MARBLEHEAD — Dan Marshall, a longtime Salem resident, is joining Marblehead Museum as the new executive director, bringing with him a long career in museum community engagement and a love for all things history.

While Marblehead is sad to see Lauren McCormack go, Marshall brings a wealth of knowledge collected over 25 years that will add to the amazing work already done by Marblehead Museum. Community engagement is what makes the museum so unique, and Marshall is ready to take on this new challenge.

“I’ve always had such a passion for history,” Marshall said. “Over the years, it’s really honed down into that day-to-day life and how that can change over time. But also that idea that people in the past had the same thoughts going through their brain in a day as we do today. It’s not always written down but it’s that connection to the people.”

Marshall began his career working with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg, Va., where he primarily focused on the legal history of the area through community events and reenactments.

He has made a point to center community involvement and uses the knowledge he has gained over his expansive career to inspire a younger audience to be curious about the history that surrounds them, especially in places like Salem and now Marblehead.

“That’s probably one of the things I’ve really enjoyed doing,” Marshall said. “I really enjoy sharing history with the public. A lot of people come with an interest but not a lot of knowledge to museums. I feel public institutions like Marblehead Museum and others, you know, it’s our mission to engage them and get them interested and maybe they’ll find connections to their own life. We want to cultivate that as much as possible”

In his free time, Marshall is interested in the history of medicine and how herbal medicines were made and what regulations were in place for doctors. This research has been an extension of his passion for connecting people across time and showing the people who interact with his work that human beings are incredibly similar even hundreds of years apart.

“We’ve learned a lot over the years. Medicine is a good example of things that really connect people. When you can really learn about the day-to-day. All the objects to the house and all that are so important to the story telling,” Marshall said.

“But it’s also important to know that, OK, you have a chair, and you can talk about where it was made, who made it, and the importance of that, but it’s also just as important to talk about who could sit in that chair,” Marshall said. “It would depend on your wealth, your status, whether you were free or unfree. That’s such an important part of the story as well.”

The Jeremiah Lee Mansion has a special role in Marblehead that connects people to the past in a tangible way. Those who visit get to see layers of history both in the exhibitions and the building itself. Marshall is ready to get started on his own contributions to the history of the town and make Marblehead proud.

For any history buffs, Marshall recommends two books that capture much of his passion. First, Nicholas Culpepper’s “Complete Herbal,” published 1652. It has never been out of print and captures the ideas of the time pertaining to medicine and real recipes for herbal medications.

His second pick was “Interpreting Our Heritage” by Freeman Tilden, published 1957.

“It’s really the first attempt to show that the techniques for sharing heritage history in national parks and museums is really its own unique approach compared to classroom teaching,” Marshall said. “Most of the modern techniques of sharing history in museums today started with Tilden and built off that foundation.”

Marshall will officially begin on July 6.