The Sippican Historical Society has appointed two new directors one month after several board members and the previous executive director stepped down without a public explanation.

On Sept. 24, the board named Robert Darnton, a former history professor at Princeton University, and Helen Hills, a Marion native with deep family roots, as directors.

Darnton worked at Princeton for 39 years. He then moved to Harvard University and became the director of the Harvard University Library and a professor of history for the past eight years. He recently retired and will be spending more time in Marion with his wife.

Hills was born in Marion into the Hiller family. She is also related to the Blankinships and Delanos, two other old Marion families. Although she majored in Spanish in college, she spent a large part of her career as a librarian. She and her husband live in a stone house on Front Street that was built in 1927 by her grandmother.

On Aug. 21, Sippican Historical Society President Sally Conkright, Executive Director Kimberly Teves, two board members and the vice president resigned.

In a letter, Conkright wrote that those leaving had made a positive impact in preserving and celebrating the town’s history.