MATTAPOISETT— New Mattapoisett Museum curator Connor Gaudet  is excited to dive  into the history of his hometown.

Gaudet said that one of the many highlights of his new role has been being a part of the history itself. 

“I started looking through [undocumented photos] and I saw pictures of me and my older brother sitting on a firetruck at GH insurance,” he said. “It really feels like I’m coming home.”

Before returning to Mattapoisett, Gaudet worked as an Oral History Coordinator and Associate Curator at the 9/11 Tribute Museum in New York City where he said he inspired museum attendees to explore different perspectives based on what they learned through the exhibits.

“I would want to use history to, at least, challenge people to think differently about the world around them in the present,” he said. “We are living in the moment and that moment will soon be history.”

Gaudet also works as  the curator of digital collections for the Pilgrim Music Hall.

In his role as curator for the Mattapoisett Museum, Gaudet said that he works to organize and document artifacts.

Although Gaudet said that his workdays “never [look] the same,” he said that his goal is to take documents or objects and use them to tell a story.

“If I see a weird building or a crazy property line, I try to figure out why that is the way that it is,” he said. “It's all [about] trying to get the people behind [the artifacts].”

Gaudet said he is looking forward to finding more ways for guests to directly interact with the museum’s collection, such as restoring a historical loom to working condition. 

“If I can make it a more interactive experience for students or anybody, that can make it more interesting,” he said. “ Instead of seeing a broken spinning wheel sitting there, I can actually show [museum guests] how to use it and get them interested in that way.”