Lisa Caitlin Highsmith will has been hired to become the new Programs and Education Director for the Geary County Historical Society. She is a Doctoral Candidate at Kansas State University who studies the commercialization of death in nineteenth-century America, Spiritualism and the role of print media in the emerging funeral industry.
Historical Society Director Heather Hagedorn made the announcement, noting that over the past ten years, Highsmith has worked in cultural and academic sectors promoting art, history and STEM education and programming.
Highsmith's professional record includes work for Angelo State University's Mayer Museum, Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plain, Kansas State University, the Buddy Holly Center, Texas Tech University and the Natural Science Research Laboratory at the Museum of Texas Tech.
Highsmith will assume the role vacated by Patsy Johnson, who recently relocated to North Carolina with her husband.
Highsmith will begin her work with the Geary County Historical Society at the end of June.