2023 Mass History Conference

Marieke Van Damme has worked in museums for over twenty years, starting as a Museum Technician for the National Park Service in Sitka, Alaska. After moving to Massachusetts, she worked at Salem Maritime National Historic Site, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and an 18th-century historic site in Peabody before joining the staff of the Bostonian Society at Boston’s iconic Old State House. Since 2015, she has been Executive Director for the Cambridge Historical Society, overseeing the organization’s rebranding from a traditional historical society to History Cambridge, a more inclusive community-driven hub for history in the city. She served as board chair for the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, stewards of the c. 1760 Loring Greenough House in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, and as a New England Museum Association board member. In 2017, she co-founded GEMM (Gender Equity in Museum Movement), where she still serves on the steering committee.

She holds a BA in History from LeMoyne College, an MA in Museum Studies from the Harvard University Extension School, a Certificate in Fundraising Management from Boston University, and an MA in Arts Administration from Boston University. Her historic “spark site” was Erie Canal Village, a reconstructed 19th-century settlement in Central New York where she explored historic buildings as a child. She’s curious about your spark site! Send her a note at mvandamme@historycambridge.org.