PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Historical Society has named Tara McCauley as its new executive director following a unanimous vote of its board of directors.
McCauley joined the historical society as program director in 2019 and was serving as interim executive director until last year.
“We have an incredible, professional, dedicated, passionate, and smart as heck staff who inspire me and who I learn from every day,” McCauley said in a statement. “Our Board is engaged and supportive and have such deep care and commitment for this community and its cultural landscape, bringing such a diversity of experience, expertise, and perspective to our organization.”
The society’s previous executive director, Shelly Leavens, left the organization last year to work for the City of Port Townsend as its communications manager.
McCauley has more than 25 years of museum experience. She previously worked at Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, among others. With an undergraduate degree in art history and a master’s degree in museum education, her work has focused on museum development, including the creation of new spaces.
“We’re in a very exciting time right now,” McCauley said Wednesday. “We’re in the midst of this newly imagined museum project where we’ve reimagined all the museum spaces in our building.”
Since 1951, the society has run the Jefferson Museum of Art and History in Port Townsend’s old City Hall building and is currently running its Rooted in Change campaign, a $2.3 million fundraising effort to overhaul the museum.
The new museum will have all-rotating exhibits based around an annual theme, McCauley said, with the only permanent feature being an informational plaque in each room explaining its historical significance to the old City Hall building.
The society began fundraising for that project last year and is currently working on securing grants and other donations. A community fundraising campaign is set for the fall, McCauley said. So far the society has raised more than $885,000.
The society also runs several sites in and around Port Townsend, including two historic house museums in partnership with Washington State Parks, and a publicly accessible research center has a collection of more than 500,000 items.
“McCauley has demonstrated exceptional leadership and vision,” museum representatives stated in a news release announcing McCauley’s promotion. “She played a pivotal role in navigating the organization through the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading innovative virtual programming and community outreach initiatives.”
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at peter.segall@peninsuladailynews.com.
