The Westmoreland's chief curator Barbara Jones plans retirement after 26 years

Following a tenure of more than 26 years, Barbara L. Jones will retire April 1, 2022, from her position as chief curator for The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg.

The museum will commemorate her retirement and her body of work with special public programming for the spring of 2022, to be announced in early January.

Jones was hired as the museum’s first curator in 1995 and was promoted to chief curator in 2009.

“Being chief curator of The Westmoreland has been the greatest experience of my life,” she said. “I have been so fortunate to have a voice in the operations of this museum, an opportunity not always available to curators. My role here has allowed me to do everything I love: handle objects, design installations; research, and write about our collection of American art; and share all of this with the public.”

Jones said one of her proudest accomplishments at the museum was curating and writing the catalog for the 2008 exhibition, “Painting in the United States,” a recreation of a 1941-49 exhibition from the Carnegie Museum of Art.

“In fact, the Westmoreland Society gave me my gold medal for that one,” she said.

One of her greatest challenges came in having a hand in the redesign and re-installation of the expanded galleries following the museum’s major expansion in 2015.

“Over the past three years, I have had the privilege to work with Barbara and learn from her deep well of knowledge,” said Anne Kraybill, The Westmoreland’s Richard M. Scaife Director/CEO. “She is the epitome of generosity as she shares her enthusiasm for American art with scholars and the public alike.

“Her history of publications and programs has positioned our collection in a national context. She should be proud of everything she contributed to the field of American art history, as well as to this community,” Kraybill said.

‘Fabulous 26 years’

A member of the senior management team, Jones has overall responsibility for the museum’s permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. In addition to the 2015 expansion project, Jones and her team completed the re-installation of the permanent collection galleries after an interior renovation in 2000.

At The Westmoreland, she has curated more than 30 featured exhibitions. She also has written publications in conjunction with a number of them. Most recently, she co-curated and contributed to the catalog accompanying the exhibition, “Simple Pleasures: The Art of Doris Lee,” scheduled for Sept. 26-Jan. 9 at The Westmoreland before it travels nationally to three other venues.

Jones said she originally thought she would stay at The Westmoreland no more than 10 years, “but then there was always another exhibition, another renovation, another project. It’s been a fabulous 26 years.

“It’s a little disconcerting to think about leaving, but it feels like it’s the right time,” she added.

For the time being, she said, she will stay in Greensburg, although she would like to travel to places around the United States that she hasn’t had the opportunity to see.

“I’ll also be involved in some projects with our collections and with art in general,” she said. “That’s my love — research and writing.”

With a concentration in the primary fields of 19th- and 20th-century American art, Jones holds masters degrees in art history and museum studies from Syracuse University and has a record of published research in American art. She has taught art history courses at a number of colleges and universities, including Saint Vincent College and University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.

A member of the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Curators, she give lectures and juries both national and regional art exhibitions. She served as a member and chair of the Historic Architectural Review Board for the City of Greensburg from 2007-19.

The Westmoreland will recruit a new curator of American art to succeed Jones.