POSITIONS
- Professor of History, West Chester University, Fall 2019-present
- Associate Professor of History, West Chester University, Fall 2017-Spring 2019
- Assistant Professor of History, West Chester University, Fall 2012-Spring 2017
- Faculty Associate for Teaching & Learning, West Chester University, June 2018-present
- Co-Editor, Oral History Review, 2018-2023
- Consultant, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2021-2024
EDUCATION
PhD, University of Delaware, August 2010, Program in the History of American Civilization, Department of History. Dissertation: “From Rags to Riches: Amish Quilts and the Crafting of Value.” Committee: Susan Strasser, chair, Bernard Herman, Katherine C. Grier, and Donald B. Kraybill
MA, University of Nebraska, 2003, Textile History, Museum Studies minor, Department of Textiles, Clothing & Design. Thesis Project: “At the Crossing: Midwestern Amish Crib Quilts and the Intersection of Cultures”
Goshen College, Goshen, IN, BA, May 1998. History, Women’s Studies minor
SELECTED AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, & GRANTS
- National Endowment for the Humanities, Spotlight on the Humanities, co-PI, Expanding iCamp
- West Chester University, Technology Showcase Award, with Charles Hardy, for Philadelphia Immigration, May 2018.
- Dana Johnson Gorlin Fellowship, Reacting to the Past Consortium, 2018.
- The Dale W. Brown Book Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies for Amish Quilts Crafting an American Icon, from Elizabethtown College’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, 2016, announced Fall 2017.
- West Chester University, Provost Spotlight on Research Awardee, Fall 2017.
- West Chester University, College of Arts and Humanities, Equity, Access, Inclusion, and Diversity Initiatives Grant for “Immigration and Digital Storytelling Service-Learning Course,” 2018.
- West Chester University, College of Arts and Humanities, Research and Creative Activities award for “Exploring Philadelphia Immigration through ‘Memory, Visuality, and Mobility,’” including attendance at Columbia University and the European University Institute’s summer oral history seminar, 2017.
- American Historical Association, Roy Rosenzweig Prize for Innovation in Digital History, with Doug Boyd and Charles Hardy, for Goin’ North: Stories from the First Great Migration to Philadelphia, 2016.
- Oral History Association Non-Print Project Award, with Doug Boyd and Charles Hardy, for Goin’ North: Stories from the First Great Migration to Philadelphia, 2015
- Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, Herbert Finch Award, with Charles Hardy, for Goin’ North: Stories from the First Great Migration to Philadelphia, 2015
- West Chester University, College of Arts and Sciences, Grant for Student Engagement, Summer 2015
- E. Riley Holman Memorial Faculty Award for innovation in teaching, West Chester University, 2015
- West Chester University, Distance Education Initiative participant, 2014-15
- West Chester University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dean’s Initiative to Expand Access to Education, 2012
- Coby Foundation subvention grant for Amish Quilts: Crafting an American Icon, 2012
- Robert and Ardis James Foundation subvention grant for Amish Quilts: Crafting an American Icon, 2012
- University of Delaware Women’s Studies Dissertation Fellowship, 2009-10
- University of Delaware Dissertation Fellowship, 2009-10, declined
- James Renwick Predoctoral Fellowship in American Craft, Smithsonian Institution, January-June 2009
- McNeil Dissertation Fellowship, Winterthur Museum and Library, September-December 2008
- American Quilt Study Group Meredith Scholar Award, 2008-09
- International Quilt Study Center Visiting Scholar Fellowship, 2008-09
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS & PROJECTS
Book
A New Deal for Quilts, International Quilt Museum with University of Nebraska Press, 2023.
Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women, Smithsonian American Art Museum in Association with Giles, Ltd., 2024
Amish Quilts: Crafting an American Icon. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.
Digital Projects
Development team, OHMS Suite of Plugins for Omeka, “Philly” Theme, with Doug Boyd and Eric Weig. Plug-ins seamlessly integrate OHMS (Oral History Metadata Synchronizer) with opensource content management system Omeka.
