Meet the Newest Members of the NCWHS Board

Lesley Barker, PhD, is the director of the Kentucky Faith & Public History Education Project which is based at River of Life Ministries of Paris, Kentucky. She is the author of several books including: St. Louis Gateway Rail – The 1970’s; New Boots: Elisha Green’s Story; Not Fair: Mary Britton’s Story; Picked Last: The Story of Effie Waller Smith; Pastor’s Ex-Wife; and Safe in the Arms of Jesus. She is a seasoned public speaker who has presented for faith-based and academic audiences in the United States, Haiti, France, and England. Professionally, Lesley has been an educator and a leader. She taught in the home school context for 17 years, taught elementary school for the St. Louis Public Schools, spent ten years as an optometric vision therapist in a pediatric optometry practice, and served as a consultant for smaller, newer, and often faith-based non-profit organizations with grant-writing and strategic planning. These roles led her to become the executive director of the Bolduc House Museum (now the Centre for French Colonial America) in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, from 2009-2016. She holds a Bachelor’s in Sociology from Washington University in St. Louis, a Master’s in Teaching from Webster University and a PhD in Museum Studies from the British University of Leicester. Lesley is the mother of seven and the grandmother of six. She currently lives and works in Paris, Kentucky.

Andrea Malcomb is Director at Historic Denver’s Molly Brown House Museum. She is focused on elevating the house museum as a nationally recognized women’s history site while also expanding the museum’s education partnerships across Denver. Under her leadership, the museum has elevated its public history impact through programs and interpretation that superimpose feminized narratives of historical events onto contemporary place-based activities, prompting audiences to explore a new, woman-centered dynamic between past and present.

This has led to education curriculum that elevates diverse stories of place-making, establishes higher standards for collections care and accessibility, and generates programming for evolving audience needs. Malcomb has also ensured the historic house will stand for another century with the recent completion of $1million+ in capitol restoration and the addition of accessible programming spaces.

She has served on the NCWHS RIC since 2018 and is in a second term on the Historic House Museums Committee of AASLH. She enjoys reading, cooking, championing for women’s rights, sits on the Board of Irish Network CO, and volunteer’s with the League of Women Voters.

“As the director of a museum dedicated to one woman’s story, it is an honor to join the Board of the NCWHS and be counted among professionals both knowledgeable and passionate about women’s history within their respective spheres. Under this leadership, the NCWHS is leading the way in ensuring that public history is inclusionary of all those underrepresented stories previously left out of the history books.”