Robert Kelly is a public historian and museum director with fifteen years of experience advancing public understanding of American and Franco-American history. On June 10, 2026, the Ambassador of France to the United States decorated him as a Knight of the French National Order of Merit, France's second-highest national honor, conferred in the name of the President of the French Republic.
A 2009 graduate of Old Dominion University with a B.A. in History, Robert began his career in 2011 as a historian at Fort Monroe National Monument. Since 2020, he has served as Director of the Gloucester Museum of History.
Robert also serves as Vice President of the American Friends of Lafayette and co-directed the organization's recent 14-month Lafayette Bicentennial commemoration, which featured more than 500 public events across 24 states. His additional honors include the 2024 Médaille d'Honneur du Souvenir Français for strengthening U.S.-France relations, recognition in Old Dominion University's "40 Under 40" in 2023, and designation as a Virginia Humanities Scholar in 2020.
Active throughout public-history community, Robert is President of the Fort Monroe Historical Society, President of the Peninsula Museums Forum, Regional Delegate in Virginia for the American Society of Le Souvenir Français, a member of the National Advisory Committee for the James Monroe Memorial Foundation, and Co-chair of the Gloucester250 Committee. He resides at Fort Monroe, the largest masonry fort in North America, designed by French engineer Simon Bernard and visited by General Lafayette in 1824.