Producer, Web designer, and Editor, Philadelphia Immigration, with Charles Hardy & West Chester University students. Classroom/archive partnership drew on archival oral history interviews conducted with immigrants to Philadelphia who arrived early in the 20th century from southern and eastern Europe, and student-conducted interviews with recent immigrants from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Students produced oral history indexes, digital exhibits, and digital storytelling projects. Launched September 2018.
With Doug Boyd, and Charles Hardy III, “Connecting the Classroom and the Archive: Oral
History, Pedagogy, & Goin’ North,” Oral History in the Digital Age, 2017.
Guest Curator, “World Quilts: The Amish Story,” launching Oct 2016. Developed digital content for project synthesizing scholarship on Amish quilts.
Producer, Web Designer, and Editor, Goin’ North: Stories from the First Great Migration to Philadelphia, with Charles Hardy & West Chester University students. Classroom/archive partnership resulting in digital archive of images and primary sources, detailed oral history indexes, and imaginative digital storytelling projects, which re-created the world southern newcomers encountered in early 20th-century Philadelphia. Launched February 2015.
Consulting Curator, “World Quilts: The American Story.” International Quilt Study Center & Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Led curatorial committee in development of digital project synthesizing the history of quiltmaking in United States, targeted at diverse public audiences. Managed schedule, facilitated focus groups with key stakeholders, developed and implemented content strategy, designed information architecture and user experience, created content, served as lead editor. Launched Dec. 2013.
Contributions to Books
“Philadelphia Immigration Stories: Making the Aural, Visual,” in Performing Memory: Corporeality Visuality, and Mobility after 1968, ed. Luisa Passerini and Dieter Reinisch (forthcoming from Palgrave Press, expected 2023).
“Tracking the Amish Quilt: Warren and Jane Rohrer’s Search for a Usable Past,” in Field Language: The Painting and Poetry of Warren and Jane Rohrer, forthcoming from Pennsylvania State University Press and the Palmer Museum of Art, 2020.
“Access and Empowerment: Re-discovering Moments in the Lives of African-American Migrant Women,” The Digital Black Atlantic, Debates in the Digital Humanities Series, University of Minnesota Press, 2021.
Foreword to Quilting the New Classics: 20 Inspired Quilt Projects: Traditional to Modern Designs, by Michele Muska (New York: Sixth and Spring Books, 2014).
“Unconventional Wisdom: The Myths and Quilts that Came Before,” in Roderick Kiracofe, Unconventional and Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar, 1950-2000 (New York: STC Craft, Melanie Falick Books, A Division of Abrams, 2014), second edition, QuiltFolk, 2022.
Contributor, “Workt By Hand”: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, 2013.
With Joe Cunningham and Robert Shaw. Amish Abstractions: Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown. San Francisco, CA: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2009.
With Patricia Cox Crews and Linda Welters. Amish Crib Quilts from the Midwest: The Sara Miller Collection. Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2003.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
“Unexpected Intersections: Amish and Hmong Textiles and the Question of Authenticity,” Conrad Grebel Review 35, 2 (Spring 2017). Invited and peer reviewed.
“Paradoxical Objects: Quilts in American Culture,” Perspective. La revue de l’INHA, (Winter 2015).
“Early Nineteenth-Century Embroidered Bedcovers,” Winterthur Portfolio 42, 4 (Winter 2008): 223-242.
“Mennonite (Folk) Culture: A Response,” part of forum “Future Directions in Anabaptist-Mennonite Scholarship.” Mennonite Quarterly Review 81, 1 (January 2007): 125-130.
With Nao Nomura, “From Fibers To Fieldwork: A Multifaceted Approach To Re-Examining Amish Quilts.” Uncoverings 27 (2006): 123-155.
“Destination Amish Quilt Country: The Consumption of Quilts in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.” Mennonite Quarterly Review 80, 2 (April 2006): 185-206.
“Pieced on the Plains: Kansas Amish Quilts and Cultural Adaptation.” Great Plains Quarterly 24, 1 (Winter 2004): 3-15.
With Marin Hanson, “Quilts as Manifestations of Cross-Cultural Contact: The Amish–‘English’ and East-West Examples.” Uncoverings 24 (2004): 99-129.
