Margaret Simmons Vining

May 22, 1933 – September 25, 2018
Margaret Simmons Vining, curator emerita of military history at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., died at her home in Annapolis, MD, on 25 September 2018. She was 85.
Born in 1933 to the late George and Keturah Garner Simmons, Margaret was raised and educated in Jones County, N.C. She was twice married and widowed, first to Air Force Col. Robert Vining (West Point Class of 1952), then to Navy Capt. William Hickman.
Margaret is survived by her life partner, Bart Hacker; her two sisters, Ann Matthews and Susan Hammond; her three children, Suzanne Kerba, Winfield Vining, and Edwin Vining; her stepdaughter Stacy Hickman; and her six extraordinary grandchildren: Paige and Bennett Brownlow; Blake and Beda Vining; and Hunter and Ally Smith.
Margaret began her college studies at East Carolina University and completed them at The George Washington University in 1982 with an advanced degree in Museum Studies. From 1974 to 1980, she served as a legislative researcher in the US Congress.
In 1983, Margaret began an illustrious 35-year career at the National Museum of American History. In addition to actively building the museum's collections and curating numerous exhibitions there, she also regularly engaged with other museums in the United States and Europe.
Margaret lectured throughout the world and published extensively on women's military history, military material culture, and museum studies. Margaret's work helped define women's military history as a distinct field of scholarly study. Margaret's proudest professional achievement was establishing the Smithsonian Archive of Women's Military History. She and Bart also endowed the Margaret S. Vining and Barton C. Hacker Fellowship in Women's Military History at the Smithsonian.
A celebration of her life will be held in her beloved Emerald Isle, N.C., in spring 2019. In lieu of flowers, Margaret wished her friends to support her lifelong commitment to feminism and women's rights by donating to Emily's List, the American Civil Liberties Union, or Planned Parenthood.