With over 20 years of experience in the public history field, I’ve played a host of roles in a variety of interpretive projects.
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Sample Projects
“Pass the Story On” exhibition
I led the effort to create the Folger Shakespeare Library’s exhibition Pass the Story On: Shakespeare’s First Folio at 400. The exhibition was the culmination of a collaborative 8-month exhibition development effort to display and interpret a Shakespeare First Folio (first edition of Shakespeare’s collected works) at DC Public Library, and was part of a larger cross-institutional “Searching for Shakespeare” initiative.
Ford’s Theatre Site History Projects
During my nearly 9 years at Ford’s Theatre, I collaborated with colleagues to augment research on the site’s history and repurpose that content into programs and resources for different audiences.
“The Dentist Who Defrauded Two Governments—and a Historian”
Published in Contingent, 2022.
Re-Interpreting a Murder Weapon
I led an effort to create new in-person and online interpretive signage for John Wilkes Booth’s murder weapon, to bring interpretation away from a true crime focus toward questions of political violence and memorialization.
Presentation: U.S. Citizens Who Moved to Mexico’s Interior, 1821-46
For the Museum of South Texas History’s Sunday Speaker Series Online, 2022.
Remembering Lincoln Digital Collection & Programs
Ford’s Theatre Society hired me as project manager for a digital repository of responses to the Lincoln assassination, Remembering Lincoln. After the site’s launch in early 2015—in time for the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination—I led efforts to augment the collection and repurpose the content to engage broad audiences in different ways.
Ford’s Theatre Interpretive Plan
I served as project manager and contributed to the content of Ford’s Theatre’s first-ever site-wide interpretive plan.
Folger Core Exhibition Work
I served as internal project manager for the Folger Shakespeare Library’s first-ever core/long-term exhibition.
Folger Temporary Exhibitions
As Folger Shakespeare Library’s first Head of Exhibitions, I managed development of Folger’s first two temporary exhibition changeovers in its new exhibition gallery.
Ford’s Theatre Distance Learning Programs
To relate the history we interpreted at Ford’s Theatre to the pandemic moment and questions around memorialization, I created two new distance learning offerings: Responding to Lincoln’s Assassination (created solely by me) and Ford’s Theatre After the Assassination (co-created with a colleague).
Ford’s Theatre Exhibition Prototyping Project
Visitor research at Ford’s Theatre had found that students tended to disengage quickly in their time in the Ford’s Theatre Museum. I collaborated with colleagues to try different methods of engaging student groups.
My Dissertation
“Racing Ahead of Manifest Destiny: U.S. Migration, Citizenship, and Commercial Expansion in Mexico’s Interior, 1821-53.”
George Mason University Department of History.
Defended July 2021.
Folger Exhibition Rotations
As Folger Shakespeare Library’s first Head of Exhibitions, a major part of my role was developing a process for rotating paper-based materials in Folger’s first long-term exhibition space.
Ford’s Theatre on Google Arts & Culture
I led the effort to bring Ford’s Theatre onto the platform Google Arts and Culture, allowing people around the world to take a virtual tour of the historic site, learn about its past, and explore its collection.
History Content on Ford’s Theatre Website
When Ford’s Theatre redid its website in 2016, we rethought how to engage website visitors in the story of the Lincoln assassination and Ford’s Theatre as a historic site. I led efforts to rethink our web-based historical storytelling and subsequently build a series of 10 webpages.
Book Chapter on Ford’s Theatre, 1865-Present
Co-written with Colleen Prior, Aysha Preston, Sarah Jencks, and Kenneth Foote. Published in Affective Architectures: More-Than-Representational Geographies of Heritage, edited by Jacque Micieli-Voutsinas & Angela M. Person, 2020.
Book Chapter on the Lincoln Museum, 1893-1932
Co-written with Sara Levine Bhatia. Published in U.S. Museum Histories and the Politics of Interpretation: Never Neutral, edited by Laura Schiavo, 2023.
Visitor Research at Ford’s Theatre
Ford’s Theatre needed data on how visitors reacted to its exhibitions in order to make decisions about future interpretation. I managed two efforts to gather data.
Book Chapter on Theatrical, Museum Exhibition, & Museum Technology Processes
“Closer Than They Appear: Drawing Lessons from Development Processes for Museum Technology, Exhibitions, and Theatrical Productions.” Co-written with Max Evjen. Published in Humanizing the Digital: Unproceedings from the MCN 2018 Conference, edited by the Ad Hoc Museum Collective, 2019.
JHSGW Alexandria Walking Tour
To accompany the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington’s Northern Virginia outreach efforts and a Civil War exhibition that traveled to Alexandria’s history museum, I created a walking tour of Jewish sites in Old Town Alexandria.
JHSGW Civil War Online & Poster Exhibitions
When an exhibition on Jewish life in Civil War Washington proved too unwieldy to travel to many venues, I led efforts to create a poster version and an online version.
JHSGW Downtown, Alexandria, Arlington Cemetery Brochures
After years of offering successful walking tours, the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington sought to share Jewish history in downtown Washington, Old Town Alexandria, and Arlington National Cemetery more widely. I led creation of printed brochures.
Gold Mining Camp Museum at Monroe Park
I developed content for interpretive signage and sourced images and music for a recreated Depression-era gold mining camp.
Howard Baker Center Exhibition
I developed content for a 2,500 square foot exhibition on the life of Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr.; Tennessee politics; and the functions of U.S. government.
Mexican Cultural Institute Paquimé Exhibition
I served as a freelance exhibition designer for an exhibition of contemporary fine art pottery, based on Indigenous precedents, from a northern Mexican city.
Accokeek Foundation Interpretive Signage
I developed content for outdoor interpretive signage at the Accokeek Foundation’s lands at Piscataway Park, including the National Colonial Farm, the Foundation’s Ecosystem Trail, and Visitor Center.
Wilderness Road Blockhouse Visitor Center Exhibition
I served as content developer for a small visitor center providing context for a reconstructed Blockhouse where Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Trail began in southwest Virginia.