Ph.D., Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine
Fellow in Residence
2017 - 2018

Navigating the World: The Material Culture of Physical Mobility Impairment in the Early American North, 1728-1861

I study history through everyday things. I am working on a book and exhibition project related to my dissertation, “Navigating the World: The Material Culture of Physical Mobility Impairment in the Early American North, 1728-1861.″ I am investigating the experience and meaning of disability in early America using archival sources as well as objects in museum collections ranging from artificial limbs and adult cradles to gout cranes and crutches.

Sider legged saxifrage

Spider-legged saxifrage, found on Cornwallis Island by Penny and Sutherland. From Curtis's Botanical Magazine, ser. 3, v.7. 1851. Plate 4621. Image courtesy of Linda Hall Library