RECENT APPOINTMENTS
Exhibition Curator, Los Altos History Museum, January 2019- present
Research Assistant, American Silver Catalogue, Philadelphia Museum of Art, September 2018- November 2018
Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Curatorial Fellow, American Philosophical Society (APS) Museum, July 2016-August 2018
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Department of History, Boston University, 2016
Dissertation: “‘Reverse of Fortune’: The Invasion of Canada and the Coming of American Independence, 1774-1776”
B.A., Department of History, California State University, Fresno, 2009
Minor in Latin
Summa Cum Laude, University Honors, College of Arts and Humanities Honors
RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE
Exhibition Curator, Los Altos History Museum, 2019-present
- Collaborate with local organizations and community members to research and produce 3-4 original exhibitions annually.
- Plan and oversee exhibition-related programming for children, teens, adults, and families.
- Leading an Augmented Reality (AR) project that will enhance the museum’s permanent exhibit.
Research Assistant, American Silver Catalogue, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2018
- Conducted research on American craftsmen and the museum’s silver collections.
- Wrote biographies of craftsmen for forthcoming volumes of the American Silver catalogue.
Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Curatorial Fellow, American Philosophical Society, 2016-2018
- Conceptualized and produced exhibitions based on APS Library and Museum collections.
- Conducted primary and secondary research at the APS and other institutions on a wide range of topics related to exhibitions.
- Composed interpretive text, including exhibition labels, website and media content, blog posts, newsletter pieces, and articles.
- Updated databases and object records, collaborated on exhibition design and technology, helped develop educational and public programming, and trained guides and interns.
- Advocated for the museum and its collections by forging relationships with outside institutions; meeting with donors, APS Members, and research fellows; giving public presentations, lectures, and tours; and writing scholarly and popular pieces.
Instructor/Teaching Fellow, Boston University, 2010-2015
- Taught a broad range of courses, including American History surveys covering 1607-present, Boston History, American Popular Culture, Military History, International Relations, and the Ancient World.
- Developed syllabi and lesson plans using art and cultural objects alongside primary documents to increase general knowledge of history and develop analytical thinking.
Director, BU History Department Graduate Student Writing Workshop, 2013-2015
- Directed biweekly writing workshops designed specifically to help graduate students publish more academic articles and conference papers.
- Organized and scheduled meetings, solicited scholarly papers and pre-circulated them to listserv, and made all logistical arrangements.
- Increased turnout from 3 graduate students to a regular attendance of 10-15, including scholars from other BU departments, Boston College, Brandeis University, and Cambridge University.
Editorial and Research Assistant, 2007-2008, 2011, 2015
- Provided editorial and research assistance by proofreading chapter manuscripts, formatting bibliographies and footnotes, summarizing secondary sources, and researching primary sources.
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS AND PUBLIC HISTORY WORK
- Curator, Gallery 9: Celebrating Art in Los Altos (January 30- March 8, 2020), Los Altos History Museum.
- Curator, The Photography of J. Gilbert Smith (January 16- May 24, 2020), Los Altos History Museum.
- Curator, Ham for the Holidays: Amateur Radio Operators, Then and Now (November 20, 2019- January 5, 2020), Los Altos History Museum.
- Co-curator, Our Community Prepares: Acts of Nature, Then and Now (October 17, 2019- January 19, 2020), Los Altos History Museum.
- Curator, Silicon Valley Eats: A Taste for Innovation (May 2- September 8, 2019), Los Altos History Museum.
- Lead Curator, In Franklin’s Footsteps: 275 Years at the American Philosophical Society (April 13-December 30, 2018), American Philosophical Society Museum.
- Contributor, Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia History Website (philaplace.org), 2017
- Consultant for Philadelphia Film Festival documentary Before Hollywood: Philadelphia and the Invention of the Movies, 2017
- Co-curator, Curious Revolutionaries: The Peales of Philadelphia (April 7-December 30, 2017), American Philosophical Society Museum.
- Planning Committee, Boston University Initiative for Learning Digital Humanities, 2015
- Planning Committee, Boston University Digital Humanities Inaugural Symposium, 2015
- History Graduate Student Organization Professionalization Committee, 2014-2015
PUBLICATIONS
- “Reverse of Fortune”: The Invasion of Canada and the March Toward Independence (manuscript in progress).
- Renee Wolcott, Diana Marsh, and Amy Ellison, Art, Science, Invention: Conservation and the Peale-Sellers Family (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 108, part 1, Fall 2018).
- “Montgomery’s Misfortune: The American Defeat at Quebec and the March Toward Independence, 1775-1776” in Early American Studies 15, no. 3 (Summer 2017): 591-616.
