The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands is excited to announce that lifelong Newburgh resident Johanna Porr is their new director!
Johanna was selected from a pool of highly qualified candidates and is looking forward to taking on her new role, beginning this week.
“To be able to study the largest historic district in New York State is certainly fun, but to be entrusted with a role to use that understanding to help rebuild this city is an honor,” she said.
As director, Johanna’s duties include fundraising, directing future research and programs, overseeing the remaining renovations to the Captain David Crawford House, creating useful networks in the fields of public history and academic history and increasing membership within the group.
“The Historical Society has been and will continue to be a resource for people who want to learn more about Newburgh’s history or those who are interested in restoring homes here,” she said.
Johanna wants to establish an inspiring new direction for the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands while maintaining everything Newburgh has come to love about the organization. Her goals are to keep up with the current trends in the academic world, exchange information and ideas with other historical societies in New York and beyond and to use the society’s resources to make Newburgh’s history more relevant to today’s citizens.
“It’s important to find the academics who are already doing the research and connect them with the people on the ground who have a better idea of the questions the public is interested in,” said Johanna. “I’d like to see more serious focus on scholarly research being done in the Hudson Valley.”
Johanna has a passion for Newburgh and an extensive historical background to match. Many know Johanna as an historical interpreter at Washington’s Headquarters, where she has both volunteered and been employed for nearly a decade. She attended Franklin College in Switzerland where she studied European history, earned an M.P.A. from Marist College and recently spent time in Virginia doing archaeology at Historic Jamestown and historic-trades research at Colonial Williamsburg.
“Newburgh is a fascinating place,” said Johanna, who grew up in city. “We call it ‘History City’ because you can take any major movement and tie it back here somehow; you can always find a way to understand the scope of American history through the narratives that are available in Newburgh.”
The new director is the daughter of former Newburgh city manager Harold Porr and Joan Mauriello, who volunteered as a preservationist and historical activist while Johanna was growing up.
“This society is one of the earliest and we’ve been building a collection and archive since 1884,” Johanna said. “I’m proud to be part of such a strong institution, especially since the viability of Newburgh’s future is inseparable from its legacy.”
You can meet Johanna at the Crawford House on Sunday, April 1 at 3 p.m., during opening day of the society’s art auction preview and reception. For more information about the Historical Society or its new director, call 845-561-2585.
Hi Johanna, In November I was able to visit Newburgh for the first time with my niece, Connie Hall, who lives across the river in Beacon. I heard the name Newburgh, NY all of the time growing up as being the home of our ancestor, the Reverend Joseph McCarrell, his wife Jane Leeper and their six daughters. I had several Thanksgiving photos from 1916 and 1919 taken on the steps of their house in Newburgh on 202 Montgomery St. that I had just finished identifying.
Connie and I found the house… discovered that it was a duplex…met the current owners and posed for a picture on the same steps almost 100 years later. Since then I’ve found out that the Montgomery St house was the 3rd and final home in Newburgh for the family.
It was great to meet the current owners and share with them some tales of the family and the pictures of their front steps.
I’m glad to hear that you are actively working on historic preservation.
Keep up the good work.
Deb Sandler
Hi Johanna, In November I was able to visit Newburgh for the first time with my niece, Connie Hall, who lives across the river in Beacon. I heard the name Newburgh, NY all of the time growing up as being the home of our ancestor, the Reverend Joseph McCarrell, his wife Jane Leeper and their six daughters. I had several Thanksgiving photos from 1916 and 1919 taken on the steps of their house in Newburgh on 202 Montgomery St. that I had just finished identifying.
Connie and I found the house… discovered that it was a duplex…met the current owners and posed for a picture on the same steps almost 100 years later. Since then I’ve found out that the Montgomery St house was the 3rd and final home in Newburgh for the family.
It was great to meet the current owners and share with them some tales of the family and the pictures of their front steps.
I’m glad to hear that you are actively working on historic preservation.
Keep up the good work.
Deb Sandler