Publications

Encyclopedia
Material Culture in America:  Understanding Everyday Life.  Edited with Helen Sheumaker (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2008), 568 pp.

Book Chapters
“Curating Craftivism and Rethinking Collection(s).” With Mary Worrall. Crafting Dissent: Handcrafted Protest Throughout History, ed. Hinda Mandell (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019), 213-23

“Martha Stewart.” Icons of American Cooking, ed. Victor W. Geraci and Elizabeth Sherburn Demers (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2011), 243-55

“‘A ‘pretty custom’ Updated: From ‘Going to Housekeeping’ to Kitchen Showers in America, 1850s-1930s.” Buying for the Home: Shopping for the Domestic from the Seventeenth Century to the Present, ed. Margaret Ponsonby and David Hussey (London: Ashgate, 2008), 139-161

“‘And a little child shall lead them’: American Children’s Cabinets of Curiosities” (expanded essay). Acts of Possession:  Essays on Collecting in America, ed. Leah Dilworth (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003), 42-65

“The Artistic Portrait Photograph.” The Arts and the American Home, 1890-1930, ed. Jessica H. Foy and Karal Ann Marling (Knoxville: McFaddin-Ward House Museum and University of Tennessee Press, 1994; paper, 1995), 165-82

“A Room with a Viewer: The Parlor Stereoscope, Comic Stereographs, and the Psychic Role of Play in Late Victorian America.” Hard at Play:  Leisure in America, 1840-1940, ed. Kathryn Grover (Rochester, NY, and Amherst, MA:  Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum and University of Massachusetts Press, 1992), 112-38

Textbook Chapter
“The Architect and the Teakettle.” Design Studies: A Reader, ed. Hazel Clark and David Brody.  (London:  Berg Publishers, 2009), 505-10

Exhibition Catalogue Essays
“Self, Collected.” Family Album:  The James Rutkowski Collection of American Photographs:  Essays by Michael Hall [and] Shirley Teresa Wajda (Columbus, OH: Columbus Museum of Art, 2004), 37-72

“‘A Kind of Missionary Work’: The Labor and Legacy of Cincinnati’s Society Women, 1877-1922.” Cynthia Amnéus, with essays by Marla R. Miller, Anne Bissonnette, and Shirley Teresa Wajda, A Separate Sphere: Dressmakers in Cincinnati’s Golden Age, 1877-1922, with a foreword by Timothy Rub (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press for the Cincinnati Art Museum, 2003), 175-88

Scholarly Journal Articles
“Fashion Out of Scranton: The One Hour Dress.” With Sarah Hegge and Mary Worrall. Dress: The Journal of the Costume Society of America 48:1 (2022): available at https://doi.org/10.1080/03612112.2022.2029007

“Phyllis Primrose Peckham: Dressed for Posterity.” With Barry Bradley and Jean L. Druesedow.  Dress:  The Journal of the Costume Society of America 29 (2002): 59-74

“Repo Culture.” Material History Review/Revue d’histoire de la culture materiélle (Ottawa) 54 (Fall 2001): 103-13

“Kmartha.” “Martha Stewart Roundtable,” American Studies (Kansas) 42:2 (Summer 2001): 71-88; excerpted in Design Studies: A Reader, ed. Hazel Clark and David Brody (London: Berg Publishers, 2009), 135-41

“‘And a little child shall lead them’: Children’s Cabinets of Curiosities, 1790-1860.” Reader:  Essays in Reader-Oriented Theory, Criticism and Pedagogy 38/39 (Fall/Spring 1997-98): 5-19

Magazine Articles
“Harriet Taylor Upton’s Change of Heart.” Pathways 41:1 (Spring 2020): 4-5

“Union Chapel, South Newbury: A Pulpit for Women’s Suffrage.” Pathways 41:1 (Spring 2020): 21-22

“Belle Sherwin: Teaching Women to Vote–And Lead.” Pathways 40:3 (Winter 2019/2020): 8-9

“Reference Point: MSU Libraries a destination for students, scholars, and a surprising range of collections.” Spartan: Michigan State University Alumni Magazine (Fall 2918): 30-39

“Hands On History: White Glove Service at The State Museum.” Pennsylvania Heritage 49:1 (Winter 2014): 43-48

Print Encyclopedia Entries
“Bridal Showers.” Encyclopedia of American Women’s History, ed. Hasia R. Diner (New York: Facts on File, 2011)

