Courtesy / Maine Maritime Museum
Chris Timm was named executive director of the Maine Maritime Museum after filling that role on an interim basis.
June 14, 2022
Maine Maritime Museum makes interim executive director permanent in role
By Jessica Hall
The Maine Maritime Museum has named its interim executive director, Chris Timm, to the role permanently. The appointment comes in the wake of the 2020 departure of the previous director, Amy Lent., who left abruptly amid a contract dispute after 14 years as head of the Bath museum.
Timm, who had been filling the role as interim executive director since September 2021, has worked at the Bath museum since December 2016 with roles in exhibit curation and external affairs.
"It gives me inordinate pleasure to congratulate Chris Timm on his new position," said Lincoln Paine, vice chair of the Maine Maritime Museum’s board of trustees.
"Our intent has always been to act in the best interest of the museum now and in the future. We feel Chris has the vision, thoughtfulness and drive to lead the museum in productive and exciting new directions while respecting our history and the expectations of those people who have brought the museum through its first sixty years."
Originally from Wisconsin, Timm received a bachelor’s degree in classical archaeology from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in Byzantine text and archaeology from Queen’s University Belfast. Timm also advanced to doctorate candidacy in art history at Florida State University.
Prior to joining Maine Maritime Museum, Timm was an instructor at Florida State University. In 2016, he started at Maine Maritime Museum as the curatorial associate, settling in Bath with his wife, Sarah.
"I am delighted to start this next chapter with such an incredible team of museum professionals. And I am humbled to take this leadership role at such an important moment in the museum’s history, as it celebrates its 60th anniversary and looks forward," said Timm. “Maine’s maritime story is ever changing, ever expanding, and global in scope and impact. I look forward to the work ahead as we develop an engaging, inclusive and visitor-centered museum with a strong civic mission.”
Timm officially started in his new role on Monday.
In September 2020, the Maine Maritime Museum said predecessor Lent departed after she had sought a binding deal that would have kept her on until retirement. The museum said at the time that the board determined that the financial commitment was not in the best interest of the museum either financially or organizationally. Lent, meanwhile, told media that she was informed of her firing through a text message.
The museum, which is on the banks of the Kennebec River not far from Bath Iron Works, gets more than 50,000 visitors a year, including many school groups.
The museum includes a 20-acre campus, the historic Percy & Small shipyard, working boatshop and blacksmith shops, and dozens of exhibits on Maine's maritime history. The year-round museum employs 30 staff and has more than 250 volunteers.
In August 2021, the museum took legal steps to insulate it from potential liability from expected lawsuits following the capsizing of its historic fishing schooner, which spilled 18 people into the Kennebec River.
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