man who mixes “his academic with professional interests,” Lukens literally came to know the county’s early arctic explorers while he was working as the society’s collections manager and gathering information for a history column he wrote for the .

His research into the arctic explorers was also published in the history magazine, Pennsylvania History, and became the focus of his PhD dissertation. Lukens earned both his undergraduate degree and PhD in American history from Temple University.  

As he explained in a recent interview, he had plans of becoming a college history professor but his early introduction to the museum culture and research life at the historical society refocused his direction. Aside from spending “nearly every weekend,” Lukens said, in the society’s library during his years he was completing his dissertation, he became to know other aspects of the society.

As collection manager, from 1998 to 2003, Lukens got to know nearly every artifact “intimately,” handling donated pieces, for instance, and overseeing the transportation of objects used in the society’s  collections initiatives.  There were numerous objects, for instance, used in the society’s major exhibit, “Just Over the Line: Chester County and the Underground Railroad.”

Lukens, a native of Lansdowne, Delaware County, first moved to West Chester in the early 1990s, when he was attending Temple and volunteering his time at the historical society. He later held summer internships there and further immersed himself in the county’s history by working with various organizations. He served on the borough’s  Historical and Architectural Review Board and was vice-chair of the Chester County Conference and Visitors Bureau.

In addition to penning more than 75 articles for the Daily Local, Lukens gave numerous lectures as a “commonwealth speaker” with the Pennsylvania Humanities Council in 2008 and 2009.

His expertise with nonprofits  – he earned a certificate in that area of study from LaSalle University – as well as collections management includes serving as  chief curator and later head of collections at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia. He was also executor director from 2005 to 2009 at Historic Yellow Springs in Chester Springs, West Pikeland Township. During his tenure, the organization underwent a merger process and became part of the Chester Springs Studio, a longtime artistic center and home of “Studio Days,” a nationally known ceramic exhibition.

Lukens most recently worked in Washington D.C. and spent the past two years working there as the Exhibits and Education Director at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, which draws more than 2 million visitors each year.  During his time there he oversaw the center’s permanent “E Pluribus Unum – Out of Many,” a 16,500 square foot exhibition described as the only one in the world dedicated to telling the story of the United States Congress and the U.S. Capitol.

Lukens said he commuted to DC from North Wilmington, Delaware, where he lives with his wife Rebecca and their two children, Abbie and Finley.  “When you move away for a while,” Lukens said,” If makes you appreciate how amazing the county is, especially West Chester.”

“I am by nature a collaborative type of person,” Lukens  said of his strengths. “One of my roles will be tying all the important aspects of the society together. That includes working with local residents, community organizations, the society’s board, and its staff.” 

A talk and tour at the final day of  the exhibit,“Chilling Reality: Chester County’s Arctic Explorers.” 

 • Where: Chester County Historical Society

Date: Saturday,Oct. 15th

• Time:  The talk and tour begins at 11:30 a.m.

Features: the exhibit is “family-friendly” and features many interesting objects and artifacts related to the early explorers of the Arctic region. The exhibit closes Saturday so this is your last chance to see this much-talked about exhibit.

Website:  www.ChesterCoHistorical.org.

Phone:(610) 692-4800

• Price: Open to the public with an admission fee.