Barbara Franco
Author and Historian
Barbara Franco is a public historian, curator, and museum director whose career has spanned leadership roles in some of the nation’s most prominent historical institutions. She is the founding executive director emerita of the Gettysburg Seminary Ridge Museum and has written and consulted widely on museum practice and historical interpretation. Barbara’s broad scholarly interests in 19th-century social, cultural, and intellectual history include the decorative and fine arts, communal societies, fraternal organizations, the role of religion, and the Civil War era. She has served as executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., as well as assistant director for museums at the Minnesota Historical Society.