Bob Beatty

A “history geek” since elementary school, Bob Beatty is President of the Lyndhurst Group, a community-focused history, museum, and nonprofit consulting firm providing engagement strategies for institutional planning, organizational assessments, and interpretive direction. From 2007-2017 Dr. Beatty served the American Association for State & Local History, most recently as Chief of Engagement, but also Interim President & CEO and Chief Operating Officer. From 1999-2007 he directed the Education Department at the Orange County (FL) Regional History Center.

He graduated with a BA in Liberal Studies and an A. in History from the University of Central Florida. He holds a PhD in Public History from Middle Tennessee State University, his dissertation, “You Wanna Play in My Band, You Better Come to Pick,” discusses the influence of Duane Allman and the Allman Brothers Band on American music. He is also an instructor of Museum Studies and American History at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Dr. Beatty is the recipient of the 2019 Excellence in Teaching Award from Johns Hopkins University’s Museum Studies program, the Southeastern Museum Conference’s 2017 Outstanding Service to the Museum Profession Award, and was the Florida Association of Museums’ Outstanding New Professional in 2002. He is the author of Florida’s Highwaymen: Legendary Landscapes, co-editor of Zen and the Art of Local History, and author of An American Association for State and Local History Guide to Making Public History, has published several articles, and is a regular presenter at professional conferences.