Tennessee Historical Society Staff Members

Ann Toplovich
Executive Director
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Ann Toplovich is the executive director of the Tennessee Historical Society, a post she has held since 1990. Trained as an archaeologist, her career in public history has included stints as director of the Tennessee Main Street Program, deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, and Assistant Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Conservation. She has directed NEH and state humanities projects, served as a consultant on research projects, published articles, and appeared on PBS and History Channel productions. She currently serves on the boards of the American Association for State and Local History, Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, Tennessee Public Records Commission, Nashville Neighborhood Resource Center, and Tennessee African American Cultural Heritage Preservation Society.

A native of Watertown, Toplovich lives in a National Register historic district near downtown Nashville with her husband, an environmental scientist, and their son.

Kelly Wilkerson
Director of Membership and Programs
State Coordinator for Tennessee History Day
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Since 2000, Kelly has served the Society as Director for Membership and Programs. In that capacity, she works with members to update, renew, and service their memberships, recruits new members, updates the THS website, and coordinates programming to include lecture series, reading and discussion groups, symposia, conferences, travel tours and the annual membership meeting. In 2008, she took on the responsibility of State Coordinator for the Tennessee History Day program. Her research interests include industrial development of Tennessee and the South, southern labor history, and American cultural history.

A native of South Pittsburg, Tennessee, Wilkerson holds a Master of Arts degree in History with an emphasis in Public History (2003) from Middle Tennessee State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History From Austin Peay State University (1997).

Kristofer Ray, Ph.D.
Editor, Tennessee Historical Quarterly
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Kristofer Ray became senior editor of the Tennessee Historical Quarterly in 2010. In this capacity he recruits authors to write articles for the THQ, reviews submitted manuscripts, and works with the editorial advisory board to provide guidance to authors whose work has been accepted. Ray is also assistant professor of history at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. His research interests lie in early North American identity formation, political culture and economic development. His most recent book, Middle Tennessee, 1775-1825: Progress and Popular Democracy on the Southwestern Frontier, was published by the University of Tennessee Press in 2007.

Ray holds a BA from Baylor University (1994) and a PhD in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2003). For more information visit his website at www.apsu.edu/rayk.

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