Claudia J. Nicholson was named new Executive Director of the museum at a board meeting on January 26, 2005, after a national search. She succeeds the late Richard E. Carroll.

Claudia began her career in museums at the National Archives in Washington, DC. After earning her Master's Degree in History Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program, she went on to become the Curator of Collections for the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre. Seven years ago she moved to St. Paul to take a curatorial job at the Minnesota Historical Society, from which she was laid off during the budget crisis of 2002. Since then, she has worked on a variety of projects in fundraising (including an annual fund drive and some grantwriting), teaching collections management to small museums, working at Lifetouch Inc. on a history project, and as a cashier and bookkeeper at her local Cub Foods.

She lives in St. Paul with her husband, Michael Salzberg, and her 15-year-old daughter, Marianne. She was also a Girl Scout in her hometown of Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.