Deborah Tout-Smith joined the History Council of Victoria in November 2021, representing Museums Victoria. Deborah is Senior Curator, Home & Community, in the Society & Technology Department of Museums Victoria. She curates Home & Community, Childhood and Military History collections, and co-curates a Clothing & Textiles collection.

Deborah is passionate about the documentation, research and interpretation of history. She has curated major exhibitions including World War I: Love & Sorrow (2014) and The Melbourne Story (with Liza Dale-Hallett, 2008). She is currently researching the use of Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building by the RAAF and WAAAF during World War II, building on the project https://museumsvictoria.com.au/reb/stories/wartime-stories-from-the-royal-exhibition-building/ 

Deborah’s recent publications include Museums, History and the Intimate Experience of the Great War: Love and Sorrow (ed.) with Joy Damousi and Bart Ziino, Routledge (2021); World War I: 100 Years (ed.), Beiträge zur Museologie series, vol. 8 (2021); and ‘Love & Sorrow: the Role of Emotion in Exhibition Development and Visitor Experience’, in Loughran, T. and Mannay, D., Emotion and the Researcher: Sites, Subjectivities and Relationships. Studies in Qualitative Methodology series (2018).

Deborah holds a Master of Arts in Public History (High Distinction) degree from Monash University.