NORWICH – The new director of the county’s museum says she wants to heighten the facility’s presence in the community and make local history an interactive experience.

Carolyn McMasters, officially announced this week as the executive director of Chenango County Historical Society Museum, has a professional and educational background in finance, administration and music. Prior to living most recently in Boston, she was a long-time resident of New Berlin.

McMasters’ active interest in history began in the 1970s, on a Colonial re-enactment in a Pennsylvania state park.

“I was spinning wool, cooking over an open fire and educating visitors about life on a Colonial plantation in Ridley State Park,” she said. “That was the beginning of my interest in historical interpretation.”

The new executive director hopes to present Chenango County’s history in a way that gives more life to the story.

“I want to make the museum collection more interactive and more personal for our visitors,” she said.

That starts with letting people know the museum and its collection are there and accessible.

“I’m very interested in raising the visibility of the Historical Society in Chenango County and letting people know what an extensive collection the museum has and educating both children and adults about the history of the area,” said McMasters. “We anticipate the society and the museum will be a much larger presence in the community.”

McMasters was chosen after a three-month search to replace Dr. David Drucker, who resigned to write a book. She is coming in at time when the society is seeking to expand and update the museum and its adjacent facilities, which have been in the planning phases for several years.

“We wanted to choose a successor that would lead us in a new direction,” said Walter O. Rogers, a member of the Historical Society’s board of trustees. “We felt Carolyn was capable of taking us in the direction we needed to go.”