Reviews
Going West: Quilts and Community, by Roderick Kiracofe and Sandi Fox, book review in Great Plains Quarterly 29, 4(Fall 2009): 335-6.
Retro: The Culture of Revival, by Elizabeth E. Guffey, book review in Winterthur Portfolio 42, 1 (Spring 2008): 91-3.
“5th International Fiber Biennial,” exhibition review in Studio Art Quilt Associates Journal 16, 2 (Spring 2006): 18-19.
“Philadelphia’s Month of Fiber,” exhibition review in Fiberarts: The Magazine of Textiles, 31 (Sept/Oct 2004): 56-57.
Other Publications and Media Appearances
With Nicole Strunk, Editor’s introduction to virtual issue of Oral History Review, “Oral History During Challenging Times,” September 2018.
“New Audio Archive Gives Voice To Philly Immigration History,” Hidden City Philadelphia, September 26, 2018.
Interviewed in Michaelle Bond, “Dusty tapes to innovative website, tales from African Americans’ Great Migration,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec 31, 2016.
Guest, Other Side of the Mic, “Episode 5 – Dispatches from the OHA Part 1,” Oct 26, 2016.
Quarterly blog posts at Anabaptist Historians, 2016-2018. Posts include “Amish Quilts and Abstract Art,” “Peppernuts and other living traditions,” “Oral History for the ‘Quiet in the Land,’” and “Crowdsourcing Anabaptist history?”
Periodic blog posts at Amish America. Posts include “Quilting by the Yard,” “Mary Lapp and Hannah Stoltzfoos: Amish Quilt Innovators,” “What are Haps? Janneken Smucker explains.” See full list at www.janneken.org
“Like, Comment, Share: Social Media as Quilt Documentation,” Quilters Newsletter Magazine, June/July 2015.
Interviewed by PA Books, Pennsylvania Cable Network, December, 2013.
“Passing Time” with Chester County Historical Society curator Ellen Endslow, WCHE 1520 radio, West Chester, PA, November, 20, 2013, 1:00 pm.
American Patchwork & Quilting Radio, Voice of Quilting radio show and podcast with host Pat Sloan, October 21, 2013.
“Amish Quilts, New and Old,” on Quilt Out Loud! With Mark Lipinski and Jodie Davis, QNN TV, April 2012.
INVITATIONS TO “STATE OF THE FIELD” SUMMITS
Networking the Regional Comprehensives, Salem State University, July 11-13, 2018. One of eight invited guests specializing in digital humanities at regional state comprehensive universities. Summit resulted in plan for sustained network among digital humanities scholars and instructors at publicly-funded institutions.
Arguing with Digital History, George Mason University, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, September 15-16, 2017. One of 25 invited participants from around the United States, each a leader in the field of digital history. Summit resulted in co-authored white paper, “Digital History and Argument.”
Quilt Studies Summit, Michigan State University, April 23-24, 2018. Co-hosted by MATRIX , the Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences, the Michigan State University Museum, and the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. One of 5 invited “thought leaders” in the field of scholarship about quilts. Summit resulted in renewed commitment for cross-institutional collaboration.
SELECTED INVITED PRESENTATIONS, WORKSHOPS, & LECTURES
Keynote, “Our Home Economics History: The New Deal, Home Ec, & Why Our Past Matters,” American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences, June 26, 2023, Baltimore.
Presenter, “Oral History and Digital Humanities,” Summer Research Institute, Voces Oral History Research Center, University of Texas, June 11, 2021, June 10, 2022, June 9, 2022 (remote presentations).
Keynote, “Home Economics & History: How Understanding the Past Can Inform the Future,” International Federation of Home Economists World Congress, September 2022, Atlanta.
Lecture, “High Style Folk Art and New Deal Values: Quilts in the Index of American Design,” American Folk Art Museum, Objects of Inquiry: New Perspectives on American Folk Art, May 22, 2022. Stream here.
Lecture, “TVA Quilts and Black Power in the Segregated South,” Project Threadways Symposium, Florence, Alabama, April 22, 2022.
