As a native of Alexandria, VA, Jan McKelvey graduated with High Honors from the Smith College Department of Theater and Speech in 1976. Her 25 year-long full-time career in arts management included such positions as Film Coordinator at the Walnut Street Theater; Director of Development for the Opera Company of Philadelphia; the Founding Director of the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts; and the Director of Development for the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. After she and her husband Mike welcomed their daughter Michelle and son Blake into the world, Jan held a number of part-time positions with such organizations as the Washington Airports Task Force and WETA.

After she and Mike became empty nesters, Jan started a second career at the Library of Congress, where she graduated from the Docent Class of 2010 and served on staff as a Visitor Services Coordinator from 2012-2018. She also volunteers at the Capitol Visitors Center and graduated from the 2014 Docent Class of Hillwood Museum and Gardens. While the McKelvey’s moved full-time to Hilton Head in 2020, they still maintain an apartment in Arlington where Jan continues her docent work and historical research. She is also a Civil War Docent at the Coastal Discovery Museum on Hilton Head and is on the Grants Committee for the Wexford Foundation.