Participant Info
- First Name
- Nora Ellen
- Last Name
- Carleson
- Country
- United States
- State
- 20
- carleson@udel.edu
- Affiliation
- University of Delaware
- Website URL
- https://www.noraellencarleson.com/
- Keywords
- US history, material culture, cultural history, dress history, fashion history, design history, First Ladies, Progressive Era, Gilded Age, political history, women and gender, museums, history of collecting, visual culture
- Availability
- Media Contact
- Additional Contact Information
- PhD
- other credentials
Personal Info
- Photo
- About Me
I’m a scholar of the seemingly frivolous things that everyone tends to ignore. In essence, I study the images and things that we’ve gotten rid of because they “weren’t important.”
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the History of American Civilization Program at the University of Delaware. A historian with over ten years of experience in the Museum field, I am passionate about public history and telling diverse and inclusive histories.
My dissertation, “From Paul Revere to Plains Indians, and Peruvian Textiles: The Politics of Progressive Era Fashion in America, 1880-1930” explores how the emergence of a “distinctly” American fashion style both reflected and shaped Progressive Era ideologies such as nativism, nationalism, imperialism, race science, euthenics, and eugenics while ultimately creating the modern American fashion industry.
In 2013, I received my M.A. in History of Decorative Arts and Design from the Smithsonian Institution in partnership with George Mason University upon completing my thesis titled: “Harry Collins and the American Art of Dress: 1884-1980.” In 2019 I earned a MA in History from the University of Delaware and in 2020 I completed the Graduate Museum Studies Certificate Program.
- Recent Publications
Carleson, Nora Ellen, “Harry Collins and the Birth of American Fashion, 1910–1950,” The Journal of Dress History, Volume 2, Issue 2, Summer 2018, The Association of Dress Historians, London, England, pp 2-14.
https://www.dresshistorians.org/journalCarleson, Nora Ellen. “Lottie Barton, Nineteenth-Century Baltimore’s Premier Modiste and Fashion Smuggler” in Maryland Historical Society. Spectrum of Fashion. (Baltimore, MD, Maryland Historical Society, 2019), p. 25-40.
- Media Coverage
- On The Record. "The Historic Fashions of Maryland." WYPR Baltimore. First broadcast September 4, 2019. Hosted by Sheilah Kast. Produced by Maureen Harvie.
- @NorNellen
- Country Focus
- US History
- Expertise by Geography
- United States
- Expertise by Chronology
- 5, 8, 9
- Expertise by Topic
- American Presidents, Art & Architectural History, Gender, Material Culture, Museums, Politics, Public History, Women, World War I
