Education:
I started taking Public History courses as an undergraduate at Lehigh in an effort to channel my lifelong love of American history and historical artifacts. A meeting with Professor Kim Carrell-Smith in the fall of my senior year generated a series of opportunities to work directly with Lehigh’s Special Collections and their curator, Lois Black, as well as the collections at Historic Bethlehem Partnership and their curator at the time, Bonnie Stacy. After many summer internships and jobs at local historic sites, historic houses, and national museums, I pursued an M.A. in the History of Decorative Arts at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The critical skills learned in my coursework as an undergraduate, the exceptional instruction offered and dedication expected by professors, and the discovery of my own abilities while at Lehigh have served me well as a museum professional. Lehigh taught me that perseverance, whether in research efforts or towards career opportunities, is invaluable. I leaned upon this most recently, while searching for my current job as Research Assistant in American furniture at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.