About

Dr. Sarah Beetham is an assistant professor of art history at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, specializing in American art and particularly the monuments erected to citizen soldiers after the Civil War. She holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from the University of Delaware and a B.A. in art history and English from Rutgers University. Her current book project, Monumental Crisis: Accident, Vandalism, and the Civil War Citizen Soldier, focuses on the ways in which post-Civil War soldier monuments have served as flashpoints for heated discussion of American life and culture in the 150 years since the end of the war.

Dr. Beetham has published work on Civil War monuments and art history pedagogy in Public Art Dialogue, Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art, Nierika: Revista de Estudios de Arte, and Common-Place. She has been interviewed regarding her work on Civil War monuments and the current debate over the future of Confederate monuments in several outlets, including the Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, Architectural Digest, and Mic.

Education

B.A., Art History and English, Rutgers University

M.A., Ph.D., Art History, University of Delaware

Blog Posts

    Publications

    Activism in the Classroom: Wikipedia and American Art.” Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art 2, no. 2 (Fall 2016).

    From Spray Cans to Minivans: Contesting the Legacy of Confederate Soldier Monuments in the Era of ‘Black Lives Matter.’Public Art Dialogue 6, no. 1 (2016): 9-33.

    Teaching American Art to American Artists: Object-Based Learning at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.” Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art 2, no. 1 (Summer 2016).

    ‘An Army of Bronze Simulacra’: The Copied Soldier Monument and the American Civil War.” Nierika: Revista de Estudios de Arte 4, no. 7 (January-June 2015): 34-45.

    “‘A Brave and Gallant Soldier’: Civil War Monuments and the Funerary Sphere.” Common Place 14, no. 2 (Winter 2014).

     

    Projects

    Monumental Crisis: Accident, Vandalism and the Civil War Citizen Soldier (book project in progress)

    Memberships

    College Art Association

    Association of Historians of American Art

    Southeastern College Art Conference

    American Studies Association

    Public Art Dialogue

    Nineteenth Century Studies Association

     

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