Berks History Center executive director hired
READING >> The executive director of the Adams County Historical Society has been named to the top administrative post at the Berks History Center, the center announced.
Benjamin K. Neely is the new executive director of the Reading-based history center, replacing Sime B. Bertolet, who retired after 13 years at the helm.
James Michalak, president of the center’s board, said Neely was hired after a rigorous search and screening process.
“Benjamin Neely is a qualified museum professional who will bring many years of experience and a fresh perspective to the Berks History Center,” Michalak said.
In its job prospectus, the center was emphatic that the new director would work with the trustees in developing a vision and strategic plan for the future.
Formerly the Historical Society of Berks County, the center is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.
The center kicked off its sesquicentennial with a Charter Day Jubilee at director of the Adams County Historical Society in Gettysburg for seven years.
As a graduate student at Shippensburg University, where he earned a master’s degree in applied history, Neely began working for the Adams County Historical Society as the collections manager and was the lead historian during the development of the Gettysburg Seminary Ridge Museum.
Neely said the Berks History Center is much larger than the Adams County facility.
In Adams County, the society does not have its own museum and stores its archives in warehouses. By contrast, Reading has a museum and stores its archives in a separate building, the Henry K. Janssen Library.
“I was impressed at how well organized the Berks History Center was,” Neely said.
Looking to the future, Neely said he’d like to “take the show on the road,” so to speak.
In Gettysburg, he initiated a “Show and Tell” program where he took historical objects to community groups and told their story.
“When people hold an object and interact with it,” he said, “it gives them a greater sense of what it was all about.”
Elementary school students in particular, he said, enjoyed the Show and Tell program.
Neely is a board member for PA Museums, an organization that advocates for government support for Pennsylvania’s museums and organizes conferences to support continuing education for museum professionals.