Newark Museum Names New Chief Curator

Maplewood resident has been named chief curator of the Newark Museum, according to Mary Sue Sweeney Price, the museum’s director and CEO.

Dietz, who has served as curator of decorative arts since 1980 and senior curator since 2007, will be responsible for all curatorial affairs.  

“One of my main goals is the expansion of our African galleries, which will make them the largest in the country,” he said.

He is also eager to increase awareness of the museum among New Jersey residents.

“I will do whatever I can to get people in New Jersey to understand what the Newark Museum is,” Dietz said. “We are not just a little regional museum, but one of the top 30 museums in the country.”

Dietz, who has lived in Maplewood for 32 years and is an active parishioner at , said he hopes to “get all the people who live within five miles of me to join, visit and tell people about the museum.”

Dietz has curated over one hundred exhibitions at the Newark Museum, including House & Home and The Glitter & The Gold: Fashioning America’s Jewelry, the first-ever exhibition and book on the history of Newark’s jewelry industry. He also has published numerous articles on decorative arts. His most recent publication is Dream House: The White House as an American Home, released in September 2009 by Acanthus Press in New York.

“Ulysses is a respected scholar, a fine colleague, and a true supporter of this museum and its 103-year heritage of art, science and education,” said Price in a news release. “Following the precepts of our founder, John Cotton Dana, Ulysses has always sought to connect audiences to objects and to further education and a sense of discovery and wonder, all undergirded by scholarship.”