Dr. David W. Young (Credit: HSMC)
Dr. David W. Young served as executive director of the Delaware Historical Society from 2018 to 2023.
The Historical Society of Montgomery County welcomes its new executive director Dr. David W. Young.
“I am honored and delighted to serve as the Executive Director of a vital county historical society whose local history has profound national importance. I look forward to leading the society staff, board, volunteers, and members and stakeholders in an exciting new chapter of the 140-year legacy of the institution. With the coming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States history can play a lead role in sharing, discussing, and saving what matters in our communities,” he said.
Originally from Chicago, Young earned a B.A. from Northwestern and M.A. and Ph.D. from Ohio State University, where he won a Fulbright fellowship to support research on local politics, culture, and economics in postwar Germany. He has lived in the Wissahickon Valley for over thirty years.
He served as executive director of the Delaware Historical Society from 2018 to 2023. Prior to that, he was executive director of Cliveden of the National Trust and the Johnson House Historic Site—both in Germantown—winning local, state, and national awards for his work. Previous positions included education director at the Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia History and director of the Salem County Historical Society.
As a volunteer, he led the effort to save the 1775 Concord School and Upper Burying Ground of Germantown in 2006; and served as president of the Historic Germantown consortium of sites and house museums from 2008-2012, spearheading the effort to professionalize the consortium. For eight years he served as a board member of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, including as treasurer when the fund moved to all-professional staffing. Young taught for a decade in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the University of Pennsylvania and served on the faculty of the History Leadership Institute.
His 2019 book, “The Battles of Germantown: Effective Public History in America,” was awarded the 2020 Klein Prize from the Pennsylvania Historical Association.
Historical Society Board of Director’s President Ken Olin noted the importance of having an executive director with the expertise Dr. Young brings.
“Montgomery County has played an important role in the formation and history of this nation. With the country’s 250th anniversary coming up, this Society found itself needing to find a new Executive Director who could help to lead us forward with vision, clarity of purpose, and proven experience,” Olin said. “We put out a significant search, with interest from across the United States. Having Dr. Young even apply for the position was, quite frankly, fortuitous, and was an opportunity the Search Committee felt it simply couldn’t pass up. We are look forward to a renewed vigor in our leadership. Young’s enthusiasm for history is truly contagious.”
The Historical Society of Montgomery County is located at 1654 DeKalb Street in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and can be reached at 610-272-0297 or contact@hsmcpa.org.
