NEW MUSEUM DIRECTOR NAMED — (Left) Martha Cummings, outgoing director/curator of the Rufus Porter Museum in Bridgton, who is leaving to become the director of the N.H. Boat Museum in Wolfeboro, N.H., is pictured with Caroline Grimm of Bridgton, author and historian, who will assume the RPM director/curator position full-time on April 17, 2018.

The Rufus Porter Museum has hired Bridgton resident, Caroline Grimm, as its new director beginning on April 17, 2018.

She will replace Martha Cummings, who will take a new position as director at the New Hampshire Boat Museum in Wolfeboro, N.H.

Grimm is well known to area residents for her work as a historian. She is the author of a series of historical novels set in Bridgton and surrounding towns, and she has been an active member of the Bridgton Historical Society.

“My interest in history began in the Bridgton schools,” Grimm says. “My fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Flint, did a series on Colonial history in which we carded, spun and wove wool. I thought, ‘Wow, this is what really happened in those days.’ I was hooked for life.”

In addition, Grimm has extensive experience in financial management for businesses and nonprofit organizations. She is the owner of QuickBooks Doctor, which provides consulting, accounting and training services. Grimm holds an undergraduate degree in Business Administration and a master’s of science degree in Business. She is also an accomplished teacher and has taught at Central Maine Community College, Southern Maine Community College, and Andover College. Grimm frequently lectures on local history at area libraries and other institutions.

“Rufus Porter led a classic 19th-century American life,” she says. “He had the ability to do several things well, like Edison or Franklin, and he was both an artist and an inventor. He liked making things more doable, like inventing a flying machine to get people to the California gold fields faster.”

“The museum board of trustees was unanimous in choosing Caroline,” says board co-president Margaret Lindsey Sanborn. “She brings a unique combination of financial skills and experience in historical research that is exactly what we need at this stage of the museum’s growth.”

The Rufus Porter Museum will kick off its 2018 season on June 6. Summer activities will include Camp Invention, a week-long children’s workshop in partnership with Stevens Brook Elementary School and The National Inventors Hall of Fame; an exhibition entitled “250 Years: Bridgton in Art and Artifacts;” the concentrated series of workshops and classes known as “The Curious Arts Series;” as well as a more expanded series of talks spanning a six-week period.

The Rufus Porter Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit institution that celebrates the life and times of a true Yankee genius. Through exhibitions, lectures, children’s programs, and special events, the museum is a place where local residents and seasonal visitors can learn about the achievements of a remarkable man who once called the Bridgton area home.

The museum is located at 121 Main Street in Bridgton and is open to the public from June to October. For more information, visit the RPM website at rufusportermuseum.org