Archives West Finding Aid

Diane Leith Nicholson was a student at Oregon State University (OSU) from 1970 to 1974, graduating with an undergraduate degree in history in 1974. Nicholson may have been on the Archives staff during her years as an OSU student and/or during the summer of 1975. Nicholson enrolled at Texas Tech University after graduating from OSU and completed a Master’s degree in Museum Science in 1976. She joined the National Park Service at Harpers Ferry Center in West Virginia that year and assumed her first permanent position at the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site as a museum technician in 1979. In 1980, Nicholson began working as a museum curator at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Three years later Nicholson became the regional curator at the Western Regional Office of the National Park Service, working in that position until 1991, at which time she returned to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Nicholson began a second tour-of-duty as Regional Curator for the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service in 2007. During her 35-year career with the National Park Service, Nicholson was instrumental in development of the Park Service's museum program. A memorial stated: "Her passion for her work and fierce commitment to furthering the protection of museum collections and mentoring many in the museum field were renowned."

Nicholson was born on November 27, 1951, in San Francisco, California. She died suddenly while leaving work on January 3, 2012.