“Aesthetic Movement,” “Arts and Crafts Movement,” “Attics,” “Base Metalwork and Metalware,” “Bedrooms,” “Cities and Towns,” “Collecting and Collections,” “Community,” “Cultural History,” “Dower Right,” “Eastlake Style,” “Education and Schooling,” “Ephemera,” “Etiquette and Manners,” “Fakes,” “Flea Markets,” “Floor Coverings,” “General (Country) Stores,” “Georgian Style,” “House, Home, and Domesticity,” “Junk, Scrap, and Salvage,” “Light, Lighting Devices, and Lighting Systems,”  “Living Rooms” (with Kirin Makker), “Mail Order Catalogues,” “Memory and Memorabilia,” “Modernism (Art Moderne),” “Native America,” “Nostalgia,” “Parlors,” “Patents, Trademarks, and Brands,” “Photography,” “Postmodernism,” “Probate Records, Wills, and Inventories,” “Public Markets,” “Renaissance Revival,” “Rite, Ritual, and Ceremony,” “Silverwork and Silverware,” “Social Class and Social Status,” “Social History,” “Trade Catalogues,” “Tradition,” “Wallpaper,” “World’s Fairs and Expositions,” and “Yard Sales.”  Material Culture in America:  Understanding Everyday Life, ed. Helen Sheumaker and Shirley Teresa Wajda (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 2008), 5-7, 47-50, 50, 59-62, 63-65, 93-97, 102-07, 118-22, 138-40, 160-61, 165-66, 166-71, 172-74, 178-82, 184-87, 190-91, 191-94, 213-14, 214-15, 237-41, 261-63, 278-81, 283-84, 285-86, 293-95, 301-03, 323-27, 327-30, 335-37, 337-40, 344-50, 358-60, 367-68, 370-71, 390-391, 391-95,  409-12, 415-19, 419-22, 457-58, 458-59, 471-73, 478-82, 483-84

“Children’s Games and Toys” and “Parlor.” The Encyclopedia of the Early American Nation, ed. Paul Finkelman, 3 vols. (Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons/Thomas Gale, 2005), 2: 104-06, 497-98

“Apprenticeship.” The Family in America:  An Encyclopedia, ed. Joseph M. Hawes and Elizabeth Shores, 2 vols. (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 2002), 1: 80-84

“Decorative Arts.” Encyclopedia of American Studies, ed. George Kurian, Miles Orvell, Johnnella Butler, and Jay Mechling, 4 vols. (New York: Grolier Educational under the sponsorship of the American Studies Association, 2001), 2: 15-21

“Collecting.” Girlhood in America:  An Encyclopedia, ed. Miriam Forman-Brunell, 2 vols. (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 2001), 1: 132-36

“Domesticity.” With Miriam Forman-Brunell. Girlhood in America:  An Encyclopedia, ed. Miriam Forman-Brunell, 2 vols. (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 2001), 1: 237-40

“Photography.” Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Paul Finkelman, 3 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2000), 2: 495-99

Online Encyclopedia Entries (all Connecticuthistory.org)
“D-Day – Today in History: June 6.” Published 6 June 2016

“A Day for Women – Today in History: March 8.” Published 8 March 2016

“A Total Eclipse of the Sun – Today in History: January 24.” Published 24 January 2016

“Seth Pease Surveys New Lands.” Published 14 November 2015

“Eighteen-hundred-and-froze-to-death: 1816, The Year Without a Summer.” Published 24 August 2015

“From Aprons to Lab Coats: The Art and Science of Home Economics.” Published 11 September 2015

“Charles McLean Andrews and Evangeline Walker Andrews.” Published 25 November 2014

“Drawing (on) the Connecticut Landscape: Benjamin Hutchins Coe Teaches Americans the Democratic Art.” Published 5 November 2014

“Bridgeport Women Answer the Call – Today in History: April 15.” Published 15 April 2014

“Ending the Danbury Shakes: A Story of Workers’ Rights and Corporate Responsibility.” Published 29 September 2013

Exhibitions
The Betty Votruba Collection of Early American Lighting. Heritage Hall, Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI, 24 July 2018-28 February 2019

Conceived and researched exhibition of recently donated collection of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century American lighting devices. Researched and wrote exhibition text panel and object labels.

War and Speech: Propaganda, Patriotism, and Dissent in the Great War. Main Gallery, Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI, 11 November 2017-31 January 2019

Conceived and researched exhibition examining the effects of visual propaganda in World War I-era United States, featuring the war’s effects on notions of citizenship, patriotism, and dissent, especially for women, immigrants, African Americans, Native Americans, and conscientious objectors. Featured were posters, photographs, military uniforms, and material culture related to the War Relic Train, a federal propaganda campaign to promote the sale of war bonds in 1918-1919. Wrote exhibition text panels, object labels, and docents’ guide. Developed public and campus-wide programming.

Knitting the Resistance: Crafting Political Protest from the 2017 Women’s Marches. With Mary Worrall, Lynne Swanson, and Molly McBride. Fine Arts Gallery, Michigan State University Student Memorial Union, East Lansing, MI, 21 July-16 September 2017

With colleagues developed an installation exploring the politics of craftivism based on Michigan State University Museum’s collecting initiative of Women’s March (January 21, 2017) materials and oral histories.

Sympathetic Detail: R. F. Deckert and the Art of Natural History Illustration. Art-Science-Creativity Gallery, Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI, 28 November 2016-3 November 2017

Researched and cataloged large collection of watercolor paintings by artist Richard F. Deckert (1878-1971). Deckert spent his adult life exploring the natural world, collecting and researching animals, particularly reptiles and amphibians, for museums, universities, and scholars. His sympathetic portraits of these animals, technically correct to the finest detail, illuminate a fascinating chapter in natural history illustration. Wrote exhibition text panels and object labels. With colleagues, developed related educational materials.

