When working on the piece about my recently deceased colleague Kathleen Hulser I did some googling to refresh my memory about our New-York Historical Society days when I stumbled on a few rarities: news items that mention me by my given name rather my professional pseudonym. I have been using “Trav S.D.” for nearly 40 years, and since I’m a fairly solid citizen I seldom do anything that might be considered newsworthy outside my public-facing job. But for a few years, there was some overlap, when I occasionally got mentioned or quoted in the paper on account of my day job.
The circumstances of how I became p.r. director at New-York Historical Society are recounted here. One of the items I came across from those days is this Associated Press item which ran in papers all over the country in March, 2002, with regard to the N-YHS initiatives related to interpreting the events of September 11.
Here’s a piece by the New York Press‘s C.J. Sullivan from about a month later. (This resposting on Chelsea News misidentifies it as being from February, 2016 for some reason. It’s from around April, 2002). Anyway, C.J. put me on the spot on the subject of folk painter Ralph Fasanella. I really wanted him to talk to one of the curators, but he insisted on talking to me. I think he was hoping for an average Joe’s take but instead I think I came off like a snob. Which is insane, because I’m working class, from no more exalted a station than either Fasanella or Sullivan. Okay, I am a snob, but I’d do a much better job of winging it now than I did then. I saw just now that C.J. passed away last year himself. I urge you to read the Post‘s obit. He was quite a guy, a real New York character. I’d say one of a dying breed, but a dead one would be more accurate. The Fasanella piece is here.
Then there’s this piece from Artnet, when myself and a bunch of other staff were unceremoniously bounced from N-YHS by new leadership in summer 2004. The Alexander Hamilton exhibition the article refers to was based on the same Ron Chernow book that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2015 musical Hamilton. Quite a different cultural product! I was in a meeting or two with Mr. Chernow to plan lectures and public events prior to my separation. The Artnet piece, full of juicy museum gossip, is here.
I only realized what a dream job I’d had a bit later, when I tried to find a similar one. Took me months! Fortunately I was able to live off my book advance for No Applause during the down time. Then, just at the 11th hour, Randy Bourscheidt hired me at the Alliance for the Arts — the announcement about that is here. I was at that job for a shorter time than it will take you to find the item about it. A tale for another time!
After this I found a way to combine the two halves of my life by performing similar jobs at places like Theater for the New City and Coney Island USA. From that point on, I was no longer Jekyll and Hyde…simply Hyde and Hyde.