Gary Johnson, the Chicago History Museum president who oversaw the institution’s transition from being called the Chicago Historical Society, plans to retire as soon as a successor can be found, the 164-year-old institution announced Wednesday.
Taking the job after 28 years as a lawyer, Johnson has led the museum since 2005. In 2017, he shifted the museum’s thinking to “digital first,” board chair Walter Carlson said in the statement, signaling a shift in thinking to prioritizing what’s online in projects and operations.
Johnson said he also takes pride in building the museum’s holdings in photography, including the acquisition of some 5 million images from the Chicago Sun-Times. Under his guidance, the museum, located on the Gold Coast – Lincoln Park border, was the first to mount an exhibition of street photographer Vivian Maier.
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For a decade Johnson headed Museums in the Park, the group of 11 museums on Chicago Park District land.
A national search is being conducted for his successor, “a person who can build on Gary’s commitment to the community and to the idea that a museum must continually reinvent itself,” Carlson said in the statement.
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