History Colorado has created the first State Historians Council in its 139-year history.

Historian and author Tom Noel will chair the group of  historians from across the state for the historical society, which operates the History Colorado Center museum in downtown Denver and others around the state.

The council will be charged with interpreting Colorado’s story, urging collaboration between historians, supporting research and guiding visitors to museums and historical sites.

Noel is a professor and the director of public history, preservation and Colorado studies at the University of Colorado Denver. He is coauthor of “Colorado: A History of the Centennial State” and is known as “Dr. Colorado” for his books, TV appearances and articles discussing the state’s history. He also is a tour guide for History Colorado.

Colorado has had a lone state historian since 1924, and the State Historians Council will expand on that mission of “understanding of the historical perspectives, cultures, and places of Colorado,” History Colorado said.

University of Colorado Boulder history professor Patty Limerick, the faculty director and chair of the board  for the Center of the American West at CU, has been the state historian since 2016.

“Dr. Limerick brought great expertise to the role and helped lead the evolution of our exhibition direction,” Robert Musgraves, chair of the History Colorado Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “We deeply appreciate Dr. Limerick and her service to the citizens of Colorado.”

The new council officially begins work on Aug, 1, which is observed annually as Colorado Day to celebrate statehood (with free museum admissions, performances and other history-related activities across the state).

Besides Noel, the council will be made up of: