WILLIAMSBURG — Art lecturer, author, historian and cultural site tour leader. Starting July 12, a man with many hats, J. Thomas Savage, is joining The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation as Director of Educational Travel and Conferences.
“Tom Savage is an internationally known and respected expert who will bring new vigor and creative energy to our venerable conference and travel programs,” said Ronald L. Hurst, the Foundation’s Chief Curator and Vice President for Museums, Preservation, and Historic Resources in news release from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (CWF). “A frequent collaborator with members of the Colonial Williamsburg team, his new position will in many ways be a homecoming.”
A Virginia native, Savage holds a bachelor’s degree in Art History from William & Mary and a master’s degree in History Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program of the State University of New York. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Decorative Arts Trust and is a member of the Furniture History Society.
His career has spanned the public and private arts world with career highlights including service as Senior Vice President and Director of Sotheby’s Institute of Art for North and South America, and as Curator and Director of Museums for Historic Charleston Foundation directing its collections and historic properties. Savage currently serves as Director of External Affairs for Winterthur Museum, Gardens and Library, according to the news release.
An expert on the British country house, Savage has coordinated and led specialized itineraries in England, Ireland and Scotland. His decades of experience leading tours of important historic, educational and cultural sites around the world will help re-establish Colonial Williamsburg’s popular educational travel program to domestic and international sites.
“I am honored and humbled to join the extraordinary team at Colonial Williamsburg, a place that has inspired me since earliest childhood,” Savage said in a statement released from the CWF. “Colonial Williamsburg fostered my education and career path. It is a privilege to serve a cherished institution to which I owe so much.”
Savage’s immediate projects include expanding the Foundation’s popular educational symposia and conference series, which includes perennial favorites Working Wood in the 18th Century, Annual Antiques Forum, Annual Garden Symposium and Ales Through the Ages, among others.
