Derek Moore is leaving the Crawford museum in Cleveland to become curator of the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Moore is the first person to hold such a title at the Corvette museum in more than a decade.
New curator Derek Moore“The National Corvette Museum is one of the most welcoming environments I’ve experienced,” Moore said in a news release. “It is an incredible museum and is so unique in that it is focused on one community – and it has that community feeling about it.
“One of the biggest challenges currently facing museums is the decreasing number of visitors. Younger generations are losing interest in museums as they turn to more and more handheld technology. To bring them back to the museums, we need to work with that technology and I look forward to helping the NCM add cutting edge technology that will help freshen up the exhibits and get younger generations excited about visiting the museum.”
As curator of transportation history at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Moore was responsible for researching the history of automobiles and aviation of Cleveland and northeastern Ohio, and for developing exhibits and programming on the history of automobiles, aircraft and related transportation technologies. He also created and maintained records on the collection, developed lectures, essays and summaries for use in exhibits and publications and was responsible for the conservation and preservation of more than 150 historic vehicles and aircraft.
Previously, he had been a conservation specialist at The Henry Ford museum and was an intern at the Alfred P. Sloan Museum, also located in Michigan. Moore is a native of Michigan and a graduate of Eastern Michigan University. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and has been a board member of the highly respected National Automotive History Collection at the Detroit Public Library.
As curator at the National Corvette Museum, Moore will be responsible for researching, developing and producing exhibits as well as the planning, acquisition and/or loan, safekeeping and cataloging of collection objects and vehicles related to Corvette history, the museum said.
Moore and his fiancée, Christine Bobco, own several antique vehicles including a 1917 Overland, 1923 Peerless, and a 1961 Ford Falcon, and anticipate adding a vintage Corvette to that collection.
