David Nicandri Biography
David Nicandri, Director of the
Washington State Historical Society.
Contact Kimberly Adams (253-798-5877) for
high-res image.
David L. Nicandri has been director of the Washington State Historical Society since
July 1987.
A graduate of State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh, and the holder of
a Master’s Degree in history from the University of Idaho, Nicandri formerly served as the
chief curator of the Washington State Capital Museum.
Nicandri was also elected three times to
the Tumwater, Wash. city council, and was adjunct faculty at The Evergreen State College. He
has served as a consulting humanist in a number of capacities, including three terms as a
speaker in the “Inquiring Mind” program.
Nicandri is the author of numerous books and articles, including a history of the Olympia
capital campus, a history of Territorial Governor Isaac I. Stevens Indian Treaty Tour, and
co-editor of the official 1989 centennial illustrated history of Washington.
He is the executive editor of COLUMBIA Magazine, the journal of the Washington
State Historical Society.
In May 2001, Nicandri received an honorary doctorate from Gonzaga University in
recognition of the Society’s expansion and proficiency during his tenure. The
University of Puget Sound granted Nicandri an honorary doctorate in May 2007, and his
alma mater, SUNY Plattsburgh, has named him a distinguished visiting alumnus. The Dakota
Institute of North Dakota is publishing his Lewis & Clark manuscript, River of Promise:
Lewis and Clark on the Columbia, due out in 2010.
Currently, Nicandri is researching for a book on the "Tacoma Renaissance,"
countenancing the intersection of the Boldt Decision, the Puyallup Land Claim settlement,
and the revitalization of downtown Tacoma.