Lecture, “Tracking the Amish Quilt: Warren & Jane Rohrer’s Search for a Usable Past,” Palmer Museum of Art, Penn State University, March 18, 2021 (remote presentation).
Roundtable participant, “Telling COVID’S Stories: Implications for the Field,” Oral History Association Annual Meeting, October 21, 2020 (remote presentation).
Presenter, “A New Deal for Quilts,” Culture and Technology in American Quilts, A Symposium, Daughters of the American Revolution, Nov 15, 2019.
Panelist, “Race and Immigration,” Lunch (En)Counters, Frederick Douglass Institute, West Chester University, October 31, 2018.
“What is Effective Teaching?” West Chester University, New Faculty Orientation, annually 2018-2022.
Lecture, “Embedded: Quilts and Their Stories,” Dale W. Brown Book Award Lecture, Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College, Feb 20, 2018.
Workshop leader, Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS) Training, Columbia University, Oral History Master of Arts program, March 2017 and October 2017.
Workshop leader, “Digital Publishing and Archiving: A presentation and discussion of WordPress, Scalar, and Omeka,” Lehigh University, September 8, 2017, with Matt Gold and Will Fenton.
Workshop leader, “Creating Digital Exhibits Using Oral History,” Oral History Association annual meeting, Minneapolis, October 4, 2017.
Participant (competitive application), Assignments Charrette at the 2017 Undergraduate Teaching Workshop, American Historical Association, Denver, CO, January 2017.
Workshop leader, “Creating Digital Exhibits Using Oral History,” Oral History Association annual meeting, Long Beach, CA, October 12, 2016
First Friday curator’s talk, “Amish Quilts and the Crafting of Diverse Traditions,” celebrating the exhibit of the same name, International Quilt Study Center & Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, October 7, 2016.
Seminar, “The ABCs of Amish Quilts: Abstract Art, Big Business, and Country Craft,” at Continuity and Change: 50 Years of Amish Society, Elizabethtown College, Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, June 9-11, 2016.
Keynote, “Goin’ North,” Phi Alpha Theta, PA-East Regional Conference (History Honor Society), West Chester University, April 9, 2016.
Panelist, Listen & Connect: Building a Better Museum Community, a symposium presented by the Society of Winterthur Fellows and the Winterthur Academic Programs Department, April 10, 2016.
Lectures in Anabaptist-Mennonite Studies, Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ontario, Feb 4, 2016: “Abstract Art or Country Craft: The Quilts of the Amish,” Feb 5, 2016: “Unexpected Intersections: Amish, Mennonite, and Hmong Textiles and the Question of Authenticity.”
Lecture, Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, Ridgeview Mennonite Church, Intercourse, PA, March 28, 2016, 7:00 pm.
Keynote, “The Quilt Man and the Collection,” American Quilt Study Group Seminar, Indianapolis, Sept. 11, 2015.
Keynote Roundtable Panelist, “Public Humanities 2.0: Cultural Heritage Research-and-Teaching in a Digital Age,” University of Delaware Summer Faculty Institute, June 1, 2015.
“Amish Quilts: The Story of America’s First Abstract Art,” San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA, January 11, 2015, 2:00 pm.
Workshop leader, with Stacey Mann, “Reusing Existing Platforms and Technologies,” THATcamp Philly, Chemical Heritage Foundation, September 19, 2014.
Author talk, “The Amish Quilt Craze: Art, Business, and Authenticity,” Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE, 7:00 PM, September 18, 2014, Soda House Auditorium.
“Abstract Art or Country Craft: The Quilts of the Amish,” Friends of the Bucks County Historical Society, Mercer Museum, 1:00 PM, September 15, 2014.
Lecture, “Amish Quilts: The Story of America’s ‘First Abstract Art,’” The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM, 6:00 PM, July 14, 2014, Museum Research Center, 135 Grant Avenue.
Keynote address, “Quilt Stories/ Storied Quilts,” Not Fade Away: Sharing Quilt Stories in the Digital Age, Quilt Alliance conference, Herndon, VA, July 2013.
