National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Social History

The Division of Social History was created in 1994 during a general reorganization of the National Museum of American History when it became one of five divisions under the Department of History. Staff attached to the new Division were drawn from the former divisions of Armed Forces History, Ceramics and Glass, Costume, Domestic Life, and Political History.

The Division seeks to interpret public and private life in the American past. In doing so it studies areas of work, politics, reform movements, home life, gender identity, manufacturing, consumption, invention, and leisure.

Staff of the Division have included Susan H. Myers, Curator and Chair, 1994- ; William L. Bird, Curator, 1994- ; Barbara Clark Smith, Curator, 1994- ; Anne Castrodale Golovin, Curator, 1994- (Emeritus, 1997- ); Claudia Brush Kidwell, Curator, 1994- ; Edith Mayo, Curator, 1994- (Emeritus, 1997- ); Keith E. Melder, Curator, 1994-1996; Rodris C. Roth, Curator, 1994-1999 ; and Lonn Taylor, Historian, 1994- .