Participant Info

First Name
Laura A.
Last Name
Macaluso
Country
United States
State
PA
Affiliation
Independent Scholar / Author
Website URL
https://lauramacaluso.com/
Keywords
Public Art, Public History, Cultural Heritage, Monuments, Museums, Murals, Material Culture, Historic Houses, Local History, Identity, Historic Landscapes
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
PhD
PhD

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

Laura A. Macaluso is a researcher, author, cultural heritage professional, and grant writer specializing in public art and public history projects. Using museums, monuments, murals, and material culture, her work examines, centers, and celebrates the value of art, culture, and history to community and humanity.

Recent Publications

BOOKS

Book, Art for Hartford, A Capital City and Its Public Art, forthcoming 2025.

Book, A History Lover’s Guide to Alexandria and South Fairfax County, 2022. 

Book, Historic Virginia: A Tour of More than 75 of the State’s National Landmarks, 2019.

Book, A Guide to Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia, 2018. 

Book, The Public Artscape of New Haven: Themes in the Creation of a City Image, 2018. 

Book, Art of the Amistad and the Portrait of Cinque, 2015.

EDITOR

Co-Editor, Nineteenth Century, the Journal of the Victorian Society in America, focus on monuments, memorials, and sculpture of the long nineteenth century (1785-1917). Also includes authoring essay on sculptor Paul Wayland Bartlett and Lafayette on Horseback Monument, Fall 2019.

Book Editor, Monument Culture: International Perspectives on the Future of Monuments in a Changing World, American Association for State and Local History/Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. 

BOOK CHAPTERS

Chapter, “The Alexandria Community Remembrance Project Pilgrimage: A City Works to Remember, Reconcile and Repair Its Lynching History,” Women on the Pilgrimage to Peace, Anna Hamlin, ed., Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024.

Chapter, “Yale RESPECT New Haven (New Artwork to Protest and Old University),” Claims on the City, Situated Narratives of the Urban, C. Yamini Krishna, Amy Mei Yen Phua, and Nisha Mathews, eds., Lexington Books, 2024.

Chapter, “Monumental Relationships: International Monument Culture and the United States in the Early 21st Century,” Controversial Monuments and Memorials, A Guide for Community Leaders, 2nd edition, David Allison, ed., AASLH/Rowman & Littlefield, 2023.

Chapter, “Public Art Inside & Outside the Museum” (The Evolution of a Cultural Practice in Hartford, Connecticut) The State of Museums: Voices from the Field, MuseumsEtc Ltd., 2018. 

ESSAYS

Opinion, “There’s Still More to Learn About America’s Monument Debate,” with Karim M. Tiro, TIME Magazine, July 2, 2024, https://time.com/6992004/philip-schuyler-monument-history/.

Essay, “Public History Play-Acting After All, Comments on a Confederate Battle Flag Exhibit in Virginia,” Special Issue on Public History, History, the Journal of the Historical Association, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-229X.13267,  February 2022.

Essay, “Benedict Arnold’s House: The Making and Unmaking of an American,” Commonplace, http://commonplace.online/article/benedict-arnolds-house/, Fall 2021.

Essay, “A Digital Reading of the Sengbe Pieh Portrait in the Covid-19 Era” The Muslim World Journal, Summer 2020.

Essay, “The Spirit of 1776/1917: Town and Gown Go to War,” Bulletin of the Auckland Museum (New Zealand), Fall 2020.

BLOG POSTS & MORE

Blog Post, “Appalachian Trail Museum,” Mainly Museums, 2023, https://mainlymuseums.com/post/1129/appalachian-trail-museum/.

Blog Post, “Fashioning the Self: Jennie Jerome, a 20th century Victorian in the Library,” Women’s History Network, 2022, https://womenshistorynetwork.org/fashioning-the-self-jennie-jerome-a-twentieth-century-victorian-in-the-library-laura-a-macaluso/

Encyclopedia Entry, “Washington Monument” for the Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington, December 2021 https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/washington-monument/

Opinion, “The Best Books on Monuments in the Era of Controversies and Removals,” Shepherd Books https://shepherd.com/best-books/monuments-in-the-era-of-controversies-and-removal

Blog Post, “Commemorative Intersections of Carceral History in Lorton, Virginia,” History@Work, National Council on Public Public History, https://ncph.org/history-at-work/commemorative-intersections-of-carceral-history-in-lorton-virginia/, Fall 2021.

Opinion, “Rethinking the Lotus Bowl at Auction,” The Arts Paper, https://www.newhavenarts.org/arts-paper/articles/rethinking-the-lotus-bowl-at-auction, April 2021.

Media Coverage
Country Focus
United States
Expertise by Geography
United States
Expertise by Chronology
18th century, 19th century, 20th century
Expertise by Topic
American Revolution, Art & Architectural History, Book History, Local & Regional, Material Culture, Museums, Public History, World War I