Harold Holzer: Downsized job description
Harold Holzer, the Metropolitan Museum’s veteran senior vice president for external affairs, is not in the habit of publicizing director Tom Campbell‘s and president Emily Rafferty‘s internal staff memos. But he apparently got authorization to release this one, which just landed in numerous inboxes (including mine):
THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
Interdepartmental MemorandumTo: All Staff
From: Thomas P. Campbell and Emily K. Rafferty
Re: New Roles in External Affairs
Date: July 9, 2012
With mixed emotions we report that Harold Holzer has informed us of his wish to modify some of his responsibilities to enable him to engage more fully in his work as a historian and writer [my link, not theirs]….He will remain in his current role while we conduct a search to identify candidates for a new position overseeing external and internal communications, marketing, and visitor services [emphasis added]….Harold’s new title will be senior vice president for government relations and public affairs.
In other words, Holzer’s current responsibilities will be divided between him and the Met’s as-yet-undetermined new hire. Harold will maintain his present job description until the new person arrives. Elyse Topalian, the Met’s vice president for communications, “will continue to oversee press relations and advertising in reporting to the new position, in addition to contributing her well-regarded expertise in marketing,” according to Campbell’s and Rafferty’s memo.
I think Harold would agree that he and I have had a prickly relationship over the years. Someone once told me that he overheard Harold say this about me: “She’s smart, but she gives us a lot of trouble.” I guess that may be (at least partly) true. But he has served tirelessly and ably, and I look forward to his next scholarly examination of our 16th President.
What we all really want to know, though, is: What does Harold think about this movie?