Laura Latman
Registrar and Collections Manager
Laura Latman, a native New Yorker and Colby graduate has been the Registrar at the BCMA since 2000 (and Collection Manager since 2011) having moved from New York City where she worked both at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum for nearly 12 years as the Collections Registrar and at The International Center of Photography as Registrar for 2 years. While at the Guggenheim she handled all Collection related Registrarial projects including all outgoing loans and collection-based exhibitions throughout the US, Europe, the Far East, Soviet Union and Pacific Rim. Laura was also the Registrar of several demanding projects, including the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’s opening in late 1997, the Guggenheim New York’s after addition re-opening and the opening of the Guggenheim Museum in SoHo. She also coordinated the relocation of the permanent collection into a new state-of-the-art off-site storage facility, managed early preliminary Guggenheim projects at MassMOCA, processed the acquisitions of the Guggenheim’s extensive Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois and Robert Mapplethorpe Collections as well as the Panza Collection consisting of 100’s of minimal and conceptual art objects. When it came to Bilbao, Laura was entrusted with the overseeing and managing of all Registrarial responsibilities for the inaugural exhibition, which involved the orchestration of staff and resources across two continents. In addition, Laura relocated to Spain for the first nine months of the museum’s operation and acted as the Head Registrar setting-up the Registrar Department. Laura was the only NY employee who lived full-time in Bilbao on behalf of the NY museum. Laura used her New York training and experiences in 2007 to coordinate all aspects of inventorying, packing and moving Bowdoin’s entire collection from the museum to an off-site storage facility as well as to design the museum’s new storage room, spec. out the elevator and loading dock needs. As for her current day-to-day responsibilities, in addition to her collection and exhibition responsibilities, she manages the on-line Collection Kiosk and Collection Database. Laura and Michelle have made it a priority to digitize the collection and to make information and images accessible to museum staff the Bowdoin community and the general public.