Paula Bradstreet Richter, Curator

Since 2009, Paula Richter has been responsible for curatorial research and support of the museum's changing exhibition program, related publications and core activities within the curatorial department. She has participated on exhibition teams for more than a dozen recent and upcoming exhibitions and numerous gallery installations and rotations.

Richter organized the exhibitions, Wedded Bliss, the Marriage of Art and Ceremony and Painted with Thread: the Art of American Embroidery and accompanying publications. She was the coordinating curator for the traveling exhibitions, Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel and American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts, 1790–1840. For the 2003 PEM expansion project, Richter developed the gallery installation, Transforming Tradition: Arts of New England. Most recently, Richter participated in the curatorial teams for the Fashion and Design gallery and Made It: Women Who Revolutionized Fashion and served as a co-curator of Salem Stories, The Salem Witch Trials 1692 and The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming, which opened September 18, 2021.

Richter formerly worked for the Cape Ann Historical Association, the Sargent House Museum and Landmark College. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Richter writes and lectures on American textiles and fashion, and New England art and decorative arts. Follow her on Instagram @pbrmusings.