Port Townsend historian appointed to Smithsonian board

Published 1:30 am Saturday, February 21, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND — A Port Townsend-based historian has been appointed to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History board.

Public historian Susan Ferentinos, Ph.D., whose work has been nationally recognized, will travel to attend her first in-person board meetings next Thursday and Friday in Washington D.C.

“I am deeply honored to have been approached by the Smithsonian to serve on this board,” Ferentinos said in a news release. “The National Museum of American History plays a vital role in helping all Americans understand our shared past, and I’m excited to contribute to that mission during such a pivotal moment in our nation’s history.”

While she’s thrilled to be on the board, the decision to join took more than six months of conversations and consideration, Ferentinos said in an interview.

It was a logistical decision, as the role requires travel several times annually, but also it was a decision of values, she said. She added that she needed to vet whether or not she would be able to carry out her mission and maintain her ethical commitments as a historian.

“I specialize in helping cultural organizations tell a wider range of stories about the past and focus on the less-well-known stories,” Ferentinos said. “That includes, in my work, primarily LGBTQ+ history, gender history and women’s history. Those identities obviously bring in a lot of intersectionality, so I also do projects related to various racial and ethnic minorities.”

Over the course of most of her career, the federal government has been a real leader in efforts for public history institutions to do that kind of much-needed work through granting agencies and through the leadership of the National Park Service, Ferentinos said.

In just a couple of months last year, grant programs, funding streams and resourcing were all quickly dismantled, Ferentinos said. The field of public history saw a lot of disruption, she added.

The National Endowment for Humanities was gutted, she said. Grant programs from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, which funds museums and libraries throughout the country, ended on short notice, she added. The latter has since been reinstated by a court order.

“I wanted to make sure that I would be being called upon to help fulfill the longstanding mission of the museum, rather than being called upon to do things that I felt were in violation of the ethics of my profession,” Ferentinos said.

Ultimately concluding the opportunity would help extend her mission, Ferentinos pursued the appointment.

The Smithsonian is one of the nation’s most visited museums with about 2 million visitors annually since 2023, according to Smithsonian data.

The board is responsible for advising the museum’s director and leadership team on exhibitions, facilities, development, finance and other strategic initiatives, according to the news release.

In addition to historians with varying subject matter expertise, the board is composed of business leaders, community leaders and philanthropists, Ferentinos said.

Ferentinos is the sole Pacific Northwest representative on the board.

Ferentinos owns a nationwide consulting business based in Port Townsend.

She has worked alongside a long list of historical organizations, colleges and universities.

Ferentinos’ book, “Interpreting LGBT History at Museums and Historic Sites,” was published in 2015. It won the National Council on Public History Book Award in 2016.

“I spent a couple of years researching and traveling the country, talking to the curators who had put up exhibits,” she said. “From that research, I drew out a list of best practices for interpreting LGBTQ+ history, and I had case studies and I also provided readers with an overview of queer history in the U.S. I always say, ‘400 years in 75 pages.’ But I did it.”

The history teases out major themes and can act as a starting point for curators interested in creating exhibits, Ferentinos said.

While there were some museums presenting LGBTQ+ exhibitions when she started working on the book, they were limited.

“I feel like I pretty much knew about every exhibit in a history museum in the country,” Ferentinos said. “That is no longer possible, which is super exciting.”

Ferentinos is currently in negotiations for a second edition of the book.

“That little tiny part of the field has gotten so much more sophisticated, in the last 10 years or so,” she said. “More people have tried more things. We have a wider range of knowing what works, what doesn’t work.”

Ferentinos, herself a part of the LGBTQ+ community, said the book was the first chance for her to bring her scholarly and public historian expertise together. The response to the book has allowed her to continue focusing on the work.

Ferentinos’ consulting work has seen her helping museums, historic sites and government agencies expand and diversify the stories they tell about the American past.

Her clients have included the National Park Service, the American Association for State and Local History, the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, and numerous museums and historic sites across the country.

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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.