public historian • storyteller • graduate student
History Department, Harvard University
public history projects
My public history experience includes exhibit curation and design, programming, grant writing, fundraising, web design, oral history, and documentary editing. Feel free to explore my public work, and please visit my additional projects sites to learn more.
Salus Populi Missouri United States Colored Troops (USCT) Pension Project
In June 2022, I joined my friend and colleague Michelle Cook as an associate editor for the Salus Populi Project. We are digitizing, transcribing, and contextualizing pension records from USCT servicemen from seven counties in Missouri: Boone, Calloway, Chariton, Clay, Lafayette, Howard, and Saline Counties in Missouri.
In the past year, we have:
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Co-founded Board of Trustees; led regular organizational meetings to discuss short and long-term goals and project sustainability.
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Established and organized a shared drive to coordinate volunteer assignments, workflow information, research resources, and editorial policies.
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Co-founded 501(c)(3). Communicated with donors and manage project contributions.
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Created a volunteer training manual with editorial policies.
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Designed project website and social media pages; perform maintenance and prepare promotional material.
Public Digital Humanities Institute, University of Kansas Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities
As Michelle Cook and I prepared to launch the Salus Populi Project in June 2022 we attended the Public Digital Humanities Institute (PDHI). We:
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Attended one week of classes on academic/community organization partnerships; Indigenous cultural heritage protocols; oral history; public history funding and marketing; community-grounded cartography and data; participatory project models; and digital tools and methods to create accessible programming for diverse audiences
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Participated in technological training for the programs Omeka and Mukurtu. Received training in access, ownership, reuse, web-hosting, inclusive web-design, data visualization, and digital audio and video production
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Participated in monthly meetings and workshops with the University of Kansas Institute for Digital Research and project teams at universities and museums across the United States
Research Assistant, Pinckney Papers Project
On one of my first days in South Carolina, I visited Dr. Connie Schulz to learn about the Pinckney Papers Project. Weeks later, I was volunteering for the project, and soon after, I became an assistant. In this role (2019–2023), I developed a passion for documentary editing. My responsibilities included:
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Write short summaries of calendared documents for digital publication
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Transcribe and tandem read eighteenth and nineteenth-century documents related to the Pinckney family
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Research and draft approximately 210 IDs—one to two-paragraph descriptions of people, places, institutions, books, ships, etc. mentioned in letters—for inclusion in Papers of the Revolutionary Era Pinckney Statesmen (digital edition)
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Prepare documents for publication in XML formatting using FileMaker
Museums & Advocacy
During Spring 2021, I took the South Carolina Honors course, Museums and Advocacy. In this course, our seminar focused on one or two musuems each week to discuss the ethics, traumatic history, museum design, and contemporary politics.
Our class attended The American Association of Museums's Museum Advocacy Day (MAD). We collaborated with local Humanities Councils to speak with our federal congressional representatives and request funding, as well as additional policies beneficial to museums.
Finally, we planned exhibits for university sites. My group proposed an exhibit on South Carolina's legal history for the Law Library.
Volunteer, Fairview Cemetery
I completed most of my B.A. during COVID lockdowns. When I was learning online at home in Missouri, I also started volunteering at the local cemetery. After receiving my certification in headstone maintenance best practices from the National Park Service, I started cleaning headstones with D/2, recovering and reconstructing buried headstones, and preparing record entries. My mother volunteered in the cemetery with me, and we co-taught 50+ community volunteers how to care for headstones, then led them in service days.
COVID Oral History
In Summer 2020, I took a South Carolina Honors College course on ethics of and best practices in oral history. We tracked breaking news on COVID and placed it in historical context—for example, by comparing events to historical pandemics. I also completed an oral history with Cheryl McCannn, a local accountant, to understand how COVID impacted small businesses, as well as human-environment interactions, educations, and research.
Docent, Intern, and Volunteer at the Clay County Historical Society & Museum
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Curated and installed a museum exhibit about Alexander Doniphan and the Missouri-Mormon War
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Researched Missouri-Mormon War and wrote museum labels describing essential events, places, and people in the conflict.
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Planned exhibit layout and graphic design, framed images, and led physical installation
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Publicly presented to visitors at the exhibit opening ceremony
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Communicated with local newspaper reporters to promote exhibit
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Curated and installed an exhibit featuring arrowheads, axes, and adzes
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Wrote and presented project proposal to museum board
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Collaborated with the University of Kansas Department of Anthropology to identify and date 300 arrowheads
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Contacted local hardware companies to request lumber donations for exhibit construction. Cut, painted, and installed wooden frame, beadboard, trim, and crown molding
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Researched Nebo Hill Archaeological site history, Indigenous nations who formerly occupied the site, and arrowhead types to write and design museum labels
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Created four “history boxes” for local schools with material on notable Missourians, the Missouri Compromise, Missouri in the Civil War, and Indigenous nations and Missouri for students. Used Missouri social studies curriculum to conduct research and compiled relevant resources (secondary and primary) with guiding questions and corresponding activities for students
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Assisted in creating an exhibit, documentary, and walking tour about the Battle of Blue Mills Landing (1861)
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Assisted in writing a Freedom’s Frontier grant: received $10,000 to develop an exhibit, walking tour, and documentary (produced by Wide Awake Films)
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Conducted research on print media and the Civil War for exhibit. Assisted in writing and designing exhibit labels
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Collaborated with local historians and researchers to design a walking tour of Civil War sites in Clay County
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Communicated with educators to integrate documentary into local classrooms
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Created inventory system
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Led a team that wrote descriptions of 1,500 artifacts (with item names, creation locations, condition, donor information, and other various artifact details)
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Organized artifacts into a numerical box and file system. Compiled information in a collaborative Google Sheets document.
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Wrote grant report for the Brownlee Grant from the Missouri Historical Association at the University of Missouri (which provided funding to purchase archival boxes for newspapers and other paper artifacts)
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Edited and contributed writing to A Self-Guided Tour of Historic Clay County, Missouri, vol. 3 (Liberty, MO: Clay County Museum). Read excerpts for audiobook
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Partnered with local schools to provide 25 National History Day participants with mentorship from local historians and Wide Awake Films documentary-makers
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Coordinated in-person programming and moderate online webinars
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Moderated programs on (1) the Battle of Blue Mills Landing [Civil War] and (2) a Clay County World War II prisoner of war camp. Provided technical assistance for programs on (1) African Americans in the Fairview Cemetery and (2) fur trader Andrew Henry
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Assisted in organizing and promoting silent auction, trivia night, and quilt walk
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Assisted with promotions and media
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To reach audiences during COVID, created two-minute “artifact spotlights” for Twitter and Facebook
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Designed logo to feature on brochures, posters, digital advertisements, and tote bags for Battle of Blue Mills Landing exhibit
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National Archives at Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
In June 2018, I served as an archival intern at Truman Library. During my internship, I had the opportunity to learn about curation at the Library, especially by discussing plans for the museum's renovation. I also had the opportunity to visit our local National Archives facility to learn more about archival organization and storage.
In this role, I transcribed and digitized correspondence from Truman’s presidency, as well as meal menus created by Bess Truman. I also co-created a guide to local Missouri and Kansas National History Day topics with subject summaries and lists of relevant resources for local students