- Review of Adrian Tinniswood, The Rainborowes: One Family’s Quest to Build a New England, in New England Quarterly LXXXVII, no. 1 (March 2014): 165-167.
- Review of William B. Warner, Protocols of Liberty: Communication Innovation and the American Revolution, in The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 113, no. 1 (Winter 2015): 105-107.
- Review of Nathaniel Philbrick, Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution, in The Historian 77, no. 1 (Spring 2015): 138-139.
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
- “‘Pealed all Around’: The Making of Curious Revolutionaries at the American Philosophical Society.” Presented at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Peale Symposium, Philadelphia, February 2018.
- “The American Invasion of Canada, 1775-1776.” Presentation at the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, December 2016.
- “The Canadian Campaign and the March toward American Independence.” Presentation at the Thirteenth Annual Fort Ticonderoga Seminar on the American Revolution, Ticonderoga, NY, September 2016.
- “The American Invasion of Canada, 1775-1776.” Presentation at the New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, January 2015.
- “‘To Bring Liberty to the North’: The Invasion of Canada and the Coming of American Independence, 1774-1776.” Presentation at the Maine Historical Society, Portland, August 2014.
- “The Canadian Expedition, 1775-1776.” Presentation at the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, July 2014.
CONFERENCES AND PRESENTATIONS
- “‘What have we to do with Rome’: Peale’s Triumphal Arch and the Politics of Spectacle.” American Philosophical Society’s “Art of Revolutions” Conference, Philadelphia, October 2017.
- “Recreating the Whimsical World of Peale.” Mid-Atlantic Association of Museum’s Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, October 2017.
- “Transgressing Empire: Revolutionary Identities in the Canadian Borderlands, 1775-1776.” British Association for American Studies/ Irish Association for American Studies “Border Crossings and Revolutions” Joint Conference, Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 2016.
- “‘A Reverse of Fortune’: The Invasion of Canada and the Coming of American Independence.” Massachusetts Historical Society “‘So Sudden An Alteration’: The Causes, Course, and Consequences of the American Revolution” Conference, Boston, April 2015.
- “The Battle of Quebec and the American War for Independence, 1775-1776.” Boston University Graduate Student American Political History Conference on “Americans and War,” Boston, March 2015.
- “Errand Through the Wilderness: New Englanders and the Invasion of Canada, 1775-1776.” Boston University American and New England Studies “New England and the World” Conference, Boston, October 2014.
- “‘Now we are learning to be soldiers’: Arnold’s Expedition through the Howling Wilderness.” American History Workshop at University of Cambridge, April 2014.
- “Canada and the American Revolution.” Presentation at “Anglais Pour Historiens,” Université Paris 8, Paris, April 2014.
- “Canada, Catholicism, and the American Revolution.” Presentation at the Institut Protestant de Théologie, Paris, April 2014.
- “The Invasion of Canada and the Coming of American Independence.” Presentation at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, December 2013.
- “Rebuilding Charlestown in the Atlantic World.” Warwick-Boston Conference on the Atlantic World, Warwick, England, May 2012.
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
- Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Curatorial Fellowship, 2016-2018 ($45,000/year and $4,000 research stipend)
- Robert V. Shotwell Dissertation Fellowship, 2015-2016 ($21,000)
- Boston University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Summer Research Fellowship, 2014 ($6,000)
- New England Regional Fellowship Consortium Colonial Society of Massachusetts Fellowship, 2014-2015 ($5,000)
- University of Cambridge—Boston University American History Fellow, Spring 2014 (full tuition and housing)
- New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship, 2013-2014 ($2,000)
- Boston University Center for the Humanities Edwin S. and Ruth M. White Prize, 2013 ($2,000)
- Boston University Center for the Humanities Angela J. and James J. Rallis Memorial Award, 2013 ($1,000)
- General Society of Colonial Wars John Adams Grant for Studies in American Colonial History, 2011 ($5,000)
- Dean’s Fellowship, Boston University, 2009-2013 ($20,000/year and full tuition)
- President’s Medalist nominee, CSU, Fresno, 2009
- Smittcamp Family Honors College Scholar, CSU, Fresno, 2005-2009 (full tuition and housing)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
- The Emerging United States to 1865 (Instructor)
- History of the United States Since 1865 (Teaching Fellow)
- Making History: Conflict and Community in Boston’s Past (Teaching Fellow)
- History of Total War: 1914-1945 (Teaching Fellow)
- International Relations 1900-1945 (Teaching Fellow)
- International Relations from 1945 (Teaching Fellow)
- American Popular Culture (Teaching Fellow)
- The Ancient World (Core Curriculum Writing Fellow and Writing Tutor)
LANGUAGES
- Spanish, Reading Proficiency
- French, Reading Proficiency
- Latin