“Amish Quilts: Crafting an American Icon,” seminar. Amish America: Plain Technology in a Cyber World, Elizabethtown College, Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown, PA, June 2013.
“A Good Quilt Folded Like Money,” University of Tokyo, invited lecture at the Center for Pacific and American Studies, May 2012.
“Gifts of Humility/ Objects of Pride,” Symposium, “Amish/American: Quilts in Context,” de Young Museum, San Francisco, December 2009.
“The Amish Brand: Businesses Making and Selling Quilts,” Hagley Museum & Library Center for History of Business, Technology, and Society Research Seminar, Wilmington, DE, November 2009.
“The Smithsonian ‘Quilt Controversy’ Revisited,” Smithsonian National Museum of American History Tuesday Colloquium, June 2009.
“Amish Quilts and the People Who Love Them,” The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. June 2009.
“‘A Good Amish Quilt Folded Like Money’: Negotiating Value in the City and the Country,” History Workshop for Technology, Society, and Culture, Department of History, University of Delaware, May 2009.
“Amish Design: Making Art by Reviving Craft,” Fellows Lectures in American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, May 2009.
“‘It’s Fashionable to be Pennsylvania Dutch Today’: Disseminating Traditional Design in a Modern World,” Guest Lecture, International Quilt Study Center & Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, September 2008.
PEER REVIEWED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Panelist and organizer, “Oral History as Career Development in the College Classroom,” Oral History Association Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, October, 2019.
Panelist, “Publishing in Public History, A Structured Conversation,” National Council for Public History Annual Meeting, Hartford, CT, March 2019.
Panelist, “Women in Digital and Public History,” Organization for American Historians, Philadelphia, April 2019.
Panelist, “‘Writing’ Oral History,” Organization for American Historians, Philadelphia, April 2019.
Workshop with Charles Hardy and students Nicole Strunk and Leonard Lederman, “Producing Digital History with Archival Oral History Collections in the College Classroom: Philadelphia Immigration,” Oral History Association, Montreal, Canada, October 13, 2018.
Workshop with Charles Hardy and student Nicole Strunk, “Immigration and Digital Storytelling,” at Our (Digital) Humanity: Storytelling, Media Organizing, and Social Justice conference, Lehigh University, April 22, 2018.
With student Nicole Strunk, “I Hear Dead People: Working with Legacy Interview Collections in the College Classroom,” Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region, March 15, 2018.
Organizer and panelist, “Engaging Undergraduate Students: An Oral History Assignment Charrette,” Oral History Association, Minneapolis, MN, Oct 5-7, 2017.
Roundtable participant, “Goin’ North: Technology Experiments in the Oral History Classroom,” Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region, April 14, 2016.
Workshop with Charles Hardy, and students Suzanne Irvin and Kristin Geiger, “How to Build a Website that Curates Oral History Interviews on Multiple Levels,” Oral History Association, Tampa, Florida, October 14-18, 2015.
With Charles Hardy, “Goin’ North: Content Production in the Collaborative Classroom,” Keystone Digital Humanities Conference, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, July 22-24, 2015.
“Documentary Photography and the Nostalgia for Scrap Quilts,” American Studies Association annual meeting, Los Angeles, CA, November 2014.
“Material Religion: Making Objects, (Re)Making the Self,” panelist. Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, June 2011.
“Make Your Own Amish Quilt, Find Your Own Amish Self.” Material Culture, Craft & Community Conference, University of Alberta, May 2011.
“Outsourcing Authenticity: Factory-Made Quilts and the Question of Ethnicity.” American Historical Association, Presidential Panel, “Ethnicity and Authenticity: Re-Evaluating Iconic Quilts,” San Diego, January 2010.
“Crafting Fashion: A Niche Market for Amish Quilts.” European Business History Association/ Business History Conference Joint Annual Meeting, “Fashions: Business Practices in Historical Perspective,” Bocconi University, Milan, Italy, June 2009.
“‘Qui sont les Amish?’”: Europeans and the American-ness of Quilts.” International Quilt Study Center symposium, “The Global Quilt,” University of Nebraska-Lincoln, April 2009.
