Dorothy and her beloved husband S. Howard Goldman (1930-1997) were stewards of an incomparable American founding document: one of only 14 original copies of the U.S. Constitution printed in 1787. After Howard’s death, Dorothy took their shared interest further by building an unmatched collection of more than 250 U.S. state constitutions and other important historical documents from throughout American history. She shared her collection with the public in Colonists, Citizens, and Constitution: Creating the American Republic, an exhibition that appeared at the New York Historical Society and the Museum of the American Revolution in 2020 and 2021. Her friend Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, wrote the foreword of the accompanying exhibition catalogue.

Later in her life, Dorothy decided to sell her collection, including the U.S. Constitution, and used the proceeds to establish the DTG Foundation. She had strong ideas about what she wanted the DTG Foundation to support and remained open to creative possibilities. Dedicated to furthering the understanding of American constitutional principles, the DTG Foundation provides grants for educational, artistic, and cultural initiatives that advance the civic ideals of America’s founding documents. This was Dorothy’s vision, and today, at one of the most decisive moments in American democracy, the DTG Foundation’s mission is more crucial than ever.

Dorothy approached her philanthropy as an educator. Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she earned a B.S. in Education from Tufts University and an M.S. in Education from the Massachusetts College of Art. At the culmination of her professional career, she served as a tenured professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, where she taught in the departments of Interior Design and Architecture. Earlier in her career she was a preschool teacher, later a practicing artist in her own right with a sculpture studio, and taught sculpture at an independent high school in the Boston suburbs. She had two children, Mark Polansky and Barbra Siskin. She was wildly proud of her two granddaughters, Mia and Avalon Siskin.

Throughout her life Dorothy became involved with and gave generously to many historical and cultural organizations, including the New York Historical Society, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, National Constitution Center, and the Supreme Court Historical Society. Dorothy also established and later endowed a Fellowship in Constitutional Studies for the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Dorothy named her daughter Barbra Siskin as the Executive Director of the DTG Foundation to find ways to create impact and continue the work she started.

Barbra (Barb) Siskin serves as President and Sole Director of the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation (DTG Foundation), continuing and expanding the philanthropic vision established by her late mother, Dorothy Tapper Goldman. Based in Mill Valley, California, and New Orleans, Louisiana, Barb brings a lifelong passion for history, culture, music, and creating opportunities for others, especially young people, to realize their own paths and potential.

Before assuming leadership of the DTG Foundation, Barb built a distinguished career spanning nearly three decades as a professional archaeologist in cultural resources management. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Tulane University and a Master of Arts from Sonoma State University in Anthropology and began her professional career as an archaeologist in 1994. Over the course of her work throughout the western United States, she developed expertise in cultural resources management, environmental compliance, and the interpretation and implementation of complex federal, state, and local regulations. Her work brought together government agencies, utilities, and private-sector clients, and Native American Tribal groups and representatives to navigate the respectful treatment of cultural resources.

As project manager and principal investigator, Barb led archaeological and environmental compliance projects with a particular focus on Native American archaeology, consultation, and collaboration. She later became a partner at Far Western Anthropological Research Group, one of the nation’s most respected archaeological consulting firms. During her tenure, she established and led the firm’s Marin County office, served on its executive team, helped shape organizational growth and business operations, and mentored a generation of emerging professionals in the field, a role she continues to embrace today.

Barb now leads the DTG Foundation in carrying forward the legacy of her late mother, Dorothy Tapper Goldman, an artist, collector of American historical documents and art, philanthropist, teacher, and passionate champion of constitutional education. Dorothy expanded the Foundation’s reach through the sale of the exceptionally rare first printing of the final text of the United States Constitution, transforming a historic artifact into a lasting philanthropic resource. Today, under Barb’s leadership, the Foundation supports civic education, cultural preservation, indigenous history and education, arts and culture, and programs that help young people through education, mentorship, and the arts. Music, in particular, has become an important avenue for the Foundation’s work, reflecting Barb’s belief in its power to inspire confidence, community, creativity, and joy. Barb also serves as a trustee of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, where Dorothy established and later endowed a Guggenheim Fellowship in Constitutional Studies and where the DTG Foundation now also supports a fellowship in Indigenous Studies. Barb’s leadership is guided by many of the same values that shaped her career in archaeology: curiosity and collaboration, respect for history, a commitment to preserving cultural heritage, and a belief that understanding the past can help build a stronger future.

Barb’s connection to New Orleans began in 1988 when she arrived as a freshman at Tulane University. A lifelong music enthusiast whose passion was first nurtured in Boston’s vibrant music scene, and a newly minted Grateful Dead fan, she quickly found a lasting path for discovery in New Orleans’ rich cultural traditions. The city’s music, people, history, and spirit have remained central to her life ever since, and today inform the Foundation’s support for the Trombone Shorty Foundation’s youth educational programs and the preservation of New Orleans’ musical traditions.

Barb lives on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais in Mill Valley, California, where she enjoys spending time outdoors with her family and dogs. She is the proud mother of two daughters, one a recent Tulane graduate and the other currently in high school, and she continues to divide her time between California and her beloved home in New Orleans—with frequent travel and visits to New York City.