BAYOU BEND COLLECTION AND GARDENS / MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON
Daniel Kurt Ackermann appointed Director
Dr. Ackermann comes to Bayou Bend after a 16-year career at Old Salem Museums & Gardens and its Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He begins his appointment in July, succeeding longtime Bayou Bend director Bonnie Campbell, who retired in September 2023.
As Chief Curator and Director of Collections, Research, and Archaeology at Old Salem and MESDA, Dr. Ackermann led a team of curators and researchers overseeing collections care, research-resources development, publishing, and exhibitions. Since 2018 Dr. Ackermann has also directed the MESDA Summer Institute, a month-long decorative arts and material culture field school run in collaboration with the University of Virginia.
Dr. Ackermann serves on the boards of the Regional Furniture Society, Great Britain; The Magazine Antiques Board of Advisors; The Historic New Orleans Collection, Louisiana; and is the author of more than a dozen publications on the material culture of the American South. He received a B.A. in History from the College of William and Mary; an M.A. in Architectural History from the University of Virginia; and a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.