“In the Dealer’s Footsteps: A Hunt for Quilt Documentation in Amish Country.” International Quilt Study Center symposium, “Collectors, Collecting, & Collections,” University of Nebraska-Lincoln, February 2005.
“Design Improvisation and Adaptation in Amish Crib Quilts.” International Quilt Study Center symposium, “Wild by Design,” University of Nebraska-Lincoln, February 2003.
“The Business of Amish Quilts.” Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies conference, “The Amish in America: New Identities and Diversities,” Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA, June 2007.
“Interviewing as Education.” International Quilt Study Center symposium, “Traditions and Trajectories: Education and the Quiltmaker,” University of Nebraska-Lincoln, March 2007.
ADDITIONAL PRESENTATIONS
Regular guest lecturer and regional and national quilt guilds on Amish quilts and quilting in the Great Depression.
With Charles Hardy, “Goin’ North and Reaching Higher: Content Production in the Collaborative Classroom,“ RECAP Conference, West Chester University, May 14, 2015.
With Charles Hardy and students from the Great Migration and Digital Storytelling course, West Chester University Research Day, demonstration of Goin’ North, March 24, 2015.
Study Center (workshop) leader, “Thinking Outside the Block: Drawing Inspiration from the IQSC&M Digital Project, World quilts: The American Story,” American Quilt Study Group, 2014 Seminar, Sept 12, 2014, Milwaukee, WI.
“Exploring Digital Communities: ‘Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello,’” with Chad Wollerton. American Association of Museums, Technology, Interpretation, and Education 2011 Online Conference, September 2011.
“The Amish, Their Quilts, and the ‘Esprit Phenomenon,’” with Julie Silber, American Quilt Study Group Annual Seminar, Study Center, San Jose, CA, October 2009.
“Crafting Traditions: The Production and Consumption of Southwestern Identities.” Penn Humanities Forum Graduate Conference on Travel, University of Pennsylvania, February 2007.
“Shopping for Nostalgia: The Creation of an Amish Quilt Capital.” The Alliance for American Quilts symposium, “Quilt History in the Making,” University of Delaware, November 2005.
DIGITAL AND PUBLIC HUMANITIES EXPERIENCE
Guest Curator, “Amish Quilts and the Crafting of Diverse Traditions,” Oct 2016-Jan 2017, International Quilt Center and Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Content Specialist, Night Kitchen Interactive, Philadelphia, PA, 2010-2012. Organizes and created content for museums’ and cultural institutions’ interactive websites and exhibitions. Clients included the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Smithsonian Institution Archives, the National Museum of American History, the SFMOMA, and the Philadelphia History Museum. Conducted research and provided quality assurance to projects. Facilitated the production of social media content by client staff members. Managed content in open source content management system, Drupal. Developed and wrote proposals for new projects.
Online Exhibition Curator, “Beyond Diamonds and Bars: The Cultural Production of Amish Quilts,” Launched 2012 at quiltindex.org, a joint project of the Alliance for American Quilts, Michigan State University Museum, and MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Science Online.
Academic Programs Assistant, Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, DE, Summer 2006. Performed various administrative duties including coordinating book reviews for Winterthur Portfolio, a journal of American material cultural. Developed website and publicity materials for Winterthur’s Research Fellowship Program.
Graduate Research Assistant for Academic Programs, Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, DE, 2005-06. Helped administer Research Fellowship Program by managing the receipt of fellowship applications and developing a database of past fellows. Assisted in day-to-day operations of Winterthur Portfolio, including tracking articles and book reviews and corresponding with peer reviewers, authors, and book reviewers. Teaching Assistant for Connoisseurship course for Masters students.
Exhibition Curator, “Amish Crib Quilts,” January 2005. Curated exhibition of 26 quilts from private collection of Amish crib quilts as part of Iowa Mennonite School’s quarterly arts series.
Exhibition Curator, “At the Crossing: Midwestern Amish Crib Quilts and the Intersection of Cultures,” 2003-04. International Quilt Study Center exhibition hosted by the Great Plains Art Collection, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; also traveled to People’s Place Quilt Museum, Intercourse, Pennsylvania; University of Rhode Island; Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana; and South Korea.
