I am most interested in memory studies, public history, cultural history, and social history. My undergraduate education at Cornell University touched on these sub-fields, especially in a course about modern Iranian culture, but my true foray into them began at George Washington University (GW). There, I pursued my Master of Arts in Museum Studies with a concentration in curation, exhibition development, and visitor engagement. While earning my degree, I had the opportunity to work on five exhibitions; the first explored the GW’s historical connection with the institution of slavery at the university, the second spotlighted the semicentennial legacy of a local professor of Dance at GW’s Corcoran Gallery, the third captured the historical impact of fashion on American diplomacy at the President Woodrow Wilson House, the fourth covered the impact of Western environmental colonialism throughout the Near/Middle East region at the Middle East Institute, and the fifth followed the lives of enslaved individuals who managed the culinary ecosystem of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello site. These experiences inspired me to work in a curatorial capacity after graduation at museums concerning specific people (like Eastman-Kodak Company founder George Eastman) and regions (like the NY-VT Slate Belt/Valley).
In developing exhibitions at these historical sites, I both used previously collected oral histories and conducted my own oral histories of key community stakeholders to ensure the exhibition reflected the museums’ local audiences. This brought me closer to people, and interacting with them familiarized me with the process of how a community remembers as well as interacts with its own history. These experiences enchanted me to the studies of historical/collective/community memory, public history, cultural history, and social history – fields I intend to explore at Temple University through courses like Theory & Practice of Oral History. In this course, I hope to strengthen skills I honed in my museum work surrounding sustaining community memories by adding scholarly methodologies and academic training. I expect this course will help me better study, understand, preserve, and interpret cultural as well as community histories.
After earning my PhD, I want to become a public historian and return to the museum field, specifically curating at historical sites with a regional/local scope (including Historic Homes). Studying, understanding, preserving, and interpreting cultural as well as community histories is an important part in this role, and this course will make me a better public servant in it.
Please contact me at matthew.lynch0002@temple.edu for more information.