As a kid, growing up in California, visiting historic sites was one of my all-time favorite activities. From walking through the chapel of Mission San Francisco Solano (in Sonoma) to touring historic Fort Point on the San Francisco bay, I was fascinated by the sense of the past that seemed to be alive in these structures; I was compelled to understand something about that mystery, that history.
Since those days, I am still captivated by wandering through historic sites. I am absorbed by reading accounts of the past, and I feel lucky to have a career that has allowed me to teach, research, and write about history; I am still compelled by that same, pure, initial fascination with the past.
Today I work as an historian and consultant on public history projects.
I graduated with a B.A. in humanities from San Francisco State University. I moved to Washington D.C. where I earned an M.A. in American Studies from The George Washington University. Next, I went to College Park, Maryland, where I earned a PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland. For about 10 years, I taught undergraduate courses in American Studies at the University of Maryland and later at Roosevelt University in Chicago. I loved teaching but wanted to move into the field of public history. In 2006, I founded History & Company and currently work on a variety of different types of history-related projects for clients.
From writing and conducting research to organizing exhibits and public programs, I have extensive experience in public history. Since 2006, I have served as the Director of Education at the Evanston History Center. From 2007-2013, I served as the archivist for Alpha Phi Foundation, where I oversaw the archives, designed convention exhibits, conducted research, and wrote a new history of Alpha Phi’s first fifty years. I also served as a fellow and intern for the Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
My academic and research work focuses on 20th and 21st century American history culture.
My publications include The Takeover 1968: Student Protest, Campus Politics, and Black Student Activism at Northwestern University (EHC Press, 2019) and War Games: Inside the World of 20th-Century War Reenactors (Smithsonian Books, 2004). I’ve also edited several books including, My Hut: A Memoir of a YMCA Volunteer in World War One (editor, 2006); Evanston: A Tour Through the City’s History (editor, 2013), and a new critical edition of Charles Gates Dawes, A Journal of the Great War (editor, 2016). My essays and reviews have appeared in various anthologies and publications, including The New York Times.
Like this:
Like Loading...
From writing and conducting research to organizing exhibits and public programs, I have extensive experience in public history. Since 2006, I have served as the Director of Education at the Evanston History Center. From 2007-2013, I served as the archivist for Alpha Phi Foundation, where I oversaw the archives, designed convention exhibits, conducted research, and wrote a new history of Alpha Phi’s first fifty years. I also served as a fellow and intern for the Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. 
History & Company 