Deborah Tout-Smith is an Executive Board member of the International Council of Museums (2022-25) and is Senior Curator, Home & Community, in the History & Technology Department of Museums Victoria. She curates the Home & Community and Military History collections, and co-curates Clothing & Textiles and Childhood collections. She has curated major exhibitions including World War I: Love & Sorrow (2014) and The Melbourne Story (with Liza Dale-Hallett, 2008). 

Deborah’s is a Member of the Architectural and Cultural Heritage Advisory Board of the Australian Centre for Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage (ACAHUCH) at the University of Melbourne (2020-25) and Board Member of the History Council of Victoria (2021- ). 

Deborah’s recent publications include Museums, Collections & Communities: Reflections on the Life of Martin Hallett (ed.) with Eleanor Whitworth and Margaret Anderson, Museums Victoria (2022); Museums, History and the Intimate Experience of the Great War: Love and Sorrow (ed.) with Joy Damousi and Bart Ziino, Routledge (2021); and World War I: 100 Years (ed.), Beiträge zur Museologie series, vol. 8 (2021). 

Deborah’s other appointments have included curatorial and collections positions at the Western Australian Museum, the Ohio Historical Society and the University of Alberta, where she was Adjunct Professor in the Department of Human Ecology. 

Deborah holds a Master of Arts degree in Public History from Monash University.