The Watkins Community Museum of History will have a new curator Tuesday.

Kerry Lippincott, 24, will take over the curator position, which has been vacant since August. Hailing from Gorham, N.Y., Lippincott interned at the Watkins Museum while working on a master’s degree in museum studies at Kansas University.

“Watkins Museum has a lot of treasures in it, so we’ll be trying to pull those out for the public to see,” Lippincott said.

Since graduating from KU in May, Lippincott has been working as a curator and administrative assistant at the Leavenworth County Historical Society.

Watkins Museum officials conducted a national search to find a new curator after Alison Miller resigned the position last summer to continue her education, director Rebecca Phipps said.

About 50 people applied for the job. But familiarity with Lippincott and her work made the former intern a standout among the candidate pool, Phipps said.

“She had many qualities that we were looking for in the person we wanted to fill the position,” Phipps said. “She’s highly regarded by the people she worked with in Leavenworth and through her schoolwork at KU.”

Lippincott’s primary responsibility will be maintaining the three-dimensional objects, such as furniture and bicycles, in the Watkins collection. She also will be involved with educational programming and exhibit work.

Lippincott said she became interested in working at museums while in high school. She graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 2002.

The Douglas County Historical Society is responsible for the operation, preservation and development of collections in the Watkins Community Museum of History. The society is a nonprofit organization.