Useful Improvement: Preserving MSU’s Agricultural History. Heritage Hall, Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI, 1 October 2016-15 March 2017

Featuring three barn models created in the 1930s-40s, this exhibition explores Michigan State University’s founding as Michigan Agricultural College and the early recognition for a university museum to steward the University’s history. Exhibition highlights the Museum’s 2015 Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to evaluate and rehouse the Museum’s Agriculture and Rural Life Collection. Conceived exhibition idea, researched MSU institutional history, and wrote all text panels and object labels.

Up Cloche: Feminism, Fashion, Modernity. Curated with Lynne Swanson and Mary Worrall. Heritage Gallery, Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI, 4 January-23 November 2016

Researched a well-known but understudied style of woman’s hat to explore its use as art, feminist icon, political symbol, work product, and fashionable consumer good in the United States during the 1920s. Original research in millinery trade and fashion journals, silent film, mail order catalogs, newspapers, novels, and ephemera. With colleagues planned and executed exhibition design and arranged related programming, including Women’s History Month activities, public gallery talks, university class tours, and lectures. Wrote all text panels and created docents’ guide.

Seeing China: Views and Viewpoints. Curated with Howard Bossen. Main Gallery, Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI, 19 January-28 August 2015

Working with Michigan State University School of Journalism faculty member, researched historic stereographic images of China to complement the photographic works of six contemporary non-Chinese photographers, secured grant funding, and contributed to exhibition design. The exhibition challenged viewers to consider the effects of environmental change and political responsibility, rapid urbanization and economic expansion, human and civil rights, and cultural diversity and change. Created docents’ guide.

From the Margins to the Core: Latino Workers in the Nation’s Auto Industry. Curated with Rubén Martinez and Daniel Velez Ortiz. Entrance Hall Gallery, Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI, 26 October 2014-1 February 2015; Walter B. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 29 March 2016

Researched photographic images, artifacts, and interviews of Latino members of the United Auto Workers in Lansing, to explore Latinos’ experiences since the 1920s of racial and ethnic discrimination in Michigan’s automobile manufacturing plants and to chart their union participation as means to counter discrimination, fight for fair wages and working conditions, and to rise to union and corporate leadership. Exhibition created in conjunction with, and to commemorate the 25th anniversary of, Michigan State University’s Julian Samora Research Institute.

#me: Silhouettes to Selfies. Entrance Hall Gallery, Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI, 27 July-5 October 2014

Conceived and researched small exhibition on the history of mechanical likeness-taking from the early nineteenth-century physiognotrace to the present-day smartphone camera and Internet social networks, exploring the shift in technologies and the shift of images as aides-mémoires to forms of language.

School Days in Kent, 1880-1940. Curated with Lauren Worona. Kent Historical Society, Kent, OH, 20 March 2010-28 February 2011

Conceived, researched, and executed the Kent Historical Society’s community exhibition on the City of Kent’s public and parochial schools. Instructed graduate and undergraduate interns and volunteers in museum methods. Exhibition included a children’s component of a nineteenth-century schoolroom outfitted with activities. Created all wall texts and object labels, as well as exhibition brochure.

The Kokoon Arts Club: Cleveland Revels! Stager and Blum Galleries, Kent State University Museum, 19 March 2009-28 March 2010; Cleveland Artists Foundation, Lakewood, OH, 14 May 2010-31 July 2010

Conceived and researched major exhibition on heralded but little-studied Modernist art club in early twentieth-century Cleveland. Created all wall texts, object labels, and gallery guide. Conducted tours, offered public lectures, and provided interviews to print and broadcast news outlets.

Designing Domesticity: Decorating the American Home since 1876. Curated with Terrence L. Uber.  Broadbent Gallery, Kent State University Museum, Kent, OH, 5 December 2001-18 November 2002

With colleague in Kent State University’s College of Architecture, researched and created a survey of major domestic design trends in four decades between 1876 and 2001. Created all wall texts, object labels, and gallery guide. Conducted tours, offered public lectures, and provided interviews to print news outlets. Organized and conducted national symposium on American interior design in March 2002.

Tour Scripts
“Vienna’s Pioneering Women.”  Vienna Historical Society Cemetery Walk, 6-7 October 2012, Vienna, OH

“Vienna and the Civil War.”  Vienna Historical Society Cemetery Walk, 22-23 October 2011, Vienna, OH

“Historic Vienna Center Cemetery.”  Vienna Historical Society Cemetery Walk, 23-24 October 2010, Vienna, OH

Historical Marker
“Vienna Township” and “Vienna Green and Cemetery,” approved by Ohio Historical Society, June 2013; dedicated 20 September 2014

Online Community Encyclopedia
Founding editor and contributor, Viennapedia:  The Historical Encyclopedia of Vienna, Trumbull County, Ohio, at viennapedia.viennahistory.org (over 450 entries as of January 2016)

Newspaper Editorial and Essay
“Mobilizing the Home Front.”  Opinionator: Disunion blog, New York Times, 13 October 2012, at http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/13/mobilizing-the-home-front/

“A Question of Gender.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 29 March 1990, 9