Graduate Curatorial Assistant, International Quilt Study Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2001-03. Conducted research, selected and prepared quilts for exhibition, curated mini-exhibits, maintained state-of-the-art storage facility, supervised volunteers, conducted object surveys and condition reports, accessioned objects, mounted exhibitions, conducted guided tours, and assisted curator and director as needed by performing various ongoing tasks in connection with collection.
Consultant, Amish and Mennonite Museum, Goshen College, Goshen, IN, May 2002. Prepared quilts for and mounted exhibition, “Friendship Quilts and Family Records.” Wrote catalog descriptions for and photographed textiles in museum collection. Implemented improved storage system for textiles.
SERVICE
Professional
- Memberships: American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, American Quilt Study Group, Oral History Association, Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region
- Chair, Oral History Review Task Force, Oral History Association, 2018-19
- Chair, Publications Committee, Oral History Association, 2017
- Member, Membership Task Force, Oral History Association, 2017
- Peer Reviewer, Winterthur Portfolio, Great Plains Quarterly, Pennsylvania Magazine for History and Biography, Virginia Magazine of History & Biography, University of Pittsburgh Press, American Quilt Study Group Poster Session, Uncoverings
- Board Member, Quilt Alliance, 2005-2017. Leadership position in national non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the stories of American quiltmakers through digitally archived oral history interviews, web documentaries, and a nationally recognized online repository of over 50,000 digital records of privately and publicly owned quilts. Board president (2015-17), secretary (2009-2015) and co-chair of Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories, an oral history project which captures the voices and stories of quiltmakers, digitally archiving transcripts and images on the project’s website.
- Associate Fellow, International Quilt Study Center & Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 2005-present.
- Editorial Board Member, Pennsylvania Magazine for History and Biography, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2015-present.
- Member, Philadelphia City Archives Public Art Project Advisory Committee, 2018
- Camper, THATCamp (The Humanities and Technology Camp), 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017
- Regular lecturer to quilt guilds and cultural heritage organizations.
Departmental
- Executive Committee, History Department, August 2018-present, shape departmental policy, prioritize departmental initiatives, attend monthly meetings.
- Undergraduate Committee, History Department, Member, 2014-present, review proposed courses, assess artifacts, administer Qualtrics surveys for assessment, prepare syllabi for submission to CAPC.
- Elections Committee, History Department, Chair, 2013-14, administered departmental elections and voting during meetings.
- Website coordinator, History Department, 2013-present, update content throughout history department website on a rolling basis.
- Islamic World Search Committee, History Department, member, 2013-14, reviewed applications and participated in interview process.
College
- College of Arts and Humanities Faculty Advisory Council, member, 2017-present, attend monthly meetings, participated in development of college vision and mission statements, recommend priorities for college regarding retention and recruitment initiatives
- Digital Humanities & New Media Executive Committee, member, 2013-present, shape program policy, prioritize program initiatives, plan annual DH Expo, attend semester meetings.
- Digital Humanities & New Media Curriculum Committee, chair, 2017-present, review proposed new courses, conduct assessment
- Undergraduate Awards Committee, College of Arts and Sciences, Member, 2015-2016, review award proposals and determine research awards
- Undergraduate Recruitment Committee, College of Arts and Sciences, Member, 2013-2016, organized the History Department’s showcase held during the annual CAS President’s Day Open House for accepted students
University
- Faculty Associate for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, June 2018-present, see AWA description.
- Committee for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, member, 2015-present, co-chair 2016-2018, developed meeting agendas, revised by-laws, facilitated elections, planned workshops and events, reviewed professional development award applications.
- First Year Experience Meta-disciplinary Content, Humanities Group, Summer 2017. Developed sample syllabi for FYI courses.
- Summer General Education Assessment, Gen Ed Goal #6 Group, Summer 2017. Rearticulated and developed assessment rubric for general education goal.
- General Education Reform Workshop, May 2015. Developed student learning outcomes for “Pathways” courses.