Worcester Art Museum Announces Hiring of Provenance Research Specialist

WORCESTER, MA—April 10, 2024—The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) has recently hired Daniel W. Healey as Provenance Research Specialist, a newly created position. Healey joins WAM from the New York County District Attorney’s Office, where he served as an Antiquities Trafficking Analyst from 2021-2023. In his new role at WAM, which began earlier this year, Healey will research the provenance (ownership history) of the antiquities and other artworks in the Museum’s collections, advise on acquisitions, loans, and deaccessions, and develop new ways of sharing the histories of WAM’s collections with the public.

Matthias Waschek, the Jean and Myles McDonough Director of the Worcester Art Museum, said: “We are delighted to have Daniel Healey bring his experience and expertise to our work researching WAM’s exceptional collection. Last fall, led by Claire Whitner, the Museum’s Director of Curatorial Affairs and James A. Welu Curator of European Art, we identified a need to create a dedicated position for provenance research, a critical position to ensure the integrity of our collections. Although much of this work often takes place out of public view, this role is critical in shaping the future of the museum and how we share the history of our collections with our visitors.”

Healey is currently completing his Ph.D. in Roman art and archaeology at Princeton University. He has been awarded numerous research fellowships and has given papers on various aspects of his scholarship, including “Archaistic Statuary in the Villa dei Papiri: Antiquarianism and Revivalism” at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Society for Classical Studies; “Anonymity and Identity in Roman Ideal Statuary,” at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in 2021; and “Religious Décor and Social Value in Pompeian Gardens” at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, also in 2021. During the current Spring 2024 semester, Healey serves as a Lecturer in the History of Art and Architecture Department at UMass Amherst, where he teaches a course on Roman painting and portraiture.

Healey earned his B.A. from University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2012, an M.A. from Princeton in Classical Art and Archaeology in 2016, and anticipates completing his Ph.D. at Princeton in 2024.

“As a Worcester area native, I grew up visiting the Museum and then, later, was excited to learn more about the Museum’s Antioch collection during my graduate studies,” said Healey. “My familiarity with the Museum and its collection makes it all the more meaningful for me to now join the Museum’s team in support of the important, ongoing work of expanding what we know about WAM’s remarkable collection.”