Director’s Note: Decades of Dedication
After 42 years of service to our institution, Kathy Connor is retiring from her position as George Eastman Legacy Curator at the end of March. We are deeply grateful for her passionate commitment, extraordinary energy, and incalculable contribution.
Kathy joined our staff in January 1982, and her tenure is longer than that of any other employee in the museum’s 75-year history. Kathy notes that she has worked at the museum longer than Alice K. Whitney Hutchison, George Eastman’s executive assistant, worked at Eastman Kodak Company.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree from St. John Fisher College (now University) and a master’s degree from Columbia University, Kathy initially worked in our Education Department, where she developed our docent program; outfitted our first Discovery Room, the hands-on activity center for children and adults; and created the first “Discovery Kits” for teachers.
Her career changed when she played a key role in the transformative restoration of Eastman’s mansion in 1990. Kathy worked closely with a volunteer team, led by Georgia Gosnell, and a team of contractors. This ambitious project benefitted greatly from Kathy’s vigilance and attention to detail.
After the mansion opened as a historic house, Kathy was appointed as George Eastman Legacy Curator, with responsibility for the 35,000-square-foot mansion, its contents, and extensive archival materials (more than 200,000 items) related to Eastman. In 1994, Kathy graduated from the University of Delaware program in collections care.
For more than three decades, Kathy has given countless presentations at the museum and around Greater Rochester on Eastman’s life, achievements, and contributions. In 1999, she opened the George Eastman Study Center, our archive and study center for the George Eastman Legacy collection. Each year, Kathy and part-time archivists have assisted many researchers onsite and remotely.
In 2004, Kathy curated the popular exhibition George Eastman: Vision and Obsession in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his birth. This is the largest exhibition ever presented about the entrepreneur and philanthropist in whose honor our museum was created.
For more than a decade, she has guided the restoration of aspects of Eastman’s mansion that were not included in the 1990 project — including the Palm House, porte cochère, Conservatory roof and clerestory windows, East Porch, Bruce B. Bates Colonnade, Aeolian organ, and 68 mansion windows. The museum’s total investment in these preservation projects is more than $5 million.
Kathy has played the leading role in recruiting, interviewing, and organizing our dedicated volunteers, including training our docents. She has scheduled organ recitals and other musical programs in the mansion. For 28 years, Kathy has orchestrated — with the help of volunteers — our hugely popular Sweet Creations showcase, which includes gingerbread displays, holiday wreaths, and tabletop trees.
We wish Kathy satisfaction in her retirement and future endeavors. She currently teaches a course in Historic Site Administration at Nazareth University and volunteers at the Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse. We have begun recruiting a successor for her position.
To make a gift in honor of Kathy Connor, Kathy has asked that these tax-deductible donations be directed to the fund she established to support the George Eastman Study Center archivist position, now held by John Elsbree. Visit eastman.org/HonorKathy.
Bruce Barnes, PhD
Ron and Donna Fielding Director
March/April 2024 Bulletin
