I am a writer, historical researcher, curator, and editor. As a historian, my focus is the history of expeditions, natural history, extreme environments, and material culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In particular, I look at the gear explorers carried with them on their travels - to the polar regions, to high-altitude mountains, to tropical and arid places - and how this gear shaped their experiences and the cultural worlds of which they were part. In short, I unpack packing.

I’ve worked as a museum administrator and curator, an academic project manager, and a writer and web content creator, including recent freelance projects with Trivium Interactive, Yale University’s Energy History Online project, and the Maxine Greene Institute. I’m also currently a manager and buyer at Scattered Books in Chappaqua, New York.

I hold a Ph.D. from Yale University’s History of Science and Medicine program. In June of 2022, I defended my dissertation, entitled “The Right Stuff: Material Culture, Comfort, and the Making of Explorers, 1820-1940,” which was awarded the Hans Gatzke Prize by Yale’s History Department, as an outstanding dissertation in a field of European history. I’m currently working to develop my dissertation into a book, as well as co-editing a volume on polar exploration and science with Dr. Daniella McCahey. I’m also the Associate Editor of the history and philosophy of science journal Endeavour. Plus I have lots of other projects in progress, including a special issue on objects and expeditions that I’m co-editing with Dr. Eike-Christian Heine, and a series on visual cultures of the Arctic that I’m editing with Dr. Isabelle Gapp for NiCHE.

I’m passionate about bringing my historical research to wide audiences, and this website showcases both my scholarly and public-facing work. Please feel free to get in touch or check out my academic C.V. or my (somewhat outdated) professional resumé. I’m also on Bluesky, where I post stuff on exploration, material culture, outdoor gear, and extreme environments.

EDUCATION

Ph.D., History: Program in History of Science and Medicine → Yale University, 2023

M.A. and M. Phil., History, Program in History of Science and Medicine → Yale University, 2019

M.A., Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture → Bard Graduate Center, 2015

Professional Certificate, Arts Administration → New York University, 2011

B.A., Anthropology with minor in Art History → University of Chicago, 2008