Last week the city announced an upcoming event honoring the retirement of Tim Samuelson, its first and—since there’s no plan to hire a replacement—only, cultural historian.
Never mind that the city council last month passed a resolution congratulating him “on the occasion of his retirement from city service”: he says there’s no way he’ll be giving up the job that’s been “a dream gig for a classic obsessive history nerd like me.”
Two years later, Koenen summoned him to a Department of Cultural Affairs Christmas party at Maxim’s where Commissioner Lois Weisberg took him aside. “We’re gathering a team in different cultural disciplines,” Weisberg told him. “I want to do history, and you’re the person I want to do it.” She gave him a two-word job description: “help everybody.”
COVID permitting, the exhibition could open by fall. v
