Executive director of Orange regional history center resigns
Pamela Schwartz, executive director of the Orange County Regional History Center, has resigned.
“Pamela is an innovator, who has led efforts to tell Central Florida’s stories in new and exciting ways,” Venerria L. Thomas, director of Orange County’s Community and Family Services Department, said in a news release. “We applaud her tireless efforts, and we wish her well as she enters into her next chapter.”
Thomas’ department oversees operations of the history center.
Schwartz has accepted a position with a global exhibition design firm. Her resignation is effective April 26. The county is planning a national search for its next executive director.
She joined the history center, located in downtown Orlando, in 2016 as chief curator and senior program manager. She was named director in January 2021.
Among the exhibitions generated during her tenure were “Yesterday, This Was Home: The Ocoee Massacre of 1920” and “Figurehead: Music & Mayhem in Orlando’s Underground,” which is scheduled to remain at the museum through March 2, 2025.
The Ocoee exhibit was given the American Association for State and Local History’s Excellence and History in Progress Awards. In 2019, the museum received the National Medal for Museum and Library Services.
In 2016, Schwartz spearheaded the One Orlando Collection Initiative, which includes artifacts, photographs, archives, and oral histories tied to the Pulse nightclub shooting.
