The Board of Trustees of the Oysterponds Historical Society (OHS) is pleased to announce that Alison Ventura has joined the organization as Executive Director, effective July 5th, 2022. 

Alison is an experienced museum professional and decorative arts historian with a strong background in curatorial studies, design history and interior design.  She has a BFA from the School of Visual Arts at Syracuse University and an MA, History of Design and Curatorial Studies from the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Parsons School of Design. 

Over the last two seasons, Alison developed two exhibitions for OHS, “Baseball on the North Fork” and, currently on display, “Casting a Wide Net: Fishing on the North Fork.” Through her work on these projects and other volunteer activities, Alison has gained a strong understanding of the society’s activities and developed strong relationships with our staff and board.

“I am honored to join the small-but-mighty team at OHS and plan to keep building on the impressive work that has been done to shepherd the society into the modern era. We have several projects on the horizon that will enable us to have an even greater community outreach. It is an exciting time to join OHS and I cannot wait to get started!” said Ventura.

Alison began her career at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and was subsequently employed at several exhibition design firms in Washington, DC.  She managed all aspects of production, including initial development of themes, research, exhibition development, production, and presentation for various organizations including the Library of Congress Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, the White House, and the Norman Rockwell Museum. Working as an Independent Exhibition Designer, Alison also created works for the Newcastle Historical Society, John Jay Homestead, and the Queens Historical Society.

Alison and her husband Michael bought and lovingly renovated a historic house on Village Lane over a decade ago and are active, passionate members of the local community. Please join us in congratulating and supporting Alison as OHS continues to pursue its mission and bring the community together to celebrate our special place.