In Memoriam: Lori D. Yarrish

Lori D Yarrish
August 6, 2018

Lori Yarrish, the director of the Anacostia Community Museum, passed away August 6 after a brief illness.

Ms. Yarrish became director of the museum last December, after having served as acting director since June 2016. In that short time, she accomplished much at the museum.

She led efforts to renew and revitalize the ACM—including a refreshed mission statement and social-impact statement—and improve museum operations to align with the goals of the Strategic Plan. She wanted to redefine the role museums play in catalyzing change, creating new knowledge, and convening conversations of social importance.

Under her leadership, the museum kicked off a yearlong celebration of its 50th anniversary, which featured the exhibition, “Your Community, Your Story: Celebrating Five Decades of the Anacostia Community Museum, 1967–2017,” an open house, and a block party. The culmination of the celebration was the opening of the exhibition, “A Right to the City,” which explores the history of neighborhood change in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Yarrish embraced the ACM’s role as a community museum. She and her staff were always looking for innovative ways to reach audiences, form collaborative partnerships, and connect with communities. They increased the museum’s digital offerings and worked to bring the museum’s activities out of the building and into the community. She also reinvigorated ACM’s advisory board so it would better reflect the refreshed mission of the museum.

Lori Yarrish at the Washingtonian magazine gala celebrating Washington, D.C.’s most powerful women in the arts. (Photo by Haili Francis via Twitter)

Ms. Yarrish also served on the coordinating committee for the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative and the October 2017 issue of Washingtonian named her one of Washington, D.C.’s most powerful women in the arts.

Before becoming director of the ACM, Ms. Yarrish was the deputy director of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, a position she had held since 1991. Before coming to the Smithsonian, Ms. Yarrish was State Administrator of Collections and Exhibitions for the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture and the Banneker-Douglass Museum.

Lori Yarrish is survived by her daughter Laila and her mother Myra. Services will be held Friday, Aug. 17, at the Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, located at 1636 East Capitol Street, N.E., in Washington, D.C. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m., and the service will start at 11 a.m.

Watch the memorial service held in celebration of Lori Yarish’s remarkable life, held October 12, 2018.

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