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About Me

I’m a scholar who tells stories about the past through material culture—“the historian with a thing for things.”

I specialize in early America and the Atlantic World, with a particular focus on all things eighteenth-century.

I’m passionate about spreading historical knowledge to the wider public. I’ve worked in museums and historic preservation, and you can find me talking history on podcasts like “Ben Franklin’s World” and “Whispers of the Past” or TV shows like the Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Museum” and “Mysteries at the Castle.” I’m the creator and co-host of a podcast premiering in 2205 called “Thing4Things: The History Podcast Where Things Happen and Stuff Matters.” I was material culture consult to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton: The Exhibition” that opened alongside “Hamilton! The Musical” in Chicago. I regularly serve as historical consultant to museums and not-for-profits, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Concord Museum, and Delaware250. I’ve served as a historical expert for journalists and writers working for The Guardian and Smithsonian Magazine.

I’ve taught at Columbia University and at CUNY, as well as at Johns Hopkins, where I was the 2009-10 Patrick Henry Postdoctoral Fellow in History. I’m currently an Associate Professor of History and Art History at the University of Delaware, where I direct the doctoral program in the History of American Civilization, and a fellow at the David Center for the American Revolution at the American Philosophical Society. In Fall 2025 I will begin directing UD’s Museum Studies and Public Engagement Program.

Recent Publications

My new book, written for a popular audience, is The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution (Harvard University Press, July 2025). The book uncovers a transatlantic and cosmopolitan world of revolutionary fervor by tracing the overlooked role of patriot artists—women, Black individuals, and people of mixed race—who shaped the Revolution through art, espionage, and activism across America, London, and Paris. Their work helped inspire rebellion and forge a new political culture. The Painter’s Fire reveals an extraordinary cohort whose experiences testify to both the promise and the limits of liberty in the founding era.

I have published pieces for Colonial Williamsburg’s Trend and Tradition, as well as for the “Made by History” series at The Washington Post. A recent scholarly article is “Here’s the Thing: Material Culture Studies and Vast Early American History,” William and Mary Quarterly (January 2025). My first book, Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World was released by Yale University Press in 2016, and came out in paperback in 2017. It was the inaugural winner of The Library Company of Philadelphia’s Biennial Best Book Prize in 2018 and was a Finalist for the Best First Book Prize from the Berkshire Conference of Women’s Historians in 2017.

Media Coverage

Social Media

@thing4things

Country Focus

Expertise by Geography

Atlantic, British Isles, United States

Expertise by Chronology

18th century, Early Modern

Expertise by Topic

American Revolution, American Founding Era, Art & Architectural History, Colonialism, Gender, Material Culture, Museums, Politics, Public History, Rebellion & Revolution, Slavery, Urban History, Women