Angela Smith

Dr. Smith is a Professor of History and Director of the Public History Program at North Dakota State University. She teaches courses in public history, digital history, museum studies, and twentieth-century U.S. history — all designed to get students out of the classroom and into the community.

Dr. Smith believes history comes alive when it’s shared. Her students have curated museum exhibits, produced documentaries, designed walking tours, and built a local history website, the Fargo History Project (www.fargohistory.com), a site produced by her and her students over the last fourteen years that explores the region’s past. Through her field schools, students work directly with museums, archives, and cultural organizations across North Dakota, gaining real-world experience and building professional networks.

Before earning her Ph.D., Dr. Smith spent 25 years as a graphic designer, and she brings that creative energy to everything she does — blending research, design, and storytelling to make history meaningful for public audiences. Her current research explores the history of the Red River Valley from the receding glaciers ten thousand years ago to the twentieth-century farm culture the area is known for.

If you’re passionate about connecting history to real people and real places, Dr. Smith’s classes offer opportunities to create history that matters—through hands-on projects, community collaboration, and meaningful public engagement. If you’re curious about majoring in public history or exploring graduate study at NDSU—and interested in historic preservation, museum work, archives, cultural resource management, or digital history—Dr. Smith would be delighted to talk with you about pathways that fit your goals.

• Public & Digital History
• Museum Studies
• Creative Media & Historical Interpretation
• 20th Century American History
  

Dr. Smith’s interests center on creative collaboration within and across disciplines and organizations, with a strong commitment to inclusive, community-centered practice. Her research and teaching also explore topics such as the history of sex work, the intersections of labor and gender, and the ways communities remember and interpret place. Alongside this work, she pursues creative projects in art, design, and writing that reflect her long-standing interests in landscape, memory, and the many layers of human experience.

Public History & Applied Practice

• HIST 251 – Introduction to Public History
  Overview of public history theory and practice, including museum studies, archival management, historic preservation, and cultural resource management.
• HIST 252/690 – Introduction to Museum Studies
  Exploration of museum interpretation, exhibit design, and collections management through hands-on projects with local institutions.
• HIST 491/690 – Public History Field School
  Three-week intensive field experience in partnership with local museums and communities across North Dakota. Students design exhibits, conduct oral histories, and assist with collections and interpretation.
• HIST 494/694 – Public History Internship
  Coordination and supervision of student internships with museums, archives, and historical organizations.
• HIST 740 – Graduate Readings in Public History
  Graduate-level survey of the field’s historiography, key debates, and applied methodologies.

Digital & Media History

• HIST 404/604 – Digital History
  Project-based course integrating digital tools and public storytelling; student work contributes to the Fargo History Project (www.fargohistory.com).
• HIST 399/691 – Introduction to Oral History
  Training in oral history methods, including interviewing, transcription, and ethical considerations.

U.S. History

• HIST 424/624 – American History, 1917–1960
• HIST 104 – Survey of U.S. History II: 1877–Present

NEH Deep Mapping Institute Fellow (2025)

Dr. Smith was selected as one of nine project co-directors nationwide (from more than 1,000 applicants) to participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities Deep Mapping Institute. Her project, Glacier, Prairie, Farm: Deep Mapping the Red River Valley, uses Cass County, North Dakota, as a pilot site to explore 10,000 years of human–environment interaction—from glacial Lake Agassiz and Indigenous lifeways to railroad expansion and the rise of Bonanza Farms. The project integrates environmental data, oral histories, treaty maps, archival materials, and archaeological research to create a digital “deep map” that connects communities with the layered histories of their landscape.

Inspiring Teacher Profile

Nomination for 2025 Woman of the Year

Professional Memberships
National Council on Public History (NCPH)
• Program Committee Member (2023)
• Curriculum & Education Committee (2019–2023)
• Awards Committee Chair (2019); Member (2018–2021)
• Board of Directors Nominee (2024-2025)
American Historical Association (AHA)
American Association of State and Local History (AASLH)
American Alliance of Museums (AAM)
Society of American Archivists (SAA)

Conference & Professional Leadership
Northern Great Plains History Conference
– Conference Council Representative for NDSU (2023-2024)

Community & Public Engagement
Board of Directors, Bonanzaville / Cass County Historical Society (2020–present)
Board of Directors, Museums in North Dakota (MiND) (2014–2023)
Oral History Advisor, Red River Rainbow Seniors Oral History Project (2017–present)
Collaborator with the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, the North Dakota State Historical Society, and other regional heritage organizations.