Hopkins grows Cartersville’s museums

By Kathy Dean

Seth Hopkins, the Booth Museum’s first employee, helped the museum take root and flourish from the moment it was conceived. Hopkins, now the Booth’s executive director, also headed up the team that developed the Tellus Science Museum and re-envisioned the Bartow History Museum.

Originally from Maine, Hopkins earned a journalism degree from Syracuse University and embarked on a career in radio and TV news. He worked in several Georgia markets, including Columbus and, finally, Cartersville, where he worked for a family that collected Western art and had enjoyed a good deal of business success.

Then, at the end of 1999, Hopkins said he had his “Y2K moment” when his boss announced that he was starting an art museum in Cartersville, and told Hopkins, “You’ll run it.” Hopkins says h responded: “I don’t know anything about art, and I’m not sure I can even spell museum.”

But, at age 32, he took the challenge and ran with it. Since it took more nearly three years to build the Booth Museum, Hopkins spent that time researching what it takes to assemble a collection, create exhibitions, and generally run a museum. He also traveled through the American West to acquaint himself with its culture, history, and art. That was a real highlight, he said, asking “How many people get to visit Yosemite National Park for their job?”

Hopkins also hit the books and took courses in museum studies, Western history, and art history at five universities before settling on Oklahoma University. There he earned his master’s degree, and his thesis on the Western art of Andy Warhol became a national traveling exhibition in 2019. “I am very proud,” he said. “Despite some COVID setbacks, the exhibition, called “Warhol and the West,” visited four major venues and the companion book received several awards.”

The Booth now is the largest museum of its kind in the Southeast. It has received a range of awards through the years, including Best Art Museum by USAToday Readers’ Choice 10Best awards program in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The nonprofit that runs Booth Museum, Georgia Museums, Inc., (GMI) recently added Savoy Automobile Museum to its collection. Hopkins stepped down as Executive Director of GMI to focus on the Booth, where his crash course in museums began. “I was already stretched thin among the three museums, and with a fourth on the horizon, I knew it was important to have a new leader for GMI,” he said. “Then I could turn my full attention back to the Booth.”